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Letter from the President
 One of the monthly highlights this June was to hold a
cross-cultural seminar "Building Bridges Between the USA and Japan" at a conference room located in our office building. We have been holding this popular half-day seminar for the past decade and yet, through our interactions in the seminar, we are still discovering new facets to cross- cultural issues while working with Japan.
In this seminar, most participants were people who are working with Japanese companies in the Portland Metropolitan area. What I found through the seminar was there was no certain place or resource in the different companies where an employee is able to get the right answer to questions in regard to Japanese communication style, business protocol and manner, decision-making style and organizational behavior. Thus, people start to worry and have a sense of uncertainty, bringing frustration and anxiety into the workplace. Even for people who have worked for a long time in other American companies and industries but are working for the first time with a Japanese company, have some confusion.
Our "Building Bridges" seminar provides people with an overview of cultural understanding and information about Japanese people and Japanese society in a systematic manner with a friendly
graphic and visual approach. Eileen Foster-Sakai, VP and Co-founder of Pacific Dreams, Inc., explains key concepts and relationships that apply to the Japanese business world, even nowadays. People in the seminar asked many questions based on their previous experiences, and Eileen was able to capably answer their core questions.
After the seminar, some of the attendees told us that their feelings of worry and misunderstanding in regard to Japan and Japanese people had been dispelled. I felt that the seminar was conducted very professionally, and that answers to questions were very valuable. We will conduct the "Building Bridges" seminar again on September 14, 2006, and in addition, we are going to develop a brand new seminar: "Cross-cultural Communication and Negotiation with Japanese Business People". This new seminar will be held on September 15 of this year, and will be a full day (8-hour) seminar. Our aim is to expand this new seminar to provide more practical communication techniques and comprehensive understanding of negotiation tactics and strategies in cross-cultural business environments.
I would like to continue to provide more detail about our ongoing seminar information and opportunities in next month's issue. I wish each of you an enjoyable and safe summer season.
Ken Sakai
President |
Ken Sakai
President |
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"Honyaku Kotohajime" (Beginnings of Translation) - No. 49
"The 3% Reality in the US"
On April 24, PEN American Center sponsored the 2nd PEN World Voices Festival staged in Manhattan in New York City. I would like to say that I was able to participate in this event, but unfortunately, I was unaware of this event until after it happened. In any case, the acronym for the international organization PEN stands for International Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists, which, I am afraid I can't help but notice, does not include Translators in the title.
Approximately 135 writers from 33 countries around the world participated in this large-scale event, and most major American newspapers sent reporters to cover it. Although this large PEN gathering was not geared specifically towards translators, an event titled "Translation and Globalization" was appropriately established this time. Steve Wasserman, an editor for the Los
Angeles Times, made the opening speech for the event. Mr. Wasserman pointed out that merely three percent of the published works in the US are translated works, and of that three percent, many of them are technical manuals and research related publications. For perspective, we can look at Italy, where 70% of publications are works that have been translated into Italian.
This sensationally small three percent figure alone seemed to capture the attention of everyone in the room, and a sudden shift in the conversation of the panel discussion seemed to reach a heated culmination. Discussion panelists, literary professionals from all over the world, were critical of this fact, voicing their opinion that the figure was a reflection of the reality in the US that American politicians, reporters and the general public are largely unaware of world affairs, and that they hardly even try to understand the languages and cultures of other countries. Although the people from each of these countries, whose work is related to literature and publication, seem to feel a sense of uneasiness and impending crisis in regard to this reality, there seems to be nothing they can do about it. Whether or not they write stories of supreme, top-notch quality, with a levelheaded view, if they aren't written in English, chances are they never will be. Sadly, this means that they will never reach the American audience.
Conversely, in many European countries, translations of books such as, the Harry Potter series and The Da Vinci Code have easily topped best-seller lists. This makes for the possibility of a double-edged sword for authors and publishers in countries where their work is competing at home with popular works translated from English. For even if their work was translated or they had their work translated, the fact is that they are not likely to be published in the US. This is a harsh reality for people whose work is related to literature and publishing, even while they experience a sense of impending crisis.
Authors participating in this year's PEN Festival included the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, African-American writer, Toni Morrison, as well as Noble Prize candidates from other countries. At an event such as this, with so many top-class writers on hand, it is significant that there be serious and heated debate over the issue of translation. For people who are in the translation industry, such as myself, this event could be seen as major progress in raising consciousness about translation.
However, this isn't to say that I want to make a fuss over the three percent figure. In March of this year, I went to Japan to give a lecture at the Japan Translation Federation titled, "The State of Translation in US". It was in this lecture that I mentioned that the translation industry conducted approximately one trillion yen (about $10 billion) in business in the year 2005. I received many responses to the lecture via email in which many of the attendees said that it was just like the US to have such a huge figure, such was their impression. Well, I quickly responded to the misunderstanding, saying that it was not, in fact, the figure for the US alone, but for the entire world combined.
As for what part of the $10 billion world translation industry belongs to the American market, my studies have yet to grasp that figure. However, in regard to the fact that, of published works in the US, only three percent are translated, I found the figure to be much smaller than I previously expected. Also, that much of the work of superior foreign authors has yet to be introduced to the US, and that neither the authors' names nor their works are familiar to Americans is truly a sad state of affairs.
If translated works in the US are mostly just manuals for software and high tech machinery then the worldview carried by the average American is going to be rather one-sided and this will only fuel distorted ideas about the world. The US, as well as the rest of the world, would be more balanced if it were to start translating for purposes other than the simple pursuit of profit, engendering a world culture that could create an environment where superiorly trained translators can experience and enjoy an understanding of this world culture as they translate. This is not an easy path to follow, but it is certainly one worth pursuing.
Ken Sakai
President
E-mail: KenFSakai@pacificdreams.org |
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Visit from Japanese Immersion Program students
Recently we were happy to receive a request to host a group of students from Grant High School (in Portland). These four students are participants in the Japanese Language High School Magnet Program and were trying to find a workplace where Japanese is spoken. An introduction from the Shokokai of Portland led them to Pacific Dreams.
Upon their arrival we were amazed at how fluent they were in Japanese. It turns out they have all been part of a Japanese immersion program since they were very young, and had been learning together for almost 12 years! In the program the students spend one third to half of each school day in classes taught in Japanese, and the rest of the day in English. Two of the visitors each had a parent who was Japanese.
Once the students arrived and met with Mr. Sakai, they introduced themselves to the entire office. Our staff was very impressed with their polite Japanese. After introductions the students split into two pairs and met with two of our in-house translators. They took this opportunity to ask questions about translation work and the differences between working in Japan and the US. In preparation for the visit, we put together a "translation quiz" so that the students could get a chance to try translation and proofreading on their own. First they translated short paragraphs from English to Japanese, then Japanese to English. While doing this they used the same dictionaries, computer programs and online support we use when doing translation. They also asked out translators for help when they ran into hurdles. The students were very enthusiastic and focused on their work. It was interesting watching the different ways the two groups approached the interpretations. After finishing the translating pages were exchanged and they started proofing the other group's translations. The students were very surprised to see how different their results were. Both groups had very precise translations, but took different approaches, and were amazed to see how different accurate translations can be. There is no "one right answer" in translating. The students found the exercise very eye opening, and they learned more than they had hoped.
We just received thank you letters from Grant High School. All of the students appreciated the experience they had at PDI and enjoyed participating in a bilingual workplace. We enjoyed hosting the students, and hope this visit will become a tradition with students in the Japanese Immersion Program.
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