|
|
April 18 JAT MEETING (Bob Oliver)
JAT Birthday Party Report (Kathy Taji)
JAT Board Report (Bill Lise)
IJET-9
Registration Reminder (Bob Oliver & Jeremy Whipple)
IJET-9 Is Approaching (George Tokikuni)
Membership
Secretary's Report (Jeremy Whipple)
書評： 辞書の紹介（Hiro
Sato）
翻訳の周辺 - その２ (George Tokikuni)
Translator on
the Spot (Leslie Tkach)
わけがわからない(Rick Davis)
WORKSHOP: Translating (and interpreting) the JAT Constitution （JAT規約の翻訳と解釈）
The April 18 JAT meeting will be moderated by Emily Shibata-Sato. She will briefly talk about her experience translating the JAT Constitution into Japanese. The meeting will then take the form of a seminar discussion with all participants encouraged to take an active part.
The JAT Constitution (officially the 'CONSTITUTION OF THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATORS') was originally written in English and approved by referendum in 1989.
Last year, the idea of having it translated into Japanese was discussed at the board meeting. A tentative translation was prepared several months later and included in the 1998 Directory (and also will be placed on the JAT website).
Recent suggestions seen on JAT-LIST were: a) amend the constitution and b) write both the English and the Japanese versions at the same time.
The meeting should offer a very interesting and educational experience both to E-J and J-E translators.
The meeting will be held at the Shiba Seinen Kaikan near Hamamatsucho Station. It will begin promptly at 14:30 and finish shortly after 16:30. The meeting will be followed by an informal gathering at a nearby restaurant, to which all participants (including and especially newcomers) are invited.
Bob Oliver
A party to celebrate JAT's 13th birthday was held on the evening of March 21 after the regular JAT meeting at a Chinese restaurant in Roppongi. It was attended by about 34 people and it was organized by Ron Jones on behalf of JAT. Thanks to Ron's great choice of venue and behind-the-scenes negotiation with the restaurant proprietor, there was a great abundance of good food and some excellent wine. It was a very enjoyable birthday party.
Kathy Taji
Bill Lise
President
This report will cover the regular board meeting on 21 March and subsequent discussions between directors.
At the invitation of the Board, those directors elect who could (Richard Thieme and Kathy Taji) attended the 21 March Board meeting. The other attendees were directors Lise, Oliver, Shibata-Sato, Tokikuni, Whipple, and House.
Membership secretary Whipple presented updated membership statistics, which are reported on elsewhere in this issue. Those statistics reveal an astonishing level of growth in the past year. Whipple also presented the directors with the front matter that will be added to the soon-to-be published paper membership directory, thereby providing owners of the directory with a mini-guide to JAT and various JAT activities. Bob Oliver delivered his treasurer's report. As expected we are in fine condition.
There was discussion of getting the newly translated JAT Constitution into the Membership Directory and onto the JAT website. Jeremy agreed to do the necessary to make the constitution usable in the Membership Directory, and to send an HTML version of the Japanese text to Lise, who will put in on the website and make the necessary additions to the site to enabling visitors to find the new content. There was discussion of copyright issues and notices with regard to copyright issues concerning Bulletin content that was reprinted in the Bulletin from other sources. The feeling of the meeting was that we need to be a bit careful about this, but not necessarily with regard to putting the article on the members-only part of the site, since the Bulletin itself is there. One particular case that was resolved was that of the recent first of a series of articles provided to JAT by George Tokikuni. Tokikuni said that the publisher didn't mind us using the article on an open site, as long as the original source was indicated. Lise agreed to go even one step further by making that notice include a hotlink to the original publisher's website. As of this writing that has already been done. IJET-9 progress was reported on by George Tokikuni. At the time of this writing, we have had 75 paid signups. That is a good showing at this point, but we need to have the people who are going to signup make a commitment early enough to prevent an administrative crunch just before the conference. The program has been set, and the time-slot schedule of sessions will soon be made public.
Lise reported that the once-dormant JAT Bookshelf project might be revived, given sufficient volunteers to handle it. He has in hand the original file and might be able to shortly get that information up onto the JAT website.
Director elect Richard Thieme reported that, because of the tax filing season, he has not been able to make much progress in talking to a tax accountant about the issue of withholding tax from payments made to translators living outside of Japan. Thieme also mentioned the new non-profit organization form of incorporation which, if enacted, might be something that JAT would want to look at.
Emily Shibata-Sato reported that an interview done by director elect Leslie Tkach of Michael House will appear in the April Bulletin. Lise mentioned that the content of the Constitution has fallen out of line with and does not properly reflect the JAT world as it exists now, nearly a decade after it was drafted. While there was not much time for discussion, there was a distinct lack of opposition to setting about the task at sometime of amending the JAT Constitution. No specific issues and timing, however, were discussed.
The April meeting will be, as announced elsewhere, a discussion of the translation of the JAT Constitution. With IJET-9 being held in May, there will be no JAT monthly meeting. JAT has agreed to allow SWET (Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators) to use our already-reserved meeting room for an event they are scheduling for 16 May.
As of this writing, about 80 people have registered and paid for IJET-9 (Yokohama, May 23-24). We appreciate the early registrations and payments, and we hope to see a lot more very soon. Here's one reason: Those who register and pay within the next two weeks or so will receive the pre-conference materials to be mailed out en masse toward the end of April. If you register after that, your pre-conference package will have to be sent individually; depending on your timing and the volunteer organizers' ability to process the flow of registrations, you may or may not receive it before the conference.
So if you are planning to attend IJET-9 but have not yet registered, why not do it today? Just point your browser at the online registration form http://www.jat.org/scripts/r_mailmerge.cgi/templates/ijet9reg.tmpl or if you're typing the URL by hand, go to the IJET-9 home page at http://www.jat.org/ijet-9/ and follow the link from there.
Bob Oliver Japan Association of Translators (JAT) - Treasurer
IJET-9 Registration and Treasurer 1-13-21 Hino-Minami,
Konan-Ku, Yokohama-Shi, Japan 234-0055
Tel: 045-833-8282 Fax:
045-832-2211 Email: roliver@gol.com
Jeremy Whipple JAT Membership Sec'y / IJET Publications
mailto:jwhipple@gol.com
George Tokikuni, IJET-9 committee chair
I think all of you already know that a big conference is to be held in May in our field. Yes, it is the ninth International Japanese/English Translation Conference, IJET-9, in Yokohama on May 23rd and 24th. More than 60 persons have already signed up. Session speakers have been determined. Venue preparation has been progressing and party details will be decided within a month. Only thing you need to do is raise you hand explicitly. If you have not yet reserved a seat in the conference, it is the time to make registration. For more information, please visit the IJET-9 web page at http://www.jat.org/ijet-9. A speaker list has been shown and outlined contents of each session will be soon linked to the speaker list. You can see the list at http://www.jat.org/ijet-9/ijet9prog.html.
The IJET-9 committee looks forward to seeing you in Yokohama.
Here are some statistics for JAT membership as of the end of
March 1998.
Membership 236*
Overseas 96 (41%)
*Total includes
pending renewals for February (4) and March (17).
JAT-LIST
subscribed 211 not 25
Open directory
http://www.jat.org/opendir.html
listed 114
New members March 7
New members from April 1997 through March 1998 103 (!)
Non-renewals January 4
I've sent the contents of the 1998 paper directory off to the printer, and I hope to be able to mail the finished product to you by the end of this month.
Jeremy Whipple mailto:membership@jat.org
Please send your contributions for the May JAT Bulletin by April 30.
5月号の締め切りは4月30日です。
（名前の後のEメールアドレスは、それぞれの新しい役割が決まる までの暫定的なものと個人のものです）
Bill LISE president@jat.org W. A. リゼ
Bob OLIVER
treasurer@jat.org ロバート・オリバー
Emily SHIBATA-SATO
editor@jat.org 佐藤 綾子
George TOKIKUNI
PFG01116@niftyserve.or.jp 時國 滋夫
Jeremy WHIPPLE
membership@jat.org ジェレミー・ウィップル
Judy Wakabayashi
jajwakab@mailbox.uq.edu.au 若林ジュディー
Leslie Tkach
tkach@gol.com タック・レスリー
Richard Thieme
rdthieme@gol.com リチャード・ティーマ
Kathleen
Taji ktaji@gol.com タジ・キャサリン
To learn more about JAT, please visit our Web site at http://www.jat.org/
The Japan Association of Translators (JAT) is a nonprofit association dedicated to serving the interests of individual translators. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in JAT Bulletin articles are solely those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Japan Association of Translators.
c) 1998 Japan Association of Translators, All rights reserved, including those of republishing in any media, including but not limited to printed and electronic media. Individual authors of articles in the Bulletin retain copyright to their articles, permitting them to use the articles as they see fit, including granting permission for reprinting in other media.
by Hiro Sato
光明誠一著、三省堂、 \4,300 677ページ 1998年1月1日発行 ISBN4-385-11017-4
テクニカルライターに特化した非常に専門性の高い辞書である。機械分野に関 しては、例文も多く幅広く網羅している。私もメカ関係を多く翻訳していると したら、この辞書が座右の辞書になることだろう。この辞書には欠点が一つあ る、これは致命的な欠点であるが、コンピュータや通信に関する言葉がほとん ど載っていないこと。テクニカルライターと聞くと真っ先にコンピュータ関係 のマニュアルを書く人をイメージするのが普通であるだけに、辞書の題名がそ ぐわない。辞書の題名を「機械技術英和辞典」ととらえればちょうどよい。 最新英和 経済・ビジネス用語辞典
Terms 長谷川啓之編 春秋社 \7,600 1,762ページ 1997年6月10日発行 ISBN4-393-60006-1
ビジネス関係の辞書では、1,700ページもあり比較的大きい部類に入る。例文 はほとんどない代わりに収録語数が52,000語と多く、重要語については訳語ば かりではなく言葉の意味まで解説している。翻訳ばかりではなく、一般用途で も利用価値が高い辞書である。
（株）アイ・エス・エス 編 WAVE出版 \8,544 699ページ 1995年4月1日発行 ISBN4-900528-51-X
この辞書は、どちらかというと対訳用語集である。収録語数も40,000語と比較 的多い。編集が通訳・翻訳で定評のあるアイ・エス・エスである。そのため、 私自身、翻訳をやっていて非常に使いやすい。また、公官庁・金融機関・特殊 法人・外資系金融機関の和英表記も載っており重宝する。この辞典のシリーズ には他に「英和・和英法律・会計・税務用語辞典」がある。これらシリーズを 一体化したCD-ROM版があれば大助かりなのだが、ここまで期待するのは「虫が よすぎる」だろう。
富井篤著 三省堂 \4,600 530ページ 1996年11月15日発行 ISBN4-385-11025-5
実務で英語に関わっている人や翻訳を学ぼうとする人、初心者の翻訳者にピッ タリの学習書・参考書である。収録されている例文は、実務の英語に触れてい る人なら、実際にお目にかかるような文章ばかりである。この点が一般の英語 学習参考書と異なっている。一般に学習の方法には2種類あり、現場で経験を 積み重ね、適当なレベルごとに参考書と講義でスキルの標準化と汎用化を図る 方法、それから、教科書と講義から始め、その後現場で実践していく方法とが ある。翻訳の技術やコンピュータ操作のスキルの習得は、どちらかというと前 者に入る。この辞典は前者の方法で有効に活用できる。翻訳者が翻訳スキルの 標準化をはかるために役立つ本である。同じ著者によるこの本と同じシリーズ で、「前置詞活用辞典」と「英語数量表現辞典」があるので、あわせて学習書・ 参考書として活用できる。
松本道弘氏、堂々「トンデモ本」にランクイン
松本道弘氏は1980年代、同時通訳や英語教育、ディベートの普及などで脚光 を浴びた通訳者（教育者）である。最近、松本氏の著書「将兵論」が、堂々「ド ンデモ本」にランクインした。数億年にわたる宇宙と生物の進化を英語教育と 関連づけた松本氏独自の理論、ならびに、巻末に収めらている小説で、日本う なぎ対ユダヤヘビの対決を描いた「小説うなぎ物語」が、トンデモ本ランクイ ンの決め手のなったものと思われる。
かくいう私も15年ほど前に青森に住んでいた頃、八戸市と能代市で催された 講演会に氏の講演を聴きにいったことがある。能代市では、東北弁と朝鮮語の リズムの共通性を指摘した斬新な発想を披露、八戸市においては、講演後にキ リストの墓があるという戸来村の遺跡を訪ねられた。もうすでにこの頃から一 般人には思いもつかない発想をしていたようである。
松本氏は現在名古屋外大の教授である。氏の個性的著書には、他に「血液型英 語上達法」という本もあるが、一方で、「速読の英語」や「タイムを読む」とい った正統的、かつ先見性の高い著書もいくつかある。氏の独特の精神世界ばか りでなく、正統的な通訳、英語教育の分野でも更なる活躍を期待する。
その1：トンデモ本とは、UFOや宇宙人、超能力、秘密謀略組織といった常人に は思いもつかない突飛な理論を大真面目に説いた本のことをいう。トンデモ本 には、ニャントロ星人地球侵略説を持論とする武田了氏の著書、UFO番組解説 者である矢追純一氏の著書などが紹介されている。 その2：戸来のキリストの墓は相当尾鰭がついた伝説。事実は昔々この村に白 人の老人が住んでいて、その人が村一番の人格者だったため、キリストのよう なお人と慕われていたということ。キリストの墓とはその人のお墓。
George Tokikuni
前回述べたことを翻訳者と発注者から見て次のようにまとめることができる。
ここに記したことは当たり前だと思うかもしれない。日本語のテクニカルラ イティングの本を読めば必ず書いてある基本的な項目である。「当たり前のこ とを当たり前にやる。」どの分野でもそうであろうが、これがきちんとできるよ うになればある一定の水準に達すると思う。この項目のひとつでも二つでも気 にとめて執筆してほしい。必ずわかりやすい文章が書ける。
さて、翻訳会社で翻訳をしながら、外注翻訳者（フリーランス）の訳文を検 査していたときの様子を述べる。マニュアルの翻訳が主体であったため、大量 のマニュアルを分割して多くの翻訳者に訳してもらうことが多かった。その際 には全体の概要を連絡し、用語・表現・フォーマットの統一を指示して発注す る。 外注翻訳者（フリーランス）の翻訳をチェックすると、いろいろなこと がわかってくる。翻訳がうまくなり原文についてよく理解できるようになるの はどういう人か、翻訳の力がある人はどういう点がすぐれているか、いつにな ってもひどい翻訳を提出する人がいるのはなぜか。
その説明に入る前に翻訳の品質についてどう考えているかを述べたい。
翻訳とは原文の情報をそのまま伝達することであり、翻訳の品質とはどの程 度まで「情報をそのまま」伝えるかである。「情報をそのまま」の部分は二つに 分かれる。何を情報と考えるかという点とどのようにそのまま伝えるかである。 和文英訳を例として取り上げる。
何が情報か
原文の情報を掴むときに必要なのは日本語を読む力と技術的な理解力で
ある。記載されていない主語を推察したり、修飾語の係り方を検討することで
原文が述べようとしていることを正確に把握する。また、自分の持っている技術的な
知識を活用して文脈に潜む前提条件等を確認する。
どのようにそのまま伝えるか
「そのまま伝える」とは、ある程度の教養を持つ日本人がその原文を読
んで掴んだ情報をそのときのニュアンスとともに、英米人が同じ情報を同じ
印象でわかるように伝達することである。
技術関連の文書を翻訳するときには、技術的な知識を持っていたほうが有利 ではあるが、それよりも物事を論理的に考える力のほうが大切だと思う。技術 者として働いた経験がある翻訳者は原文を正確に理解できることが多いが、文 化系の勉強しかしてこなかった人でも理屈を考える人、なぜそうなるのかを知 ろうとする人は翻訳をするにつれて原文の理解力が飛躍的に伸びることがある。 文章を読み、流れに沿って訳していくときに、意識的に常識を働かせる。話が どう展開されているか、そこに矛盾はないか、論理は一貫しているかを考える ことである。すると、論理が飛躍していたり、手順が誤っていることがわかる 場合がある。すぐに問い合わせをして確認する。同じ執筆者であれば似た誤り をする傾向があるから、一つの誤りを見つけたら同様な点に特に注意を払いな がら訳していく。
翻訳をしていて、初めの文章と次の文章でつじつまが合わない場合、どちら かがまちがっているか、二つの文章の間に記述されていないがその分野では常 識となっている現象が隠れていることがある。原文の意味がわからずに訳した 場合、その訳文の読者は絶対に意味が取れない。つじつまの合わない場合にそ のまま訳してしまう翻訳者（翻訳者と呼べるかどうかは別にして）もいる。関 連する書籍を読んで理解してから訳す人もいる。どう対処するかで翻訳者のレ ベルがわかる。
いつまでもひどい翻訳をする人が生き残っていけるのはそういう市場がある からである。原文は大量にあるが、翻訳単価が低く、常に納期が短い市場であ る。できの悪い翻訳が上がってきても発注者側から文句が出ない。したがって 翻訳者は自分の翻訳が基準に達していると考えて、次回も同様の翻訳を行う。 発注者側がやり直しを命じない理由は、納期が短く再翻訳の時間がないためで もあるし、よりよい品質を要求して価格が上昇しては困るからでもあるし、翻 訳文を正確に評価できないからでもある。常に大量の文書を翻訳する必要があ るときには、翻訳の全工程（原稿の執筆から発注・翻訳・検査・最終編集まで） を事前に十分検討する必要がある。
どの分野であっても同じだと思うが、各工程ごとに最低限の検討事項と最低 限の時間がある。たとえば電子機器を設計する場合を考える。構想を練り、市 場に出ている製品の比較表を作る。セールス・ポイントを決め、仕様・開発計 画を決定する。設計者間の連携を十分に取りながら、設計作業に入る。図面を 引く。試作品の手配をして、製作する。試作品を動作させて評価する。元の設 計にその結果を反映させて、量産計画・手配を行う。
各工程での検討事項を良く吟味し、不要な項目を削除したり、人間でなくても できる項目を自動化して期間を短縮する努力は必要である。しかし、それぞれ の工程にかかる期間を無理に縮めると良い物はできない。（昔、工場で働いてい たときに、担当の製品を短納期で作り上げなくてはならなくなり工場の中を走 り回ったことがあった。ある部門で先輩に「そんなに急いで作ると失敗するで」 と言われたことを思い出す。）同じように、単価が安く納期が短い場合はあまり よくない翻訳になることが多い。合い見積で一番価格の低いところに発注する 企業もあるが、読んでわからない文章ができたらどうするのかといつも気にな っている。とにかく翻訳してあればいいのだろうか。（これは翻訳の検査をどの 程度正確に早くできるかに依存している。英文和訳では翻訳の品質を発注者側 で判断できるために歯止めがかかる。しかし、和文英訳の場合は発注者側で品 質を判断できないことも多く、しばらくしてから問題になりやすい。）
翻訳の力がある人に共通する点は、日本語の力、英語の力、専門知識を持っ ていることに加えて、原文を読むときに推察力を十分に働かせ、論理が一貫し ていることに注意して細部にまで気を配り訳していることである。翻訳上の疑 問について討議をしても自分の意見を静かに整然と述べる人が多い。（次回に 続く。）
--- Leslie Tkach
This month marks the initial publication of a new feature in the JAT Bulletin -- interviews with practising translators. We know that everyone out there has an interesting story about how he or she started out in translation. If you are interested in being interviewed face to face (and you live somewhere near Tokyo) or you would like to do the interview via email, please contact Leslie Tkach at minda@ozemail.com.au
Our translator-on-the-spot this month is Michael House. Michael works for Gainax, a firm in Tokyo and has been a professional translator for 7 years. A former member of JAT's Board of Directors, Michael is very positive about his translation work and readily shared his comments and observations about the profession with us.
> What is your education and experience background? How did it lead to translating?
My education background in terms of Japanese began with a year of night courses at a local community college in my senior year of high school. When I graduated, I took another two years in college, and later, another two years of intense coursework at a Japanese language school in Tokyo.
As to how I came to translation, it was sort of through the side door. I'd grown up in Hawaii, with lots of Japanese pop- culture influences. A desire to learn about these subjects-- esp. anime and tokusatsu--in the original Japanese led me to start studying the language, and to my first professional translation work.
> How long have you been a translator?
Professionally, since 1988. As an unpaid amateur, since 1986.
> What was your first translation job?
Translating two card games.
> Do you live in Japan? (Why or why not?)
Yes. Part of the reason why is "nariyuki". The company I was working for at the time in the States, an anime video subtitling company, moved its preproduction facilities to Tokyo (mainly so the boss could marry his Japanese fiance), in late 1990. They sent for me about nine months later, in Sept. 1991, to take over subtitle production in addition to translation, and later translation supervising and editing. I've been here more or less nonstop ever since.
> How many languages are you familiar with? Do you translate into or from those languages?
Currently English (native) and Japanese. I try to stick to translating from Japanese into English as much as possible.
> How did you learn Japanese? (or English or other languages that you translate into or from)?
I'm at least as much self-taught as I am taught through classrooms. Japanese classes helped me get the essentials, including good hyoujun-go pronunciation. But I really made myself effectively literate and fluent by using what I was learning under actual firing conditions, working without a net.
> What are some of the challenges you face as a translator with regards to Japanese (or English)? For example, translating keigo or slang.
Romanizing names is a constant problem, as is trying to explain Japanese pop-culture references--in addition to politeness levels. Translating songs, esp. those that mix-and-match Japanese and English (the topic of my upcoming IJET presentation), is a whole different ballgame.
> How do you get your clients?
I've responded to job requests, usually posted on the Net in various places.
> What are your fields of specialization? Why? How do you keep up with new developments?
Does "pop culture" count as a specialization? I've spent more time working with areas related to that than anything else so far, mainly because this was my reason for getting interested in Japanese and translation in the first place. Aside from that, probably computers and other areas of high technology. I've gotten into this field mainly out of necessity: I had to learn about Japanese computer terminology just to be able to use computers and software made or localized in Japanese.
As for keeping up with new developments, I mainly subscribe to email lists for computers, and keep an eye out for what's happening in anime and tokusatsu, as well as manga, to a lesser extent.
> Is your translation style "loose" or "literal"?
It usually depends on the original. If I'm translating a newspaper or magazine article on some aspect of hardware or software, for example, I basically have to toe the line. With more colloquial manuscripts, I may allow myself some more leeway, so long as the original meaning comes through and is comprehensible to the target audience (ideally).
> Do you read other books or magazines written in the source language in your spare time?
Yes, if the subject is something I'm interested in reading.
> What are some of your favourite reference materials? (What's on your bookshelf within easy reach right now?)
Nelson's (old edition), Kenkyusha's J-E Dictionary (Green Goddess), Japanese Names, Shogakukan-Random House E-J Dictionary
> What is the singular (or more if you can think of any!) most important piece of advice you can give to people just starting out in translation?
Do it because you like to do it first, and for the money second. Also, keep your eyes open, because there are some shady characters out there. And learn how to manage your workload (a trick I'm still figuring out).
> What do you think are the most important elements or skills necessary in translation? Will these change in 5 or 10 years?
Speaking from my own experience: a personal interest in the Japanese language and some aspect of Japanese culture; a strong grounding in the fundamentals of grammar and pronunciation; and lots of hard work. Whether these will change, I can't say.
> Are you still going to be translating 5 or 10 years from now? Do you think the profession will change and how?
Ten years ago, I had no idea I would be living in Japan and working professionally as a translator. Certainly in just the time I've been here, there have been considerable changes in how translators interact with one another and search for information, thanks to the proliferation of Internet/World Wide Web connectivity. I long since gave up trying to predict what would happen as a result of these sorts of unexpected personal and professional changes.
> How much time per day do you spend translating (and editing and related activities) versus doing administrative work, client relations, and other "running-the-business" type of activities?
I spend nearly all of my work time translating, except when checking on payments or at tax time.
> Please describe your work area.
Pretty much anyplace I can set up my PowerBook. I usually freelance in my apartment, and then take my machine with me for in-house work. Mobility is essential for me.
> What do you like about translating?
The work itself, and the freedom of movement I derive from it.
> What do you dislike about translating?
I don't think I dislike anything about translation per se. I do sometimes have problems with deadlines being too tight for the size of a given job, and with clients who don't seem to grasp the fact that translation isn't something that happens automatically, no matter how I try to explain it. Maybe these two issues are related...
> What was your most interesting or unique translation job?
That could be just about any of the anime subtitling work I did, esp. the feature film Kamui no Ken (Dagger of Kamui), with all of its historical references, and the TV/Film/Original Video series Urusei Yatsura (Obnoxious Aliens), which necessitated researching and writing extensive liner notes to explain the dense historical and cultural references. Next month, we'll talk with David Connor, a self-employed translator in Australia.
This little word わけ is really handy, don't you think? Especially since it can fill out (bloat?) someone's speech and make it take up twice as much time as it would normally take. Even better is combining it with でございます, which provides a formal and polite air -- hot air, that is.
Recently I had the opportunity to listen to the half-hour speech of a bureaucrat, the content of which would have fit easily into 10, or at most 15 minutes. I kid you not, all but two or three sentences in the entire speech ended in わけでございます. Sample (he really said this): 最近、○○事務所の人は頭までがコンクリートでできているのではないか、 という批判を頂いておるわけでございます。The slight pause before わけ really brought out the flavor.
わけ seems often used to make an inane utterance sound like the speaker is really saying something. A typical gem from the school principle we had a few years back is: ええと、これから１年生が２年生になるわけですが・・・ Except for rare exceptions, first-graders do indeed become second-graders, and even the first-graders could have told you that (and probably without using わけ).
Poor little わけ. It does serve very useful and legitimate purposes in conveying information, and I confess to using it myself. But this abuse really grates on my nerves.
・・・というわけでございます。
(Rick Davis)1