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Michael House works for Gainax, an animation 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?
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?
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? 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.