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Friday, July 08, 2011
E-book: Tsunami: Japan’s Post-Fukushima Future
Tsunami: Japan's Post-Fukushima Future, is an e-book sponsored by Foreign Policy Magazine and selling for $4.99 per download. All proceeds are to go to the Japan Society for transmission to victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku area.
The book was edited by Professor Jeff Kingston of the Temple University Japan Campus. The essays cover the disasters from the cultural, media response, experiential, scientific, historical, political, and diplomatic perspectives.
The e-book announcement and order form may be found on the Foreign Policy magazine website.
Table of Contents of TSUNAMI
Chapter 1: Tales from the Hot Zone
By Mariko Nagai, Kaori Shoji, Steve Corbett, Robert Whiting, Shijuro Ogata, and Kumiko Makihara
Chapter 2: Japan’s Quakes, Past and Future
By David McNeill and Gregory Smits
Chapter 3: Looking Out on the World
By Christian Caryl, Devin Stewart, Jeff Kingston, and Noriko Murai
Chapter 4: The Economic Future
By David Pilling, Bill Emmott, and Brad Glosserman
Chapter 5: The Political Future
By Rod Armstrong and Jun Honna
Chapter 6: The Nuclear Future
By Lawrence Repeta, Andrew Horvat, Paul J. Scalise, Andrew DeWit and Masaru Kaneko, Robert Dujarric, and Gavan McCormack
Thanks to Rod Armstrong for forwarding this information
July 7, 2011
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Google to offer services for translators?
I first noticed this article at CNET News before the recent Obon holidays, but details seem to have leaked out that would suggest Google is preparing a document translation service that would put people who need translation services in touch with translators who can provide them. Although the service itself is not available yet, it seems to include tools for translating and reviewing documents, managing glossaries, and viewing one’s previous translations, all of which are features typically found in computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools.
Google’s motive for providing these services is not yet clear, but it’s not difficult to imagine that Google would be interested in using the translations stored in this system to improve their automated translation capabilities. Whatever the motivation, if Google’s translation center does come to fruition, it will be interesting to see what effect it will have on sites like proz.com, on translation agencies and other middlemen in the translation business, and quite possibly on the makers of CAT tools like Trados.
Thanks to Philippa Hammond at Blogging Translator for the heads up and to Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped for more details.
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
Japan Image Use Meetings
The North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) International Meeting on Japanese Studies Information Resources is being co-hosted by The UH Manoa Library and the Center for Japanese Studies at University of Manoa, Hawaii August 19, 2008 - August 20, 2008. Participants are representatives from Japan and all over the U.S. mainland. UH Manoa students and faculty in the Japanese studies field and library and information science program will also be in attendance.
SWET reported on the Japan Image Use Conference in Tokyo held on June 23, 2008, in this report published in Newsletter No. 120, now available on the Web site.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Guerrilla editing on the road
The Chicago Tribune has a fun story up about the Typo Eradication Advancement League. Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson spent a few months traveling around the United States, finding and offering to correct mistakes (or, you know, mistake’s) wherever they found them.
Sometimes the people whose shopfronts were marred by these errors welcomed the correction; sometimes they rejected the interference. And sometimes the brave editors performed a bit of corrective graffiti even when they didn’t get permission to do so. One successful rescue began this way:
A block later, they stopped. Outside a clothing store, Deck noticed the lack of an apostrophe in the window type—it read “Women’s & Mens.” They entered, and two clerks with white-blond hair perked up.
“Hi, we’re driving around the country fixing typos,” Deck explained,* “and we noticed one side of your sign out front has an apostrophe and one doesn’t for some reason. So we were wondering if you have a spare apostrophe we could stick in there. Or I could just do it.”
“My, that’s specific,” the first clerk said.
“I’m not sure we keep spare apostrophes,” the other said.
* Really, what editor hasn’t wanted to say this at some point?
Check out the TEAL website for the complete record of the daring duo’s journey. (Spotted on Digg.)
Friday, May 02, 2008
Learn the language, stay a while longer
I just noticed a Bloomberg report on a statement from Foreign Minister Koumura* Masahiko that might be of interest if you’re in Japan on a work visa of some kind. From the article:
The government may expand the period of stay for foreigners who know Japanese to five years from three, Komura told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo today. Non-Japanese who use the language in their work, such as flight attendants, may face easier entry requirements, he said.
“This is to relax regulations, not to tighten them,” said Komura. “We will never deny those who were previously accepted to Japan simply because of their lack of Japanese ability.”
The original text of his statement at the May 1 press conference is on the MOFA website. No word yet on how exactly the Japanese government intends to gauge foreigners’ linguistic skills, but Koumura mentions an “objective test” (?????????????????????????) of some kind as a likely way to do so.
* The FM prefers this romanization for his name, and it’s what I write when I’m doing work for his ministry; Bloomberg’s people have gone with a simpler scheme, though. Romanization wars: a topic for a future post?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Junot Diaz wins Pulitzer for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”
Recently seen in the news:
Junot Diaz’s Novel, “Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” Wins Pulitzer
April 7 (Bloomberg)—Junot Diaz’s first novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,’’ won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction today, having already won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Diaz first made a splash with a book of short stories, “Drown,’’ in 1996, and then spent 10 years writing “Oscar Wao,’’ the story of a geeky boy from a Dominican family living in New Jersey.
This is interesting news for me because the author is a close friend of a colleague of mine at work. Having read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I can say that it is certainly worthy of a Pulitzer. I have yet to read Drown, but it also comes highly recommended by a number of people whose opinions about literature are generally right on the money. Consider reading either (or both). I don’t think you will regret it.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Translating Fiction: Backstory
In the March 1999 issue of the SWET Newsletter “Translating Popular Fiction,” featured responses by Janet Ashby, Juliet Carpenter, Geraldine Harcourt, Kurita Akiko, Gavin Frew, and Wayne Lammers to an article by Shinoda Setsuko published in the Asahi Shimbun, provided here in paraphrased translation. Shinoda expressed her hope that more popular and best-selling fiction in Japan that reflects the realities of contemporary Japanese culture might be translated and published abroad, expanding the variety of Japanese fiction available in English and helping to address the gap in understanding between Japanese and other peoples. SWET member and publisher Peter Goodman of Stone Bridge Press contributed an American publisher’s opinion in the May 1999 issue. For this Web site re-publishing, we have added cover images of the Japanese novels in translation forthcoming in the new Stone Bridge Fiction series launching Fall 2007. These articles provide good backstory for the recent Chad Post interview in SWET Newsletter #115.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Newsletter Style Sheet on Site
The SWET Newsletter Style Sheet, revised 2007, is now available on the site. Primarily used by the Newsletter copyeditors and proofreaders, the Style Sheet can be helpful as a reference for authors preparing submissions.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
SWET Kansai ‘06 Bonenkai Photos
SWET Kansai November 25, 2006 afternoon Presentation and evening Bonenkai Photos are now up in the Photo Gallery. After an inspiring discussion on traditional vs. non-traditional publishing led by Jane Joritz-Nakagawa exploring various approaches to publishing, most moved on to Balihai Beer Paradise and were joined by other members and friends for the SWET Kansai 2006 Bonenkai party.
The SWET Kansai 2006 pre-Bonenkai event was an afternoon session on Alternative Publishing, where Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, of Aichi University of Education, gave a presentation/guided discussion on the topic of alternative publishing, using her own self-published books of poetry and university English texts as examples.
Alternative publishing can take many forms, such as electronic publishing, print on demand, self publishing, audio formats and others, and SWET Kansai participants explored them well: the variety of publishing options, comparison of traditional with non-traditional publishing, and exploration of the merits and demerits of various approaches considering the needs and aims of the writer and the resources (financial and otherwise) available to her/him.
Presenter Profile
Originally from the USA, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa has lived in Japan since 1989. Currently she works as an associate professor at a national school of education in central Japan. She has well over one hundred publications, including poetry, academic essays, textbooks, literary nonfiction and fiction that have been published via alternative as well as traditional means.
Evening **Christmas Party/Bonenkai** at Balihai Beer Paradise was well attended, with good food, drink, and excellent conversation liberally sprinked with laughs.
If you spend time remembering where the photo gallery is when you visit the SWET Web site, check under “Resources” in the right sidebar!
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Chicago Manual of Style Online
The Chicago Manual of Style Online became available in September.
The Chicago Manual of Style Online, SWET’s style reference for the Newsletter and the Web site, became available in September. Individual subscriptions are $25 for the first year, if one signs up by September 2007, and $30 a year after that.
Monday, September 25, 2006
SWET Kansai Sake Brewery Tour Photos
Photos of the SWET Kansai visit to the Daimon Shuzō sake brewery in Osaka on Sunday, September 10, 2006 are in the Photo Gallery.
SWET Kansai visited the Daimon Shuzō sake brewery (aka Sakahan Brewery) in Osaka on Sunday, September 10, 2006, where the British sake brewmaster Philip Harper, author of The Book of Sake: A Connoisseur’s Guide, just released by Kodansha International, gave a guided tour of the Sakahan brewery where he he works, led a sake tasting, and discussed the writing of his book.
The group enjoyed getting signed copies of the book and lunch at the brewery restaurant. Learning about sake production, sake tasting, writing, translating, and publishing were all part of the afternoon.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
SWET Opens Photo Gallery
SWET’s Photo Gallery is ready for viewing.
SWET is pleased to introduce its new Photo Gallery for members and friends to enjoy photos of interest to SWET, such as photos from events. The first set of photos is from the Kansai Pool Party on July 30.