News

The SWET Mentorship Program

The SWET mentorship program is a framework for sharing our collective wealth of experience and skills, and for nurturing the rising generation of wordsmiths in Japan-related fields. Our mentorship coordinators play matchmaker between experienced professionals and those in early stages of their careers. A participant may be a mentor in one field and a mentee in another—for instance, an accomplished patent translator who wants guidance in getting her first novel published. Once we’ve paired a mentor and a mentee, they... more

Swet Columns

A “Cook’s Tour” of Some Translation-Related Conferences in 2022

By Judy Wakabayashi

Here are some notes on several workshops and conferences I’ve attended over the past months (mostly online, and just those sessions I attended). The choice is inevitably biased toward my personal research interests and constrained by time zone differences. I hope some aspects might be of interest to other SWET members even if they are not involved in research. In most cases translation is the shared thread, with translation history at the forefront in several instances.

On 25 March... more

Articles

Accessing the Professionals’ Toolboxes

On February 26, 2022, translator and editor Rebekah Harmon joined veteran translator and editor Lynne E. Riggs to talk about ways the professional know-how of editors and J-to-E translators can be accessed and better shared. Lynne E. Riggs is co-founder of the Center for Intercultural Communication (1990) and spent 12 years as managing editor of Monumenta Nipponica. A recent SWET member, Rebekah Harmon formerly worked for institutions under METI and MEXT and now works freelance. The... more

SWET Spotlight

Manga Lettering and Translation

By Susan E. Jones

One of the fantastic aspects of SWET is its inclusivity. Not limited to just one part of the long process of publishing in English, it welcomes writers, translators, editors, and other wordsmiths who contribute in various ways to the finished product. The SWET Talk Shop on August 22, 2020 looked at the skilled craftspeople who are contributing to manga-production by giving the floor to three dedicated manga letterers: Sara Linsley, Brandon Bovia, and Phil Christie. Lettering appreciator... more

A Community for Japan-Related Writing Professionals

Based in Tokyo, Japan, SWET comprises people engaged not only in the three professions of writing, editing, and translating, but also in teaching, research, rewriting, design and production, copywriting, and other areas related to the written word in Japan.