Japan Association of Conference Interpreters

The Blonde Interpreter – Part 2

My second opportunity to go to Japan came in the fourth year of my undergraduate studies. Unlike the term in Japan in the first year, spending a year in Japan between the third and fourth years of th...

The Blonde Interpreter – Part 1

I’m a celebrity. At least, that is, according to my old Sunday school teacher, my drama teacher, my Dad’s financial adviser, or anyone from the village where I grew up. The reason for my sudden fame?...

[JIF2023] How Can Interpreters Respond to the Rise of the Machines?

Jonathan Downie Dr Jonathan Downie is a consultant church and conference interpreter and interpreting researcher. His second book "Interpreters vs Machines: Can interpreters survive in an AI-d...

[JIF2023] Between Composition and Translation

Photo: Tadayuki Minamoto Gregory Khezrnejat Author, literary researcher. Ph.D., Japanese literature (Doshisha University, 2017). Currently serving as associate professor at the Hosei University...

[Webinar] Solo Simultaneous Interpreting – Traditions, Research and New Challenges

Udo Jorg Udo Jorg, a German national, trained as a conference interpreter at the University of Vienna, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and the University of Bradford. He carried out resear...

[JITF2022] Parallels between Music and Interpretation Practice and Performance

Laura Burian Laura Burian is a Professor of Chinese/ English interpretation and Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) at the Middlebury In...

[JITF2022] The Balance Between Services and Remuneration for Professional Interpreters

Seth A. Reames After taking a year off from his U.S. college education at the age of 19 and learning professionally at a translation company in Japan, Seth Reames returned and obtained his und...

[JITF2022] YOU GOT THIS! 

Ewandro Magalhaes Ewandro Magalhaes is a writer, former United Nations staff and a conference interpreter. He is also a TED author, a professor and a former Chief Interpreter in the UN system....

[JITF2022] How Should Interpreters Defend Their Interests When Doing RSI

Tony Rosado For over 30 years, Tony has worked as conference interpreter for many highprofile events and clients, including the U.S. Department of State as an independent contractor; major rad...

Japanese-English Subtitling Workshop #1

The Japan Association of Conference Interpreters collaborated with Rikkyo University to provide a special workshop (internship program from Nov. 2021 to Jan. 2022) on Japanese-English subtitling, tau...

[JITF2021] Exploring the Philosophy of Sign Language Interpreting in light of the Wishes of the Deaf and the Theory and Practice of Sign Language Interpreting

Norio Kawane My first step toward becoming a sign language interpreter was the 20-hour Sign Language Volunteer Training Course held for the first time in Chiba Prefecture in 1971 (the fiscal y...

[JITF2021] Entertainment Interpreters in the Field – To Promote Films More

Yoshiko Okura Mainly works as an English-Japanese interpreter in the entertainment industry for movies and TV dramas, as well as a translator of advertisements. After graduating from universit...

[JITF2021] Consecutive Interpreting – Memory and Note-taking

Andrew Gillies Andy Gillies has been a freelance conference interpreter since 1996 and works from French, German and Polish into English at a number of International Institutions as well as fo...

[JITF2021] Note-taking Techniques: Why do I need those?

Debra Russell Debra is a Canadian certified interpreter, educator and researcher. As the previous David Peikoff Chair of Deaf Studies, at the University of Alberta, her research interests incl...

[JITF2021] Interpreting Services Price Quotes for the New Normal

Judy Jenner Judy Jenner is a Spanish and German business and legal translator and federally court-certified Spanish interpreter and conference interpreter in Las Vegas. She has an MBA in marke...

[JITF2021] Sound Choices for RSI – How To Create Your Ideal Audio Setup

Naomi Bowman Naomi Bowman is CEO of DS-Interpretation, Inc., a US-based conference interpreting services company that will be celebrating its 50th year in business in 2022. The company has bee...

[JITF2021] The Skills Of An Actor In Interpreting

Matthew Perret Matthew Perret has been writing and performing drama and comedy since childhood, first appearing in a one-man-show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe aged 19. He studied languages...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #6 – Exciting, Yet Hazy Future

I. Prologue It was pure white. The kind of white that seemed inconceivable for a human face. On it, there were swirls of red in every direction. As the Kabuki actor Nakamura Hashigo continued to r...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #5 – Interpreting Word for Word

Antipasto (Before the Meal) For me, part of the allure of becoming an interpreter was the opportunity to help bridge the gap. It is very fulfilling to be able to give two people or groups of peopl...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #4 – Freefall

Jump on the count of three. One... Life is funny. Hard to predict. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something comes your way that you weren’t expecting. You see, the first week ...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #3 – Please Fasten your Seat Belts

START YOUR ENGINES What happens when you have trained for years to be a conference interpreter, but the job that falls in your lap is all about technical translation? In a word, panic!! And wha...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #2 – Around the world in 80+ Days

ON YOUR MARK The branches whipped into the car furiously knocking my elderly friends off their seats. The brake’s harsh squeal was matched only by the piercing horn, alerting onlookers to step asi...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #1 – Unpredictable Beginnings

Overture It seems to me that big changes often happen in your life when you least expect it. For me, it was when I arrived at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I was ...

[JITF2020] Finding Your Place in the Premium Market

Chris Durban Chris Durban is a US-born freelance translator based in Paris, where she translates business texts from French into English for demanding clients. She translates every day and enj...

[JITF2020] Patent Translation: First Steps

Thomas Kaiser Born and raised in Australia, Tom studied computer science and Japanese at the Australian National University, and first worked as a software engineer in the Australian Public Se...

[JITF2020] The World of Poker English

Munehiko Matsuyama Probably Japan's one and only translator specializing in poker.  His main work is translation of poker textbooks, of which he has translated more than ten volumes.  Besides ...

[JITF2020] Introductory Voice and Articulation Training for Interpreters

Yuko Hirai She has been providing voice training courses for interpreters since three years ago.  Most of her students are interpreters in their twenties through seventies.  She gives lessons ...

[JITF2020] Art Translation: A Field of Creation That Starts with Asking “Is Interpreting Necessary?”

©︎Hajime Kato Kanoko Tamura Art translator (translator/interpreter).  She presides over the "Art Translators Collective," an activity group of translators and interpreters specializing in art, ...

[JITF2020] Learning about English Expressions and the World of Spirituality from the Bible – Live!

Tokuhiro Chinen Simultaneous conference interpreter and translator.  President of Logos Agency G.K., owner of Cafe Lighthouse, evangelist and pastor.  Graduated from Rutger's University in New...

[JITF2020] The Significance of Translation Agencies from the Perspective of Translators

Sagiri Yamakawa An English to Japanese and Japanese to English translator with 15 years of experience.  After leaving her studies in the Faculty of Law, Kyoto University, she became a freelanc...