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After graduation, my brother went traveling. No matter where he ventured in the world, someone was sure to ask him if he wanted a job teaching English. They pay a lot of money in Japan for the American or British accent. One of the jobs countries were looking for were a Japanese translators, and document localization, specialist. My brother loved travelling so much and new that he couldnt travel forever unless he got a job. He was lucky in the fact that he was good at foreign languages. Some people are easily able to speak many languages besides their native tongue. My brother majored in Japanese, so he not only could he speak Japanese, he could write it as well. Therefore, being a Japanese translator would be a perfect job for him. The other job, as a documentation localization has a lengthy job description and required a lot more education then just speaking Japanese. The job description said a document localization specialist would be responsible for: Translating, editing and doing linguistic evaluation of user interfaces from English into the target language. The specialist is responsible for ensuring that translations comply with cultural and industry norms. Prepare translated documents and files for publication or on-line presentation Participate in maintaining technical glossaries, terminology databases and style guidelines Besides having to know two different languages perfectly well, the candidate must know a computer program called CAT, computer, assisted translation tool. He also said the document localization specialist must know HTML, XML and Java and have a Bachelors degree. Wow I thought, no wonder he was constantly asked as an English speaking traveler who knew Japanese and at one time a Japanese translator for a summer job. He didnt have a wife or kids so he wasnt committed in America to anyone or a mortgage either. He called me the night he was approached with the opportunity. I told him it was a great idea and to go for it! He would also be well paid and he would meet a ton of new people. Plus, he would come back to the states with so many new skills, that any documentation localization company would scoop him up in a second. My brother did end up going to Japan to become a documentation localization specialist. He was there for three years. He met so many people and travelled to so many places in Asia. He learned more about a culture and their customs which greatly helped him advance in his position at work and create information products like they were written from a local.
He came back after that time and tried to find a similar job. There were plenty of Japanese translator jobs, but not many documentation localization positions. He said it was because those jobs have been overtaken by translation companies, specializing in software localization, . Although, it is true, localization software cannot replace humans, but it drastically reduces the need to hire a huge staff. He eventually got a job working for one of those translation companies where he was hired to advance software localization. My brother often wonders where he would be if he hadnt travelled after college. I told him he would have found his calling some how, maybe teaching Japanese at a school or working for a travel agent. He just smiles, glad to be where he is today.
About the author: Melissa Peterman is a web content specialist for Innuity. For more information regarding translation companies, software localization, document localization, or Japanese translators, go to www.multiling.com
