Quote:
Originally Posted by KaiTea
I am thinking that I should go to a University and obtain an undergraduate degree (again) in Japanese and then head straight to the Linguistics Masters with Japanese Acquisition program.
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If you really are set on becoming a translator, this is likely the road you'd have to take. I queried a bunch of professional J-to-E translators (mostly living in Japan) about what it takes to become a translator, and the two things I got out of it were:
1. It's very difficult to get into translating after just a bachelor's degree in Japanese -- at least freelance translating. In-house translating might be an option, but even then, there are a lot of other competent bilingual people that you'll be competing with.
2. Professional translating requires Japanese skills surpassing even that of a native-born Japanese. Four years of university study won't get you there unless you study intensively at a university IN Japan.
There are variables though, such as do you want to work in Japan or your home country? What kind of media do you want to translate (legal and medical translation jobs are the most available and highest paying jobs, whereas more 'fun' jobs like translating manga or magazines are scarce).
There are other routes to doing translation work. I do translation work, but I am not a professional translator, I'm a CIR with the JET Programme. I usually only translate short documents, and I take longer to translate than a professional translator would. For me, translation is only a small aspect of my job, and this particular job is a good stepping stone for getting some experience and possibly moving on to becoming a real translator. When I asked professional J-to-E translators about their jobs, the vast majority of them said they sort of 'fell into' translating (very few of them went through university specifically to become a translator).
Anyway, hope that helps.