Interest in (free) Japanese>English translation? How could we go about doing this?

Hi nuts,

Canadian expat based in Japan here. Have been studying Japanese quite intensively for several years and recently been trying to break into freelance translation as a side-gig. I've done most of my research and study about bonsai in Japanese as those are the materials easily available to me. It's amounted to some fairly extensive reading and I feel fairly comfortable translating most bonsai-related text.

The issue with freelance translation is the old catch-22 of, you need experience and nobody is willing to pay you to get experience. What I am hoping to offer is a first-come, first-serve bonsai-related volunteer translation service. This would be in my spare time and at my own leisure, but it's better than paying a professional, right?

I hoping this can potentially be mutually beneficial as it will provide you a better understanding of the material you're trying to figure out, and it will provide me with some much needed practice as well as something to add to a portfolio of work. I can't necessarily promise a perfect translation, but it will certainly be better than anything google could spit out.

What I am hoping to get from you all now are your thoughts on how we could set this up so that I can get to your requests in a somewhat civilized and timely way.

Please comment and share your thoughts below on how this could potentially work.
Looking forward to hearing from you all.

I think that's cool.

Are you...like....over the bridge from Detroit Canadian?

Cuz I swear something....

Is your screenname what a tree says in spring?

Sounds like a tree from Detroit! Lol!

I'mma start another fight on your thread and make your business famous! Hehehe!
Sorry bout that!

Sorce

Back when I was in high school, I made some cash from a website called freelancer.org. I don't know if it still exists.
It was mainly scam websites and shady travel agencies (that also tried to scam people) that needed translations but the money was good. I ended up doing EN-NL translations for one of those parties for another four years without the site, for double the money.

I don't see any demand for this on any level. What bonsai info can't be obtained in English today??

Yamabudoudanshi said:

What I am hoping to get from you all now are your thoughts on how we could set this up so that I can get to your requests in a somewhat civilized and timely way.

Click to expand...

Are you thinking whole books or articles? One difficulty is how to get the material to you ...if its not already digital.

I'm thinking more along the lines of individual articles, diagrams, inscriptions, that sort of thing.

Maybe it would be best to set a page limit in order to keep some semblance of fairness. As the amount of time I would have to devote to this would vary from week-to-week, month-to-month, it wouldn't really be fare to tie myself down to a big project. That, and if someone is looking to translate an entire book, it would probably be better to hire a professional with much more experience than I possess.

How does a 3-page limit for dense text, and maybe a 5-page limit for looser, more image focused text sound to those interested? On a first come-first serve basis of course.

Regarding how to get the material to me, all of it would have to be digital. I understand that most of what people would likely want to be translated will not be digital files, but from books/magazines. I can of course work with material like this if it is sent to me in a high-resolution scan. I can then type-set over the file to create a new 'English version' of it. Perhaps if I set up a dedicated email address for people to send things to that might be best?

Thanks for the feedback.