I-Is this thing still on?
Well it appears I've fallen off the map here in Tokyo
Actually what I think happened, is that I had a short lul of not much to write about, then I just didn't feel like writing, and then it was just too much to write to keep up, and then that kept snowballing into now. Has it really been almost 4 months? Well I've got a lot of time on my hands now (I'm 1/2 way through my 2 month semester break), and I'll make some attempts at, how should I say, back-blogging, later, posting some blogs about some highlights of some various events I've had in this now... rather large gap.
Aside from that, how bout a quick update on where things are in my life in my small lil corner of Heiwadai, Tokyo...
For one, I HAVE A JOB! Can you believe it? How did I manage to get off my lazy butt and find a job you say? ...I didn't. A friend of mine pretty much put this job right in my lap, haha. On top of that, its prolly a better job than I could ever hope for. I'm translating Japanese manga. Basically... the Japanese equivalent of comics I suppose (although I must strongly protest that they are in fact very different). But a good comparison would prolly be: American cartoons are to comics as Japanese anime is to manga. Anyways, its a pretty good job.
Its actually this new company (I believe a part of Toshiba?) called manganovel, and its a system where you can go online, buy, and download translated or untranslated manga. And they want me to be one of their translators. Turns out one of the managers at the company was a graduate of Sophia, and I believe a friend of my friend's... family... or some interesting relation like that. Anyways, I'm doing translation work, and heres the best part: It's via the web, aka: computers right? In other words, all the work I'm doing is on a program from my own computer. Which means, I can work on translating wherever I want, whenever I want, on my own time. Pretty much the ultimate freedom of scheduling, which will be perfect for fitting in my schedule, or really anyone's schedule. Plus, since eventually I'll be able to submit all of my work online, I theoretically should be able to continue this job after I get back to the states.
We've yet to discuss a contract and salary, etc, but thats coming soon. Actually meant to go and do that today, but my friend appears to be sick and couldn't make it, so it's been moved to Monday instead, which is just fine with me, it break so I've got a ton of time on my hands. Well my friend mentioned it might be around $200 a book (150 pg...ish), I'll definitely speed up the process as I gain more experience, but in my first attempts at translating a novel, it took me about 20 hours to complete. That puts me at around $10/hr, which is a little under par as to what I'm hoping on getting. You see, if I were to do any other Japanese/English related job (ie: Teaching, Tutoring, or English Conversation) I would be payed at least 2000-3000 yen starting (under $20-30) Granted I've no official translating experience, or any Japanese proficiency certification or anything, but those other jobs require even less Japanese ability to work. As well, this job is a one man job. I'm doing all the editing and proof work, so it's more than just translating. Plus, I'm an American and speak American English. As long as I can get the gist of the feeling for the translation, my American English fluency will make for a very smooth translation. We're meeting with them again on Monday, hopefully we'll be able to work out something reasonable. I'm hoping for around 2000-3000 yen/hr
Aside from that, boy its really been a long time hasn't it. For those of you whom are unawares, I have successfully... succeeded in acquiring the mutual affections of the female Japanese species. Or rather, I have a girlfriend now, haha. We've been dating for, about 4 months now (I think thats also the reason why I 'lost' time to keep up with my blog back then). Yes, she is Japanese. Does she speak English? Yes. What language do we speak? Well contrary to what she believes, I think her English is quite good, however from the start my goal has been to speak Japanese whenever possible, so yes, our primary form of communication would be: Japanese. We've actually been speaking that since the beginning, so it feels very strange to speak in English with her. Its quite interesting having a relationship in a different language though. As well its helping with my proficiency immensely. At the very least, I'm getting very VERY familiar with speaking the language.
Oh, her name, were you interested in that? She'd prolly be already super embarrassed to learn I'm talking about her here anyways, but w/e. Her name's Kanako Hori. I just call her Kana though, simple and easy, haha. She's from Kyushu, the furthest southwestern island of the 4 main islands of Japan. In other words, she doesn't really know what winter is like, haha. Anyways, she's in Australia right now for about a month studying abroad in Brisbane (this was decided before we started dating, afterwards she wasn't as excited about going, haha). Kinda a bummer without her around though. Suddenly I've run out of plans and such to keep me busy. But now that I have a job, I can be *gasp* productive and make some money to help fund my life in this ridiculously expensive city
Well I think that just about covers everything for the time being. More to come with my attempts at back-blogging as soon at google unlocks my blog (I think it was locked cause I haven't updated it in so long and it was just filled with the same links for too long). I will be putting forth redoubled efforts at getting pictures back online, as well as some videos.
Until then~
Actually what I think happened, is that I had a short lul of not much to write about, then I just didn't feel like writing, and then it was just too much to write to keep up, and then that kept snowballing into now. Has it really been almost 4 months? Well I've got a lot of time on my hands now (I'm 1/2 way through my 2 month semester break), and I'll make some attempts at, how should I say, back-blogging, later, posting some blogs about some highlights of some various events I've had in this now... rather large gap.
Aside from that, how bout a quick update on where things are in my life in my small lil corner of Heiwadai, Tokyo...
For one, I HAVE A JOB! Can you believe it? How did I manage to get off my lazy butt and find a job you say? ...I didn't. A friend of mine pretty much put this job right in my lap, haha. On top of that, its prolly a better job than I could ever hope for. I'm translating Japanese manga. Basically... the Japanese equivalent of comics I suppose (although I must strongly protest that they are in fact very different). But a good comparison would prolly be: American cartoons are to comics as Japanese anime is to manga. Anyways, its a pretty good job.
Its actually this new company (I believe a part of Toshiba?) called manganovel, and its a system where you can go online, buy, and download translated or untranslated manga. And they want me to be one of their translators. Turns out one of the managers at the company was a graduate of Sophia, and I believe a friend of my friend's... family... or some interesting relation like that. Anyways, I'm doing translation work, and heres the best part: It's via the web, aka: computers right? In other words, all the work I'm doing is on a program from my own computer. Which means, I can work on translating wherever I want, whenever I want, on my own time. Pretty much the ultimate freedom of scheduling, which will be perfect for fitting in my schedule, or really anyone's schedule. Plus, since eventually I'll be able to submit all of my work online, I theoretically should be able to continue this job after I get back to the states.
We've yet to discuss a contract and salary, etc, but thats coming soon. Actually meant to go and do that today, but my friend appears to be sick and couldn't make it, so it's been moved to Monday instead, which is just fine with me, it break so I've got a ton of time on my hands. Well my friend mentioned it might be around $200 a book (150 pg...ish), I'll definitely speed up the process as I gain more experience, but in my first attempts at translating a novel, it took me about 20 hours to complete. That puts me at around $10/hr, which is a little under par as to what I'm hoping on getting. You see, if I were to do any other Japanese/English related job (ie: Teaching, Tutoring, or English Conversation) I would be payed at least 2000-3000 yen starting (under $20-30) Granted I've no official translating experience, or any Japanese proficiency certification or anything, but those other jobs require even less Japanese ability to work. As well, this job is a one man job. I'm doing all the editing and proof work, so it's more than just translating. Plus, I'm an American and speak American English. As long as I can get the gist of the feeling for the translation, my American English fluency will make for a very smooth translation. We're meeting with them again on Monday, hopefully we'll be able to work out something reasonable. I'm hoping for around 2000-3000 yen/hr
Aside from that, boy its really been a long time hasn't it. For those of you whom are unawares, I have successfully... succeeded in acquiring the mutual affections of the female Japanese species. Or rather, I have a girlfriend now, haha. We've been dating for, about 4 months now (I think thats also the reason why I 'lost' time to keep up with my blog back then). Yes, she is Japanese. Does she speak English? Yes. What language do we speak? Well contrary to what she believes, I think her English is quite good, however from the start my goal has been to speak Japanese whenever possible, so yes, our primary form of communication would be: Japanese. We've actually been speaking that since the beginning, so it feels very strange to speak in English with her. Its quite interesting having a relationship in a different language though. As well its helping with my proficiency immensely. At the very least, I'm getting very VERY familiar with speaking the language.
Oh, her name, were you interested in that? She'd prolly be already super embarrassed to learn I'm talking about her here anyways, but w/e. Her name's Kanako Hori. I just call her Kana though, simple and easy, haha. She's from Kyushu, the furthest southwestern island of the 4 main islands of Japan. In other words, she doesn't really know what winter is like, haha. Anyways, she's in Australia right now for about a month studying abroad in Brisbane (this was decided before we started dating, afterwards she wasn't as excited about going, haha). Kinda a bummer without her around though. Suddenly I've run out of plans and such to keep me busy. But now that I have a job, I can be *gasp* productive and make some money to help fund my life in this ridiculously expensive city
Well I think that just about covers everything for the time being. More to come with my attempts at back-blogging as soon at google unlocks my blog (I think it was locked cause I haven't updated it in so long and it was just filled with the same links for too long). I will be putting forth redoubled efforts at getting pictures back online, as well as some videos.
Until then~
posted by Kurisu at
5:38 PM
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