To anyone majoring in Japanese to make a career out of it…

36 comments

1. AI can never truly replace a human translation though, especially for literature and other creative outlets. plus, there are other fields where language skills can definitely be useful.

2. ai can’t even translate rikishi names correctly

3. This was generally the sensible advice pre-AI as well tbh

4. Yeah, I’d say things are getting rough for working in the translation field. AI translation performs really well on technical and legal translation where things are spelled out explicitly, and these used to be two of the higher paid fields for translators. My current work uses deepl quite extensively for translation with a human doublecheck, and I’m rather impressed with how well it works.

   That being said, it still struggles with literary works, so I think there’s maybe another 10 years of employment in that field. But with how rapidly AI is developing, I wouldn’t recommend going into these fields now. If you already do work in these fields, it might be a good idea to learn how to work with these AI tools so that you can do your job even quicker and therefore remain employable

5. Agreed! Having a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese does not make you fluent enough to get a job using the language. You’ll probably be able to pass the N3 but not the N2.

6. I feel you. I just changed careers after trying to work with Japanese for over a decade. I got a master’s in linguistics in Japan, have been teaching, translating and interpreting occasionally, but never a regular job. I still dream of getting a doctor’s degree and teaching at uni, but for now I’m just exhausted.

7. I paid my university by working on eroge localization, but I can’t even imagine trying to pay rent, food, and every other thing that way now that I’m an adult

8. I graduated more than a decade ago and it was rough sledding then and I gave up and became a computer programmer. I’m sure it’s no better now.

9. Weird, in my country (México) you’ll be getting about 5 times the average country salary with no degree for having competent Japanese; double if you can handle Japanese, Spanish and English

   Maybe it’s time to move somewhere else OP

10. Sorry to hear about being unemployed. There’s certainly a lot of people struggling out there these days and pretty much no one is recommending being a translator or interpreter anymore. And having other skills as a backup has always been a good idea.

    All I can say is that specialisation is so incredibly important, more so than ever. I can’t imagine it would be very easy for a fresh graduate, so I understand this kind of post.

    I’ve been really lucky throughout my career. I’m thankful to work with companies that do utilise AI but pay reasonable rates and recognise that patient materials (I mainly do clinical trials these days) should not be fed into the machine, so many jobs remain that must be translated from scratch. I’m positive that I can hold out for the industry to change for the better.

11. I’m going to translate all those visual novels that fans don’t get to know the ending of because the sequel is only in Japanese. I’m going to be hero to all 72 fans and it’s gonna be awesome!

12. My friend did some stuff for Tokyo Pop and worked in a Border’s at the same time. He works in the post office now.

    Just so you know you’re not alone.

13. As a person who’s just about to enter their second year in Japanese major, I honestly expected that. I’m already eyeing something as a second major to do during my masters, because seriously – ain’t no way they’re gonna hire me just because I speak language that’s considered “oriental” in my country

14. >to make a career out of it

    Apparently what you mean is “to make a career out of translation”. I would have agreed before AI came out, and I DEFINITELY agree now. Pretty soon translators will ONLY be necessary for tasks which require someone to be legally responsible (patents, contracts, etc) and even then, AI will speed up the translation process so much, the volume of work you’ll be expected to handle to make a living will be insane.

    However, contrary to what many people on Reddit will tell you, being bilingual is in itself a valuable skill, and there are plenty of career paths *outside* translation that don’t require anything other than a college degree and professional level command of both English and Japanese.

    I majored in Japanese and I got into a career in intellectual property management.

15. There’s literally millions of people who are bilingual. If you’re only skill is speaking Japanese and presumably English, there’s probably thousands of people who can do the job you’re applying for better.

16. I’m sorry to hear that you’re going through that OP. I have used those products and appreciate the work you contributed to it.

    Just trying to think of how I could help. Have you considered positions at Japanese companies abroad like Nintendo of America? I think those companies tend to hire Japanese, as they feel they are more aligned with Japanese culture and of course know Japanese.

17. I totally feel this. I graduated with a Japanese degree a few months ago, and started thinking “Wait what am I even doing?” in my sophomore year. Luckily I’ve established enough steady connections to kind of wiggle my way into the industry I was looking to go into, but I definitely would have been better off majoring in something else.

    I blame my 16 year old self for being bright-eyed and stupid, and my 17/18 year old self for being too much of a wimp to make the commitment and pivot to something else.

18. Yeah, I got that sense too. I love Japanese, I studied for 6 years, but it’s not a career with a bright future.

    Learn Japanese because you love the language and culture, not many careers involving Japanese, or most languages will remain within 10-20 years.

19. I’ve never understood the idea of getting a degree in Japanese to prepare to go to Japan— what skill or ability are you bringing to the country that you expect will get you work?

    It is and has always been far better to get a degree in an actual specialist profession, with a minor in Japanese.

    If you only studied the language, you have nothing to offer other than being slightly less fluent than all of the people who grew up here speaking it.

    Where a degree in Japanese is useful, is *outside* Japan. Other countries need Japanese translators and most have few available. You can also be a teacher or professor in your country.

20. Teaching isn’t an option?

21. This has always been good advice in my opinion. To be successful with a second language, or third, or as a linguist, at least in business and as a profession, you first need a profession. A double major, or a minor in a language is great for your career. But you need a profession.

    I’ve done a lot of translation, and the best paid translators have always been ones that were first lawyers, doctors, scientific researchers etc. But simply trying to make a career of being bilingual is difficult at best. With machine translation it’s even more difficult now, and you can often make more money as a barista.

22. Reminds me of that horrible woke translation where people opted to use ai translations and it was more correct

    Sad that this single thing destroyed your career :/

23. I’m still not losing my hope, and so I wish you’d be doing. I guess you’re a great translator after all

24. I started a major in Japanese, but dropped out during covid when we were unable to exchange to Japan. It has helped me in further culture studies. I think if your goal is to use the culture part of the studies, it’s a great choice. But for the language parts of the studies you’re better off just taking the N3/N2 exam, and only using the language to communicate, not actually for anything work related.

25. I don’t know what I did different, but I did a Magister (old type of master’s degree) in Japanese studies in Germany. After graduation I immediately got headhunters breathing down my neck and got hired by a Japanese corporation for a sales rep job. I switched jobs to take on a leadership position in another Japanese corporation by now and I earn quite a lot with stable employment.
    I’d say my advice is not to forego a Japanese language education, but don’t go for purely translation or localization related jobs after that. Instead try to find Jobs where Japanese is needed, but where you also add some value beyond that.

26. I was an editor 20 years ago, that field completely dried up. People don’t respect training and expertise as much these days. Near enough is good enough *eyeroll*

27. do you have a degree?

28. My Japanese did help me land a job in a Japanese company, but it was for an IT job that needed handling of Japanese clients. I think there are other ways you can use your Japanese and it’s not just about translation of interpretation. I see demands for Japanese speaking people in other job postings as well.

29. As a graduate in Japanese studies, language degrees are basically a scam nowadays. Noone really cares about language proficiency anymore and either way there are so many tools online that help learning a language properly that it doesn’t make any sense to invest time and money on a degree like those ones. One of the worst decisions of my life. I managed to crawl my way into human resources but I feel like I wasted five years of my life lol

30. [deleted]

31. First, if you are willing to move to Texas or Ohio, I have a job for you.

    Second, it is not as hopeless as everyone is making it out to be. I’m a freelance conference interpreter and things have never been better. But there is a lot besides language skills that you need such as people skills, business skills, a professional network, and specialized knowledge. But, all those are achievable.

32. I’ll disagree. It depends on what you want to do. My japanese teacher made a career out of it by working part-time for a japanese company in Belgium as an interpreter and translator but also as a goto person for expats to help them get a drivers license, dealing with a landlord, their cable subscription, etc. She’s also a licensed court translator so she does marriage licenses birth certificates etc.

    It’s true noone is likrly going to be paying you big bucks for translating things all day long. But if you want to do things WITH your language skills you can certainly get a decent income from it.

33. What’s a good career related to languages instead?

34. I did economics and Japanese. 50% each and hold N1 but my career is purely focused on economics as there’s a clear and distinct want and market for it. I’m not saying there’s a market for it, but trying to find a career purely focused on Japanese I imagine would be very tough. I’m not sure if I’d ever be able to do it.

35. Totally agree. Almost thirty years ago I graduated with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and in Japanese. The language skills have opened some amazing doors over the years, not to mentions dozens of trips to Japan. But being an Engineer first was definitely a great move in my life. For me it’s way more fun jumping into technical meetings as a full participant and solid contributor with my own ideas, rather than just translating the thoughts of others (though helping to facilitate the conversation between groups that couldn’t otherwise communicate is also rewarding.) The solid knowledge of not just the vocabulary but the real conceptual and technical background make the translation part almost an afterthought at times. Fun stuff!

36. i always admire Egyptologists who learn German, French, Arabic, as well as Middle Egyptian and Coptic, only to graduate and scramble to find a job at a college or museum. if you plan a career in languages, rather than just a hobby, consider that there are millions of native speakers of a foreign language who have spent their lives learning English. What can you bring to table that others can’t? Specialize in a particular area and reach a high level there. Brainstorm and research as many avenues for your particular skills. Just knowing Japanese is like being a great college player dreaming of the NBA.