Hey everyone
I moved to Tokyo a couple weeks ago and I’m going to be studying at a language school here for the next year. My Japanese is already around N2 level, so my goal is to pass at least the N2(possibly N1) test by the time I finish the school. I just graduated from college in the states with a B.A. in English.
I want to find a job in Japan after finishing my school, preferably not teaching English. I’m really interested in doing translation/localization or some sort of international relations work, but I know that I’ll probably need a much higher level of proficiency to qualify for those kinds of jobs.
What kind of opportunities are available for somebody with N1 level Japanese, outside of the STEM and English teaching fields?
If anybody was in a similar situation to me, I would be really interested to hear about your experiences.
I know that it might be difficult for me to find something outside of English teaching, but I am asking this to see if anybody has advice on how to make myself more marketable and eventually reach my goal of finding translation work.
Thank you 🙂
EDIT: Thank you for so many helpful responses. You guys gave me a lot to think about and I really appreciate it. Shocked by the incessant downvoting and toxicity on this subreddit tho…
19 comments
I think you should focus on the test.
You are not N1 or N2. You have neither.
Recruiting is the lowest hanging fruit I can think of. It might be marginally better than English teaching though.
I’m no expert but if I were you, I’d maybe start with some practice on your own, for example translating Japanese texts at home that you’re interested in. Use it as proof that you have experience and try to land a small gig on the side for more experience. Once you graduate you’re a step closer to reaching a full-time position at a company for anything translation related.
If you’re just looking for a job and you pass N1, you can try indeed and sites like r-recruit that have an abundance of non-stem jobs, though they’re targeted towards Japanese people. R-recruit will even assist you by assigning a dedicated agent to recommend you and set up interviews for suitable positions. I’ve had interviews from both sites and from my experience there are a lot of companies that are foreigner friendly (as long as you can communicate smoothly and understand Japanese etiquette), especially if they’re already dealing with overseas clients/companies.
Bad news: even with JLPT N1 and nothing else, you’re still behind a native Japanese speaker, in Japan, who cannot do anything else except “know Japanese”
Good news: you can still choose a topic and try to leverage it to turn into a skill.
I work at a hotel :). Or there’s lots of foreign companies such as apple store or apparel shops for temporary work. But they pay decent. What are your interests? Some of my friends here are working at film/photography studios as well. I also would recommend to try and network and meet people for job opportunities.
To be honest, N1 is just an entry ticket, you also need some professional language qualification like [Kanken](https://www.kanken.or.jp/kanken/) (or [BJT](https://www.kanken.or.jp/bjt/)) to prove your Japanese skills, on top of that, [JTA](https://www.jta-net.or.jp/) or [JTF](https://kentei.jtf.jp/) for translation related jobs. It’s always good to have something other than JLPT even its basic levels. Japanese companies love to see any certification on your resume.
If a company needs someone to handle the English side of their business, it could be easier to:
A) hire a native English speaker (like future you with N1/N2 level Japanese) and teach them (easy relative to language learning) the job rather than…
B) get an existing Japanese employee who knows the job and wait for them to miraculously “git gud” at English.
Let’s face it, unless it’s super technical stuff (ie programming, deep accounting/corporate finance, architecture, nuclear physics etc) 90% of “work” is actually straightforward. Click this. Type this here. Put this into here. Meet with this person decide on this mundane thing, relay that to Sato san. Make some slides to get approval from bucho etc etc etc.
I remember almost getting a job that was pretty much just a glorified translator + interpreter rolled into one with *very* surface level accounting knowledge required (ie something you could learn on youtube in a few hours). Practically anyone with good Japanese could’ve done that job (I turned it down because I happened to have a better offer) and yet apparently there weren’t that many candidates going for it (massive company and this was before covid etc).
**tl;dr it is possible to get an OK job (outside teaching or recruiting) with “know Japanese” because I did exactly that**.
OK qualifier, I’m (probably) older than you and had a good 6-7 years of “proper” work experience (not working in McDonalds or something like that) so going into it with next to zero work experience could be challenging.
That said, if you don’t apply for the job you’ll never get the job.
You just have to make sure your Japanese really is “good” to the point that the prospective employer thinks “*OK great language is not an issue, we just need to train them up in our systems/processes to do the job, let’s make them an offer*”.
You can do almost anything except some government jobs, policeman, jsdf or job requiring to have a local licence.
So it depends on your marketable skills
Honestly? There’s not that much you can do with a degree in English and sub-fluent Japanese language skills in Japan as a foreigner except for English teaching or manual labour.
If I were you I’d start really thinking, seriously, about what you want to do with your career *regardless of Japan and Japanese*. Even if that means you go home after your stint in the language school to get qualified.
If you really want to go into translation, it’s possible (I’m a graduate from a translation school myself, some of my classmates got jobs in the field), but you will need to have translation-relevant experience and a portfolio to even get your foot in the door. It goes without saying you’ll at the very least need to pass the N1. Bear in mind that the N1 is significantly more difficult to pass than the N2.
Most companies wanting to hire an in-house translator honestly won’t care about other qualifications, but they will help you find work if you decide to go freelance later down the line. You will need the N1 to get an interview, then you will need to be able to prove you can translate to your prospective employer. Translation is NOT the kind of career you can “learn on the job”. You have to be able to translate, well and ideally in both directions, before you can get a job.
If you want to do anything else, you will need to speak Japanese well enough to not be any hinderance to business, **while also providing some other value.** No Japanese-speaking company will hire you instead of a native Japanese speaker unless the benefit to hiring you, the value you bring, is significant enough to outweigh both a Japanese candidate’s qualifications and the increased risk of hiring a foreigner.
For example, if you want to go into IT in Japan, you will need to speak Japanese well enough to be able to work in the fully Japanese environment, plus have some IT qualifications (preferably Japanese national qualifications) or enough relevant experience. Just like if you were applying for an IT job in an English-speaking country, now you need to bring all of that value in addition to speaking Japanese fluently.
tl;dr
If you want to work in Japan not as anything other than an English teacher, you need to be qualified to work in that field in addition to speaking at least business-level Japanese. Translation and interpreting require much higher language skills and experience, anything else will require other relevant skills and qualifications in addition to the language.
Best to start by actually passing the N2 this year and give the N1 a go next year before even thinking about non-teaching jobs in Japan.
Maybe English proofreading or editing
Try searching on rikunabi next
If you want to do translation related:
1) Take the TOEIC test. You should get 990. If not I would ask my college for its money back.
2) Take the JLPT N2 (preferably N1)
3a) talk to a recruiter about translation jobs. Find companies that do translation. Become a translation coordinator
3b) Pass the translation tests for some of the translation companies. Or start as a freelancer
4) After a while realize that translation is mostly underpaid and the company is taking a hefty margin
4a) Take your sales experience and pivot into something else using language + sales
5b) Take your experience and become a freelance translator again for as long as google allows
There is always nepotism if that is an option for you. Depending on the University you graduated and the connections, there is academics, international corporations like the UN (volunteer in a third world country first),… But if that was the case you would not be asking.
I worked at a hotel for a couple of years. Got hired pre-covid because they handled a lot of foreign guests. N1 required for keigo and understanding Japanese business culture, English required to handle English phone calls and emails, as well as go on business matching events 商談会 with foreign tour offices.
Dunno how the hotel market is these days, but since borders are ostensibly open, i’m guessing they’ll be needing more international staff.
Edit: my degree was in Japanese language, so i’d say my situation was pretty similar.
Speaking from experience, you’re probably not going to be able to find a full-time steady job right away, or at least one that pays like it without a lot of prior experience in the respective field.
IMO it’s best to just endure a bit longer while doing translation/localization freelance on the side to build up a portfolio.
If you’re working at a language school and not as an ALT, you’re probably under an Engineer/ Specialist in Humanities visa which will allow you to engage in translation work. Otherwise you’ll need to apply for a special permissions visa to legally do so (at least I had to since i was under an Instructor visa at that time when i was doing freelance translation… Maybe 7 or 8 years ago).
I’m assuming you also know the difference between translation and localization. I’ve met so many people who apply for these kinds of jobs because they speak English and “understand” Japanese but they get in way over their heads because they don’t understand why their translated drafts are being sent back time and time again.
Anyway. This is what i did as an N2 holder. I failed N1 twice and I don’t see a point or any benefit in trying it a third time at my age in Japan lol.
You will be tailor-made to teach English, so that’s what you will likely do. You don’t even know what else you could do, which further emphasizes that point. Translation doesn’t pay as well as you may think, and you’ll have to get pretty qualified to do anything that really makes you enough money to get by. International relations work might be available, but why would anyone hire you over someone else, for example, who has a degree in international relations? You could always try applying for JET to become a Coordinator of International Relations, however, you’ll have to make your application in the US (may be able to do it online from Japan), and you’ll have to do the interview in the US. Those positions are few and far between though. Other work options in Japan would be things like factory worker, convenience store clerk (expect a lot of racism and anger at your poor Japanese), waiter (see previous). Unless you have specific skills, there’s not a lot more outside of labour jobs. Even then, there’s going to be stiff competition with Japanese workers.
Just the fact you have a degree in English is going to give you leverage in getting a good teaching job, unlike most other foreign English teachers in Japan. Use it to your advantage to have better pay and conditions, then you can contemplate other work while you’re doing that.
Start networking irl. Best advice for any student honestly.
My best jobs were always from randomly talking to people / making friends, be it in the US or in Japan.
>I’m really interested in doing translation/localization
The current and projected state of machine translation is quickly making this a very, very poor career path. I strongly recommend reconsidering.
I think my company (LionBridge) is hiring translators, but you would have to be in your A game to join in as one. We also do localization for gaming; our localization team is about 3 months old, but we are growing extremely fast. I was very fortunate enough to join when there were about 6 people in the team. Now, we are 42 with more still coming in. I heard we’re currently not taking more people in because we already have an overwhelming amount of applicants.
However, we do have a FQA (Function Quality Assurance) team and apparently we still need more people for that. This is not language related; this is straight up game testing, and the pay is lower.
The word around the company is that we’re planning to open a new branch in Tokyo maybe next year (nothing is set in stone, so take this with a grain of salt.) If this happens, just keep an eye out for LionBridge.
What this really depends on is: what skills and experience are you carrying over from your home country?
It is common for foreigners living in Japan to view speaking English as an employable skill in this country and I suppose it is if you are an ALT or something of that nature. I’d like to draw a distinction between them and true English teachers who should bring skills and certifications along with them (TEFL certs, etc.). They can work in TEFL in their home country too making this a hard skill vs. ALTs who… well… I’ll stop myself before the extra downvotes come.
Some foreigners in this country go a step further and believe that, simply due to speaking English, they are suitable for positions that require specialized skills and experience simply because the position is partially or fully in English… despite lacking said skills and experience.
…it is similarly common for foreigners to view speaking Japanese as an employable skill as well. It helps, certainly, but it is not an employable skill when >98% of the population can do the same.
What I am trying to say is this: ***if*** you do not bring over any hard skills or experience and/or ***if*** your Japanese does not progress to a professional working proficiency you will be starting from scratch in Japan. Starting from scratch will not be a cake walk & will depend heavily on your ability to market yourself, to network and to focus on your professional development and growth.
Can you be successful here as a EN/JP speaker? Certainly, and I hope you are! But please consider the reality of what speaking English and Japanese can bring you & try to add hard skills and marketable experience to complement your language abilities.
Good luck to ya!
Public relations companies that specialize in foreign firms.