Just as the title states. Is it unreasonable as a 18 year old just heading to college to pursue a career in translation with only around a year of self-taught Japanese under their belt? I’d been struggling to find what I wanted to pursue as a career, or even an interest in college, that was until around a year ago. On a whim, I bought Genki I and started studying everyday with all the resources available. I’d never really found an interest that kept me engaged as much as learning Japanese has! I’ve kept this habit up for that entire year and I have yet to lose interest! I’m maybe at most a low N4 or high N5 and I was wondering if this was enough to enter into the major. The university I’m going to actually has a renowned Japanese course (surprisingly) and that has inspired me even more. But I can’t help but think I’m too late to join in, after all I’ve only started last year. I’d just like to hear your thoughts on the matter and if it’s unreasonable please tell me! Thanks!
23 comments
You are 18 years old, there are people I know who started studying university in their 30s. There are also people here in their 40s and 50s who are sharing tips with each other about studying Japanese. It’s never too late to start studying something you’re interested in.
I don’t like to be a wet blanket, but despite the current state of machine translation, it only ever gets better. GPT4, for example, does a surprisingly good job of translation. No doubt there’s room for improvement, but that will come rapidly and soon there will be no competing with machines.
Personally I’d be looking for some other career and keep translation as an interest that you may be able to pursue later (if machines turn out to be a damp squib).
I’d go for engineering
Translation is gonna A) get worse soon B) be competitive C) have a low salary and D) probably get old real fast since you’re picking it up on a whim
keep translation/Japanese learning as a hobby and major in something that can get you a job.
The translation programs I am familiar with are for masters degrees and require proof of fluency (via taking an exam with oral and written components) as part of the application process.
So AFAIK, if you are just learning Japanese, you won’t be able to do a translation degree. You’ll need to learn Japanese *first*, become fluent, and then get your degree.
In the meantime, it is probably better to major in something else.
Lots of good advice here already. I’ll try to broaden the perspective a bit. First off, if you are in the US you are statistically likely to have about five careers in your lifetime, so what you start with is only just what you start with. If you want to do any STEM careers, you will need to start there. And if you have the interest/talent/ability in that area, seriously consider it. If not… Well, for non-STEM careers it really doesn’t matter what your BA is, as long as you have one. I’ve hired hundreds of people in 3 or more fields, and I mainly care whether they have completed a degree, and if they have recent relevant experience in the field I’m hiring for. On a resume, Japanese translation is no more or less interesting than English lit, business, communications, philosophy, or any other liberal arts degree. The important thing is you have a degree (there are labor-law implications for salaried positions that make a degree important in some areas).
You are 18, interested in Japanese, and ready to do college. So go and do it! You may end up working as a translator, but honestly it is far more likely you will end up working is some other job where knowing both languages is useful or necessary, but you are not being paid strictly as a translator. And you could easily end up in a job that has no connection to Japanese. And that is fine too! You won’t have lost anything important by majoring in it. (Sure, there is “opportunity cost” in the sense that you could have spent the time studying computer science or electrical engineering, but if yo have no interest in these, you can discount that fact.) Knowing a second language is really good for developing flexible thinking, and you’ll learn a whole lot more along the way as well. Plenty of people who do hiring know this, even if what they are hiring for has no connection to your other language. I don’t see how it would ever be a disadvantage.
Just try stuff out and see what you like. That’s the best advice I can give you from my experience. And never just do something because someone said so.
Take all the useful advices in consideration and form your own decision.
Family members that have gone into translation only got certificates to begin working as a translator, not a full 4 year degree. You could probably work in translation by just acquiring certificates, and get a fall-back degree in college that is unrelated
The major is specifically translation and this is an undergraduate degree? I wouldn’t go for it if so. Major in Japanese language if the university offers it, so you’re not stuck in a straight line to becoming a translator with only undergrad level coursework. Take additional classes on culture or history of Japan as well as anything on modern business/industry practices there. I think being a broader language + culture expert is a safer plan given AI developments which will undoubtedly make it difficult to find lower level translation jobs when you’ve graduated.
Personally, if I was in university right now with the same interests I had like 10 years ago, I’d stick to my bio major and focus heavily on minoring in Japanese. After graduation, I know that would have opened up doors to applying to pharma/biotech companies that require a person who can facilitate projects and communicate on an industry-specific level between US and Japanese teams. I’ve seen those positions repeatedly, but I would never be able to apply if I wasn’t at least sort of familiar with Japanese and be working in biotech/pharma.
Think about what interests you and why you’re learning Japanese. You into games, anime, movies? Get familiar with those sectors and how Japanese companies function then explore where you can fit in as some kind of subject matter expert.
It would not be prudent to go for a 4 year degree with the express intent of becoming a translator. Instead you could study something with a good job market and maybe use your self learned japanese ability in conjunction with your college degree to find a technical writing job or something related to translation in that field.
I truly wish translation paid better. If I could get paid really well for translating, I’d probably drop everything I’m doing right now and concentrate on studying Japanese and translation specifically, because I really love translating.
But the truth is, you can do translation on the side or without a degree. There are a lot of degrees that will make you money (mostly science/engineering). Even if you don’t end up making your degree into your career, you can have it as a backup and do what you love.
If you’re not sure what you want to do with your life, I would not spend money on going to college. Unless you’re in a country where it’s free, then sure, go for it.
Unfortunately, translations are a massively saturated market which doesn’t pay well. There’s a couple of possibly more useful things you could do once you get good at Japanese
– work for a Japanese company (not necessarily in Japan)
– work as a tutor/teacher for Japanese (good ones who are not native speakers are actually hard to find)
– become a YouTuber with bilingual content or maybe even a VTuber
You can still do translations on a side as a hobby for extra coin.
You’d be better off with a degree in almost anything else, a minor in Japanese, and maybe a translation certificate.
But, a good amount of education is a roll of the dice. I come from an academic field and it’s a pyramid scheme. If 15-30 PhDs graduate in a given year, they may all be up for one job in their field. Is it a terrible idea? Not if it’s what you want to do. Just know that you did it because it’s want you wanted to try, and not for job security.
bro, age aint shit. whatever you want to do in this life; go for it. don’t ever compromise on your dreams or yourself for a sense of security (within limits ofc). we’re probably the same level and I’m 10 years older than you. these 10 years have taught me one thing; go for it. whatever you want. at the end of the day there’s no one there’s just you, so live your life for yourself and go balls deep so you don’t have no regrets. all we have on this earth is time, spend it living how you want. where there’s will; there’s always a way. good luck
I graduated with a small class because everyone else bailed at the last two quarters due to a pretty brutal native speaker as our professor senior year.
Only myself and two others use their language skills for work.
One had a dad who is pretty big in a tech company, so he translates for Nintendo and has probably the most kush translator job I’ve heard of.
I work interviewing people for various things.
We are both paid well.
The third barely makes it, but is a interpreter on the side for the same company and loves his life traveling Japan and updating/translating literature at affiliated tourist locations.
It’s possible. But getting a safe career is very niche.
Look up these [unive a Japan](https://www.universities.com/programs/japanese-studies-degrees) a Japanese Studies program.
Very general list of links that you’ll need to sift through:[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=us+universities+with+japanese+studies+program&atb=v304-1&hps=1&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=us+universities+with+japanese+studies+program&atb=v304-1&hps=1&ia=web)
A bit more specific: [https://www.universities.com/programs/japanese-studies-degrees](https://www.universities.com/programs/japanese-studies-degrees)
Contact their counselors to get a better understanding of whether this might be for you.
And if you want to pursue a career that requires Japanese language skill, suggesting Engineering as a more “sensible” alternative is just too far removed.
Just my opinion, but I think translation jobs may not exist in the next 10 years because of AI.
As others here have said, AI will encroach on translation more and more but if you’re good at technical simultaneous interpreting on the fly, that’s a skill. Main use of translators would probably be to proofread AI first for nuance and accuracy. I know Panasonic is always looking for translators in the Giga Factory with Tesla but they pay low and don’t seem to value bilinguals too much. They once were looking to hire a full technical translator paying only a college intern stipend.
Also, beware of Japanese companies in the US – there’s a cultural thing where translators are considered disposable employees when US executive staff and Japanese counterparts here on rotation try to not step on each others’ toes by blaming the bilingual in the middle. Showing your proficiency can sometimes work against you.
I have a friend who tried to get an MA in translation. It has been 2 years since he finished his coursework and he can’t get his degree because he failed the N2 test. I would highly suggest trading Genki for something more efficient (I would recommend checking out the resources at [learnjapanese.moe](https://learnjapanese.moe), a group for N1 speedrunners). Be aware that translation is currently being “disrupted” by AI and the industry is getting less lucrative by the hour.
dude just go for it, you’ll do it your own way, in your own style, it’ll be awesome
Personally, I would recommend having at least one back-up plan, considering good translating jobs are pretty tough to find, but I still think it’d be valuable to be involved with japanese programs from your college! One option you could go with is japanese as your major + safety option as your minor, or safety option as your major with japanese as your minor. another third (but less fun) option is to do the safety option as your major while studying japanese at home or just in the necessary langauge classes. Don’t forget that if your college has a renowned Japanese course, that they might actually have a Japanese club that you could participate in! I’d recommend that whether or not you have Japanese as your major since it could give you potential immersion that is pretty hard to find outside of Japan. Study abroad options are also a thing, but a lot more complicated so i’d probably think about that more once you’ve decided your major.
regardless on what option you choose for your college/career path, keep up your japanese learning! It is a valuable skill for jobs and very fufilling to communicate with people in another language, so it is totally worth it! I’m only a noob at Japanese, but every time I learn a new word, it makes me feel very motivated and proud. Don’t let the cynics in the comment section get ya down if it is your dream to learn the language! 😀
Translation is not just general daily conversation but can be very specific to a field like legal translation, medical translation, business strategies translation. Hence to do best at translation, you actually need a solid base in the topic being translated.
So your best option would be to major in something like: medical sciences, legal studies, economics, government policy, business management, etc. – so you have a solid foundation in an actual topic. Then you actually understand the English you need to translate to Japanese, or know the terms you are translating the Japanese from.
Major in a solid topic, Minor in Japanese, then study for translation license.