Bunka Institute of Language

2 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **Bunka Institute of Language**

   Hello all,

   I’m looking into a change in careers and curious about whether anyone has taken the [interpreting course at Bunka Institute of Language?](https://www.bunka-bi.ac.jp/en/dpamphlet/)
   I’m due to take the JLPT N2 this December (one of the prerequisites for the course) but of course I don’t know anything about the school aside from what’s on their website. It’s apparently related to a fashion school as well, and results for that are more plentiful than for the language school.

   I’m specifically exploring becoming an in-person Japanese interpreter, not a text translator. Anybody who’s been in the program and can give me any thoughts on whether it’s legit or just a waste of time would be much appreciated. Any info on how it’s helped or not helped job prospects is helpful.

   Thanks!

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2. Hello,

   I’m currently a second year student in 日本語通訳ビジネス科. I will try to answer your questions though I’m not graduated yet, so I can’t really say much about job prospects.

   First, it might depend on your background and what you are expecting to learn whether the program is enough/enjoyable/useful for you, and my experience is a bit different because I’m a MEXT scholar, so I didn’t really get any say when choosing where to study. Having said that, I feel like it is a very demanding course and I’m satisfied with what I have learnt, even though I didn’t expected to learn how to interpret when I applied for the scholarship (I pictured myself being a translator, turns out I enjoy doing both things anyway).

   The content of the program is really as it is named. It is mainly about interpretation, but translation subjects are also included. The second big component is business subjects. We learn business Japanese, take the BJT exam, practise for 就職活動, learn how to write business emails, among other things. If you are looking to work in Japan, the program strongly aims at preparing students for job hunting in Japan, so I would recommend it. The other components of the course are elective subjects (History, Geography, IT, Law, etc) and optional subjects (preparation for JLPT N1 or TOEIC, Chinese, Korean, etc). There are also 通訳実習, a type of field trip to a certain museum or historical place to practise Japanese to English (or Chinese, as there are two groups) interpretation.

   Regarding how “legit” is it… I don’t know if I really understand what you try to ask here, but Bunka Institute of Language is a 専門学校 as any other in Japan, which means that after 2 years of study you graduate and obtain 専門士. This degree allows you to be employed in something related to your specialty (it seems translation and interpretation is quite broad). If you already have a bachelor’s degree, then it isn’t relevant as you might work on basically anything with a university degree.

   If your question was related to employability, then I cannot answer much but as far as I know, most of my senpais did found a job during their second year or after graduation. I’m aiming at transferring to the third year of university, so I haven’t done much 就活. The school gives you quite a lot of support, though. They check on every student regarding their status during the second year, and there are resources for us to prepare and effectively get a job.

   I hope that my answer was useful. If you have any other question, feel free to tell me 🙂