Hi! I made a post 3 months ago. I’m brazilian. I didn’t have N1 at that time, but I was quite confident I would get it. Now I passed the test and it makes me quite relieved. I lived in Japan for 3 years. I got the MEXT scholarship so I was able to graduate from 専門学校 in translation and interpretation. Thanks to that, I can get the work visa as long as I work in a job related to my field that I graduated.
Here’s the thing though. My grandma died of cancer 2 months ago. I’m living alone with my mother now and I can’t let her alone for now. That’s just not an option. I’m going to the second semester on university. The major is Portuguese and English teaching. I still need to study for 3 years and a half to finish it.
I don’t think my university degree is gonna help me that much to work in Japan since most eikawa jobs suck, but I don’t know how to get a job in Japan while I’m living in Brazil. I applied for a job on indeed and they wanted to make an interview, but since I live in Brazil, that wasn’t possible. It’s kinda frustrating because when I had only N2, I applied to many companies and they didn’t want to make an interview with me. Now I have it, but I don’t live there.
If I get the bachelor’s degree I can apply to Jet Programme to work as a CIR, but It’s gonna take years and they might reject me, but I don’t see other feasible ways to live there anymore. Maybe saving money here so I can go to a language school there AGAIN and try to get a job in Japan while I’m there?
If you guys know any sites or any company that hires people from outside of Japan, please tell me. A friend of mine told me about Digital Hearts, but I saw their job offer was only offering freelancer work.
11 comments
https://kyarioku.jp/candidate/
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Your realistic options are either English or Portuguese teacher once you finish your degree.
Japanese is not a skill by itself in Japan..
Condolences to you and your family, OP.
You’ve gotta be valuable. You’ve gotta have some marketable skills. Like others have mentioned, Japanese isn’t a skill that gets you in the door. It’s a thing that puts you just under Japanese people. A Japanese company is only going to hire you and take the risk of sponsoring your visa if you are worth it. Usually you need some experience in your field to show you will immediately benefit the company or you need to have a technical skill that puts you above Japanese candidates.
In short, gain some experience or a valuable skill that puts you above the Japanese competition that already lives in Japan.
>I’m living alone with my mother now and I can’t let her alone for now. That’s just not an option.
You are living with your mother now, in Brazil, and leaving her is not an option.
So why are you asking us how to you can leave her and move to Japan? There is no visa that will allow you to bring her with you.
I’m a Brazilian living in Japan working as 正社員, and my degree is in English Teaching from a Brazilian university, so what you want is definitely possible. The thing is though, I didn’t come here through a company initially; I came as a student and found a job before having to go back, so I didn’t have to look for companies that hire from overseas. My job also has absolutely no relation to my degree — I jumped into an IT position and have stayed in the IT industry ever since.
This is all just a preface to say that I initially tried looking for teaching and translating jobs, since they are related to my degree and it’s what I had experience doing back in Brazil already, and even with a degree in the field, an N2 JLPT certification, and work experience, it was still frustratingly hard to even get an interview. But I did get a few, even with N2, so your lack of interviews probably came from a lack of work experience (or you just didn’t apply for enough jobs lol, I think I applied for at least 50 per week), which is something I’ve found to be valued here way more than certifications. The few translation companies that did contact me back were not hiring full-time, and I also got offers from Eikaiwas, but the pay and conditions were on the verge of insulting. As you know yourself, international schools and other places with better working conditions will not take English non-natives (or, technically, “have not studied 12 years of school in English”).
What I’m trying to tell you is that no, it’s not impossible to find a job here with your (future) credentials, but it’s not going to be easy if you are not in the country, and it’s not going to be easy /even/ if you /are/ in the country, and the jobs you will find will not be good jobs, especially not jobs that would allow you to provide not only your own needs but your mother’s as well. I recommend thinking over your plan a little bit and, as hard as it may be, considering these options: a. Changing degrees to something that will help you find jobs in other fields (or even, for example, getting a degree in Finance, and then coming here to work specifically in Financial translation); or b. If you really really like teaching and want to go that path, then I would recommend getting a Master’s Degree (and doing some publications) AND experience teaching in Brazil before coming to Japan looking for jobs, so that you can at least try for University teaching positions.
Feel free to ask me any questions, as I totally understand your wish to leave Brazil for somewhere better.
I used to work for a semiconductor manufacturing company and the non technical bilingual people worked in logistics. For example if a foreign customer needed to order a bunch of parts or products, or if a foreign vendor was going to send a bunch of parts to the company, the logistics people would handle their request and take care of all the shipping, export and import control forms to get the stuff in or out. While English is necessary for the communication witch customers or vendors, they also needed some skills in handling these logistics within Japan.
Translation?
Make a list of ALL of the translation and localization companies that have a presence in Japan, and that target Japanese to Brazilian Portuguese, and contact them all directly, asking for an interview.
Some large companies may even have their own in-house localization teams.
It would help a great deal if you already had experience of the work in your own country first, rather than going in blind.
If you are able to interpret without your brain catching fire, there are other possibilities there too.
Search around on these fine forums, attempting to use teaching as an “in” may not be entirely successful. You may have better results targeting what you actually want, instead of bait and switch.
Parabéns pelo N1
If you are Brazilian and fluent in Japanese and English why don’t you look into jobs with the Brazilian embassy or consulate