Do you live and breath languages? Do you want to make a good living using and refining your language skills every day? Then professional translation might be just the ticket. In today’s episode, I chat with my friend Sam, who is a professional Japanese translator and one of the best non-native Japanese speakers I know. We talk about how he learned Japanese, how he broke into the translation industry, and his tips for doing the same.
Concepts & Resources Mentioned
- The JET Program
- iTalki
- Master Japanese: How to Learn Japanese through Anywhere Immersion
- Linguistic code-switching
- High-context vs. low-context cultures
- Japanese dialects
- L1 (one’s first language) vs. L2 (foreign languages)
- Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers
- JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)
- STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
- Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners by Olly Richards
- Language Learning with Netflix
- Anki Spaced Repetition
- Cloze test
- Stephen Krashen
- VPN (Virtual Private Network)
- Money Heist (Netflix)
- Terrace House (Netflix)
- Samurai Gourmet (Netflix)
- Nihongo con Teppei
- Duolingo Spanish Podcast
- Duolingo French Podcast
Japanese Terms Mentioned
- chan (ちゃん) = familiar or childish title affixed to names
- kun (君) = familiar or childish title affixed to younger male names
- senpai (先輩) = senior classmate, older generation, elder
- otaku (オタク) = anime or manga fan; (derogatory) geek, nerd
- keigo (敬語) = respectful or honorific language
- teineigo (丁寧語) = polite language
- sonkeigo (尊敬語) = exalted or honorary language
