Although the world economy has been in a fritz for more than a year now, 2009 has been the strongest year yet in my career. I don’t take this situation for granted, and I’m extremely grateful that I have clients who appreciate my work and continue to invest in marketing materials during the downturn.

In this busy year, August-October have been the busiest months. I was in Japan from the end of July to the end of August, working flat-out on English-to-Japanese translation projects for my major Japanese automaker client.

Here is what I worked on for this client August-October:

• Translated the better part of the annual environmental report and edited the work of other translators
• Translated the better part of the annual corporate social responsibility report and edited the work of other translators
• Translated several articles for a new portion of the company website dealing with design
• Translated the better part of a the press kit for the 41st Tokyo Motor Show 2009
• Translated the copy for a poster used around the world
• Translated several press releases

I also did a lot of work for this client that did not involve translation.

The end of the year will probably be a bit less busy, since Japan goes into Shogatsu mode–but it will still be busy. Thank you, clients!

I have been working on the environmental annual report for a major Japanese automaker, and it has been in truth an infinite pile of work at which I have been working away at a mad pace.

I am going to Japan for the month of August to work in the office of the ad agency that hires me for the annual reports and many other job. While in Japan, I will stay in constant contact with my ghost blogging and other clients.

So, I am booked until mid-September. Thank you, clients!

The past month has been quite busy for Japanese to English translation. Major projects:

I subtitled another script for a major Japanese TV production company.

I translated a video script for a major Japanese automaker, and I am about to begin on another for the same company. The videos are for two new models, one the company’s flagship sedan, and the other a crossover SUV.

For another major Japanese automaker, I am translating a pamphlet about their safety technologies.

As far as Japanese to English translation goes, I am essentially booked until sometime in August.

May has been a very busy month for Japanese-to-English translation. For a major Japanese automaker, I have translated a press release and Q&A document concerning a new 4-stroke marine outboard engine (obviously, this company makes more than cars).

For a major Japanese movie and television production company and broadcaster, I have subtitled the pilot episode of a TV series. I’m happy to report that my work has met with approval, and I’ve been given another pilot to subtitle.

During the month of March, I have been exceptionally busy with Japanese to English translation. For a major Japanese automaker, I have done the following:

• Translated a script for a video about a new type of engine.
• Translated website content concerning the company’s social responsibility policies.
• Translated an interview with an important outgoing executive.

This was a good chunk of work, but, as an exception to the rule, most of my Japanese to English translation work was not for the Japanese automobile industry but instead for one of Japan’s largest manufacturers of steam turbines and process pumps. The company is in the process of updating their website and has added a wealth of new content. I had translated a video script for this company several years ago, and I am quite proud that, based on my work, they selected for this latest project the ad agency in Japan for which I have done work for the past five years.

This has been one of the most difficult translations I have done in my career, which is saying a lot, as I regularly deal with highly technical subjects. I not only translated Web pages about the company’s products but also about global warming, biomass power generation, and other difficult subjects. If I have a good technical Japanese vocabulary, which I do, why does difficulty arise? There are two main reasons:

1. The Japanese terms involved are not commonly used in industry. They are not in my technical dictionary, and I have to search for relevant cites online in order to come up with a translation about which I can feel confident. I have developed a variety of techniques to come up with these cites, and, at worst the ad agency has to ask the company to confirm a term or two. In the case of the major Japanese automobile makers for which I translate, over the years the ad agency and I have come up with a body of “canon,” or recognized translations for all of the companies’ technical terms, and, for that matter, every aspect of their business. We follow this canon to the letter, developing and confirming new terms when necessary.
2. The Japanese cites articles, papers, laws, or other materials originally in Japanese or English for which I have to find the “official” translation. For example, the Web content I translated mentioned a Japanese law, and I had to search for the translation that is commonly used in the English-speaking world; I couldn’t just make up my own. As another example, a Japanese document I recently translated cited extensively from the Sarbannes-Oxley Act. I couldn’t just retranslate this back into English; I had to find online the actual text that had been quoted.

The Web content I translated involved both issues, and, in order to provide a correct translation, I had to proceed quite carefully.

In addition to my translation work, in March I also did quite a bit of advertising writing in English, which you can read about in my latest post on Marrubium Writing.

Thanks for visiting my new site. I have a post on one of my other blogs, Marrubium Writing, that explains my goal for this new site and what I’ve been doing lately. Enjoy!

In Medical interpretation has slowed down a bit recently, but writing work has been plentiful. For a major Japanese automaker, I have done the following:

• Translated from Japanese to English a script for a short video about a major new safety technology. I had earlier translated the press release, in effect branding the technology in the English language. This technology, and hence my particular wording, has received a great deal of attention in the press.
• Translated from Japanese to English a press release for a major new automobile model. I had earlier served as a lead writer (writing straight to English) on the US press kit for the model.
• Begun translating from Japanese to English a 13-page article on this model for internal use in the company.
• Edited a 20-page internal newspaper for the company. I translated several articles from Japanese to English, wrote others in English based on materials provided by the company, and edited articles by other writers.

In local news, I helped a Japanese family secure a mortgage the other day. I translated (or, in this case, provided an overview of) some Japanese banking documents for a local mortgage company and talked with one of the borrowers on the phone to help her understand what additional documentation was required.

My coauthor and I have reached a new milestone in the business literature book we’re working on: we’ve now got a mockup of the full book together in Word and are working on filling in the blanks and polishing the content.

That’s what’s going on in Horehound Central. I have a good plate full o’ work right now but would very much like to discuss your writing projects and needs, so please drop me a line.

This week, for a major Japanese automaker I translated some goodbye speeches to a manager who is leaving India to return to Japan. A somewhat unusual job, but quite interesting.

I have had a tremendous amount of medical interpretation work the past month.

My coauthor and I are picking up the pace on the book we’re writing. Actually, he is the star of the show; I am just helping him edit a bit.

Things are not too complex or harried right now, but suitably busy.

You may have read the press release I posted on this site for “Center,” my short story about high school football player going off to college in the year 1948. The story was recently serialized in Touchdown Illustrated magazine, and I now have it available on my personal blog. I think you’ll enjoy it as a story, and it’s another sample of my writing available for your inspection.

December, as noted in my last post, was most busy. I was actually incorrect about how much extra work that one internal manual would require; it was a slam dunk! And the reason it was a slam dunk was that I was able to see what dangers lurked from the beginning of the project and prepare accordingly with thorough research and documentation. Forgive me, readers, a tiny pat on the back for this; I am somewhat proud of and relieved at how things turned out there.

Since my last post, for a major Japanese automaker, I have done the following:

• Did further editing of the press kit of a major new model so that the kit could be reprinted.
• Translated the year-end speech of a major executive of the company.
• Translated a press release for a major automotive event held in Japan.
• Translated an internal video concerning a major new safety technology. I translated the original press release as well, in effect branding the technology in English.

Of course, all of these documents except the press kit required skill in Japanese-to-English translation, which is something I have to offer. But getting a good and accurate translation isn’t enough: good English with the right feel and cadence to it is also necessary. And I have that to offer as well, whether you require Japanese-to-English translation or just well-written English from scratch!

One other thing that made December a very busy month was that for the last two weeks of it I was spending a lot of time in the hospital interpreting for families with sick kids. This post on my personal blog talks about the situation in greater detail, should you be curious.

I will be back in the hospital tomorrow morning, too, interpreting for a family whose child is having open heart surgery. Please pray with me that things turn out well for this child and this family.