Where we are today

Localization as a formalized process of software adaptation into different locales is something quite new in Japan. This is because Japan's software industry does not rely heavily on an export market which requires localization into other languages. As a result, Japanese localization firms do not feature alongside such players as Lionbridge, Alpnet, Bowne and eTranslate. This situation goes hand in hand with the fact that no Japanese universities as yet have a curriculum to teach localization, let alone offer full-time degree courses on the subject. The general perception in Japan is that localization is part of an industrial process and falls into the realm of vocational or on the job training rather than academic study. The fact that translation studies themselves are not well established in Japan makes it even harder to introduce localization into the university curriculum.

While translation studies are an established academic discipline in Europe and North America, this is largely not the case in Japan. The number of Japanese universities offering translation and interpreting courses (see http://www.ice.urv.es/trans/future/tti/tti.htm) is increasing, but still very limited relative to other disciplines taught at universities. Translation and interpretation remain primarily non-mainstream disciplines and training has traditionally been left to dedicated private training establishments. These private institutions have a practical orientation and are often well connected to employers who offer the graduates jobs at the end of the course. Recently, however, a number of Japanese have opted to attend overseas programs to gain specific university qualifications in translation. For example, translation programs at the University of Queensland, University of Hawaii, Monterey Institute of International Studies and University of Bath are among those offering a Japanese language stream and have been well patronized by students from Japan (Kent State University is soon to join in the list as Judy Wakabayashi's article reports). These options are offer the added advantage when compared with attending a translation school in Japan, of strengthening their English language skills. An analogy can be drawn with MBA degrees for which many Japanese seek to attend overseas prestigious Business Schools. With the lack of specialized university programs in Japan, qualifications from a globally recognized School of Translation may become an increasingly attractive option.

Problems with the 'high-school' model

This current lack of university-based translation programs does not, however, mean that translation is a new phenomenon in Japan. On the contrary, Japan has a long history of doing translation, starting with the unique way of translating the Chinese language into Japanese established by the 9th century, and extending into Portuguese and Dutch translation through trade during the 16th and 17th centuries. Another notable fact which sometimes surprises foreign observers is how European literature (in particular French, German and Russian) is widely read by the Japanese population in translation. In modern times, translation in Japan has largely come to mean translation between Japanese and English, and this starts with "school" exercises in the subject.

English is a compulsory subject in Japan and students are exposed to daily translation exercises throughout their secondary education where translation more or less constitutes the main method of learning, teaching and evaluating this subject. In this way, everybody becomes familiar with the translation process even though the level is elementary and has little to do with professional or commercial practices. This tendency continues at university level education where a large part of learning modern languages or foreign literature involves translation. This sometimes encourages the naive expectation that anyone with a BA in foreign language or literature is more or less able to translate (after all those years of classroom practice!). There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that Japanese clients (based on their school translation experience?) inadvertently 'correct' English translations produced by native speakers and introduce blatant errors. The fact that translating is not clearly recognized as skilled professional work seems to be both the cause and the consequence of this lack of university-based programs. And yet, in terms of the translation industry in Japan, there is a huge demand for translation of all kinds of content. In fact, the enormous demand for translation has given rise to considerable R & D activity in natural language processing and machine translation in particular. In other words, the lack of university translation programs does not reflect a lack of demand for people who can translate.

What's really at stake

The main reason for the paucity of translation studies at Japanese universities seems to lie in the fact that translator education has traditionally been considered as belonging to vocational training; and this is largely remains so today. Interestingly, there have been debates about the usefulness of university programs for translator training; today many such programs seem to have developed a highly practical orientation with the introduction of technology applications, guest lecturers from the industry and student job placements, etc. Does that mean that the only difference really boils down to whether or not one gets a fancy title for one's name card or CV? Or, does university-based education really produce better translators compared with those from vocational training? One thing seems clear: the days of strictly technique-based vocational training or heavily linguistic theory based university courses are numbered.

Having been in both camps -- as a translator trained on the job and, after 10 years work, back at graduate school to undertake translation research -- my personal conviction is that integrated courses for translation studies will become more and more important. This is especially true in light of the increasing influence of communication and information technologies on translation. Well-designed and well-taught university programs will serve in the long run to help students adapt themselves better to constantly changing technology environments and market demand, and also to prepare translators to be part of an internationally competitive workforce. Until recently, choosing to go to local training institutions may have had its merits for Japanese translators particularly in terms of their direct links to local employers, but with the opening up of the localization job market into the international arena, the future workforce will increasingly need to be globally competitive. While translation companies in Japan have so far not expected new recruits to have degrees in translation, European and American employers are increasingly asking for specific qualifications in translation.

A modest proposal

My personal view is that establishing Schools of Translation Studies at Japanese universities is desirable and indeed inevitable. One significant virtue of establishing a School of Translation in Japan is its potential for close links with language technology research and development. Given that disciplines such as computational linguistics and natural language processing are well established research domains and well supported at Japanese universities, the importance of translation theories is surely recognized. While many MT projects today claim they have practicing translators on board as advisors on translation issues, these projects should ideally involve translators who are familiar with both practical and theoretical problems involved in translation. An Integrated School of Translation Studies, encompassing courses ranging from the philosophy of language through translation theories to the principles of language engineering and localization, would be of enormous service to the future need of the world-wide market. Courses such as those offered by UMIST (MSc in Translation Studies) could provide a good model. They will ensure that translators, typically from an Arts background, will become not only computer literate but also be trained to some extent in computer programming. In the future, language and technology will become even more closely intertwined. I would therefore argue that translator education should aim for broad-based translation programs to harness this relationship. Localization, which embodies this union, will then become an indispensable component in the final training mix.