Asian Absolute recently sponsored the 18th International Japanese/English Translators conference held at the University of Bath from June 22-24. The event was regarded by all participants as an unqualified success, despite the appalling weather.
The IJET conference was held in the UK for the first time in ten years. The final number of participants was close to 100, the majority from the UK, USA and Japan, but a small number from other countries.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Tools of the Trade: The Use of Technology in Translation and Interpreting”, with a number of presenters giving demonstrations of CAT “Computer-Assisted Translation” software, acknowledged by almost everyone present as an indispensable tool. The main guest speaker was Professor Jim Breen, who presented a talk entitled: “Japanese translation and the computer – the past, the present and the future”.
In all, a total of 26 presentations and workshops were given, the participants thus having an extremely wide selection of activities from which to choose. These included practical advice relating to translators’ everyday activities, such as tips on how to make Internet search engines even more effective and how to avoid RSI, a demonstration of telephone interpreting, demonstrations of new translation-related software, and more abstract activities such as predictions of how the translation industry will change in the coming years.
Henry Clough, Chairman of Asian Absolute, said of the event “As a specialist provider of Japanese translations, we were honoured to be invited to sponsor this year’s event. Given Asian Absolute’s position as a leading provider of high quality Japanese translation and interpreting services to a wide variety of clients globally, we are keen to support professional development in our industry.”