Near the end of last month, Tomoyuki Suzuki, one of 15 TED Translators who attended TED2018 in April, organized and put on a translator gathering in his home country of Japan. The one-day event, which went down in Tokyo, included a hands-on translation workshop, an open-discussion session and time for the translators to meet and get to know each other. While most of the attendees were locals, one translator from the north of Japan (1,000 kilometers away) and another who had temporarily returned to the country from the U.S., joined the participants.
The translation workshop was divided into two parts. In the first, Tom briefed the audience on TED2018, highlighting with photos some of the conference’s significant talks and developments. “My goal was to expose the translators in attendance to the remarkable array of activities and inspiration on offer at TED conferences,” Tom says. “I also wanted to convey the intimacy of watching and listening to TED Talks in person, as well as the wonderful opportunity such conferences afford TED Translators from around the world to meet and build translation communities face-to-face.” The workshop then shifted into a study session whose aim was improving translation quality.
Tom’s first-draft translation of the initial four minutes of Steven Pinker’s talk at TED2018, “Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers”, was used for the workshop’s exercise. The participants split into groups of three and created a spreadsheet to collectively track changes, corrections, edits, etc. in their reviews of Tom’s translation. Active discussions abounded among the trios as they worked. Toward the end of the workshop, the groups shared their insights into the review process. Kazunori Akashi, one of the attendees, had this to say: “I was intrigued to learn that each translator has their own preferred method for reviewing. For example, while one may begin the process by simply watching the talk under review, another translator may start by researching and fact-checking the talk’s content. This exchange of reviewing processes and philosophies was one of the many positive and productive results of this event.”
After the workshop wrapped up, everybody headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then to a bar for libations and further conversation. Old and new acquaintances alike connected, and the gathering wound down with a palpable inspirational energy in the air. All of the translators agreed that this local event (along with similar ones in Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka throughout the year) was a valuable contribution to the continual building and strengthening of the Japanese translation community.
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