Japanese Language Translators

Our goal is to translate into English and prepare for electronic formatting (in English and Japanese) a 1994 encylopedic dictionary published in Japan titled Shinto Jiten. At 830 pages, the Shinto Jiten is an academically-based and edited compendium of specialized terms, general and local histories, ritual practices, and religious symbols related to the diverse practices of Shinto.  The linkage between the finished volume and an accompanying database has the potential to transform international understanding of and scholarship related to Japanese religious traditions in general and the understudied traditions of Shinto in particular. 

We will create a team of five translators who will be funded for about a year and a half, providedthat the grant application is successful. For full information on the methodology of translation, see the description of the project at the Center for Shinto Studies' current projects section.

Qualifications include:

• native or near-native fluency in English     
• advanced graduate level standing (Ph.D. candidates, post-doctoral students, master degree holders)     
• and advanced Japanese language study or ability. (The  text is written in contemporary Japanese and does not require advanced knowledge of classical grammar or kanji.)  Some documentation or demonstration of advanced language ability may be required.

We intend to assign each translator around 120 pages of Japanese text, and compensate for each finished page in English, at the rate of $25 a page.  An initial translation of 30 pages of Japanese text yielded around 110 pages of English text.  So, as one of our translators, you will produce around 440 pages of English language text, and be compensated around $11-12,000.  Should we be successful with additional funding applications, the amount of compensation will rise to $30 per page. Funds would become available from Sept.1, 1999.

For more information, comments, or to send a letter of interest along with an electronic version of your resume, please contact John Nelson.

Thanks for your interest!