Since I first started studying Japanese in 1987 I have often had occasion both in my studies and in connection with my work to translate written Japanese into English.
During my efforts I found that despite understanding the meanings of the kanji and other words in a particular sentence my translation would often fall short of conveying the writer's original intention. I have found Paul Knight's Techniques for Japanese - English Translation with the six step system he has created to be a real eye opener and an extremely useful tool in translating written Japanese.
Further to this the detailed approach to studying the different inflections of Japanese verbs and adjectives has done much to increase my understanding of the language as a whole. I really canít recommend Paul Knight's approach highly enough to anyone who is interested in developing their skills in this field.
Chris Sloan
Director
JNZ Enterprises Ltd
Christchurch
New Zealand
What I learned as a postgraduate student of Paul Knight's Techniques for Japanese-English Translation course has been invaluable to me on many occasions.
My first major translation project comprised a batch of scientific reports the first page of which was full of long chemical names and seemingly interminable sentences and, frankly, terrified me at first glance. However, the analytical strategies I had learned from Paul helped me to focus on what was happening in the sentences and thereby get a grip on the text, without being intimidated by its terminology.
Since then, the techniques I learned from Paul have proved their worth many times in helping to speed up the task of dealing with documents such as statutes and regulations, patents, contracts etc, in which sentences of inordinate length and complexity frequently abound. With two languages that differ so radically in structure, turning a typical piece of Japanese "legalese" into English that performs the same communicative task can involve a major and potentially time-consuming job of deconstruction and reconstruction, and when this has to be accomplished to a deadline, speed is vitally important. So I regard what I learned as one of Paul's students as an essential part of my professional toolkit.
Peter Tuffley
Japanese to English Translator
Member, Japan Association of Translators
My name is Akira Doi. I have been involved in Japanese/English translation and proofreading work for past 15 years. In 2002, I learned Paul's translation technique and found it was very helpful to my job.
I am mainly translating technical documents that Japanese or English engineers or technicians write, and as you know, the sentences are not necessarily perfect. There is a lot of jargon and long sentences which seem never to end. Paul's technique of sentence analysis works well for me to find the basic structures of such sentences. I am often released from the nightmare of struggling against them by his methods.
Akira Doi,
Palmerston North, New Zealand
The course continues to be taught at Massey University where it is available internationally at the post graduate level in distance-learning mode. However, as it is designed for distance learning, it is perfectly suitable for independent learning also.