Month: March 2024

Do you exercise / work out regularly? Translation is my main business, so I spend most of time sitting in front of PC, and I don’t go out of home except for once-a-week grocery shopping, disposing of garbage, or going on business trips. It’s apparently a lack of exercise. I used to go jogging 4-6 times a week but I can’t do it in winter, so I have switched to workout at home during the season. I’m not good at doing physical activities in the first place, but turning it into a habit helps you manage time to exercise / work out, which results in a good, efficient time management at work. You will also feel more fit and gain energy for work.

My mindset has developed since last autumn and feel like doing more effective workout. Now I take a personal training, when I stay in Tokyo for a business trip. BY-FIT in Shibuya is the one. Mr. Katsuya Yamamoto, its representative coach, gives a logical yet easy to understand explanation during a session. Just feeling and observing movements don’t help me grasp how I should move, so with a clear, logical explanation, I can finally try exercising / working out. I have seen a variety of his Instagram video posts with clear guidance & text explanation and found them so convincing and understandable, which gave me an impression I would be able to achieve good results there! As expected, he gave me detailed yet clear advices: how I could correct to a proper form of squat, effective home leg workout menu. I visited him yesterday too and received a good chest training with dumbbell(s). The more the types of exercises you can do increase, the more fun the workout will be. Great that I haven’t got bored of working out at home thanks to him 💪

That I’ve started taking over interpreting assignments and I want to build up stamina for work with energy encouraged me too. That said, my main business remains to be translation, which is a desk-job, so I’d keep doing workout / exercises to get in shape so that I can enjoy working well 🏋️‍♂️

Photo: after training with Mr Yamamoto @BY-FIT🤳

My article and interview were published in T&I industry magazines. For the last few months, I was busy with answering an interview and writing an article about doing businesses with overseas clients as a freelance translator while living in Japan.

I have contributed articles to the same publisher several times, anonymously or publicly, but it’s the first time to get an interview article published with my photo 🙌

Following the interview about doing businesses with overseas in another magazine, I also contributed a related but more detailed article to IKAROS 通訳翻訳ジャーナル (interpreting & translation journal, an industry magazine), discussing in 4 pages how I have managed and keep businesses going, including payments, contracts, presence, platform etc. 🙂

Thanks IKAROS📗 for a nice experience!

Photo: the T&I industry magazines. 

From west to east and then to west. As in-person events have well resumed, I’ve already got hundreds of 🗣 in-person interpreting requests/availability checks including the project arrangements since the beginning of the year (really!), which is unusual for me looking back the last few years. Now I’m in Tokyo for a 2-week business trip. It was an honor for me to join my client at their exhibit as an interpreter, from whom I usually receive translation projects. Those few days were pretty tough but I gained lots of great practical experiences as well as real technical knowledge & insights on site, which I wouldn’t be able to learn / get aware only from translation projects. It was also a good chance to directly communicate with their engineer members for deeply technical questions. 🧑‍💻

I’ve found how effective and practical it is to do both translation and interpreting for the same clients/industries so that there’s eventually a synergy in understanding them much better and more clearly. I’m
very sure that the experience of those few days will help me brush up my translation of their documents next (and actually did already for their small one last night!).

They were so supportive e.g. providing me many related materials 📑 for preparation and giving briefing that I was able to perform okay but there’s also many items I should reflect on and make good use of it next time. So though the project is over for now, I’d review my work and practice for next occasions 💪

At the end of January, I visited the Fushimi Inari shrine ⛩ in Kyoto to thank for the last year and pray for further successful businesses during the year 2024. This is one of my favorite annual activities. It is important for prayers to also work hard to make it come true, so I’ll proactively challenge new things as well. Lots of exciting opportunities await me here and there and I will attract good luck myself 🙂

Photo: the Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto