Gunma plans cell phone-based translation for people helping foreigners

Wednesday 17th December, 06:43 AM JST

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11 Comments

shiuu at 08:24 AM JST - 17th December

Yet another crutch for those not motivated to learn Japanese to avoid having to do so.
zaichik at 08:48 AM JST - 17th December

At the risk of sounding pedantic (heaven forbid!), translators deal with written matterial whereas interpreters deal with the spoken word, therefore this would be a phone-based interpreting service (tsuuyaku rather than honyaku). Interpreting and translation are VERY different skills.

It would be nice to see a little more precision from the translator on this particular story....
whitepocky at 10:02 AM JST - 17th December

Reminds me of the scene in the film 'Lost in Translation'.... he wants 'More emphasis'.
GW at 12:04 PM JST - 17th December

the 1st generation of gaijin everywhere usually learn a bit, some or a lot of the lingo, to be expected, this seems to be a stop gap solution. Japan needs to really start hiring qualified teachers to teach these kids. Add a bit of help at city hall etc which many places have done & later generations will do ok.

Problem is Jpn sees this as only a cost & reluctant to really start doing the right thing, many other countries see these costs rather more like investments for the future wud help if Jpn wud see it more that way, to date Jpn is being selfish taking more than she is giving, Jpn wud be better off with more balance in this regard but I dont think the general J-pop can really comprehend this kind of thing
some14some at 02:00 PM JST - 17th December

GW: you are right, but perhaps jpn knows these foreigners will pick-up Japanese Language fast, so temporary measure will be sufficent and economical as well !
papasmurfinjapan at 04:02 PM JST - 17th December

zaichik maybe they only translate text messages. :)
nigelboy at 04:45 PM JST - 17th December

Japan needs to really start hiring qualified teachers to teach these kids

Well they can start by going to school.
borscht at 10:30 PM JST - 17th December

nigelboy,

The teachers?
Nessie at 11:26 PM JST - 17th December

You beat me to the bunch Zia. Nailed it in one.
jonobugs at 11:53 PM JST - 17th December

This sounds like the wrong approach to the whole situation. This would make more sense if it were for temporary visitors or tourists. Why don't they break down and offer reasonably priced language lessons that are practical?

I've been to many lessons that are VERY cheap if not free only to find that the lessons are next to useless. The people that teach are volunteers (bless their hearts) which means that their experience in teaching is non-existent.

By giving foreigners more "crutches" as someone put it, there is less motivation for foreigners to actually learn Japanese.
memyselfI at 04:10 PM JST - 19th December

Sounds good ! I will believe it when i see it ! Wow! Japan helping foreigners Amazing !