Lost in Translation & Finding the All Family Blog

My entry into the world of translation began with wanting to translate some Japanese language volumes of manga into English. I also tried translating English manga into Japanese, but found that it was quite difficult, so I decided to focus solely on Japanese to English translation. Another reason I wanted to learn to translate in the beginning was so I could translate anime song lyrics online, and pass the requisite test to be able to translate these lyrics, which i

nvolved translating an excerpt from a random manga with a high level of accuracy. Eventually, I was able to pass this test, and although my comprehension of words was still low, and I did not translate many anime song lyrics online, I found that translating manga was more accessible. In addition, translating Japanese helped me strengthen my sentence-making skills and grammar knowledge.

My journey of translating recipes started in 2012, when I translated an okonomiyaki book in my spare time from Japanese to English. Since then, I have translated a pasta book and a fried rice book. I was working on translating a recipe book about udon. Translating these recipe books has helped me learn more about Japanese food, and I have enjoyed learning more about the restaurants and techniques mentioned in these books. In addition, on my travels to Japan, I sometimes come across the restaurants featured in these books, so it is special to me.

When wandering around Asakusa Tokyo trying to retrace the steps back to the hotel I was able to find the restaurant "Sometaro". It is a famous restaurant that was featured in the Okonomiyaki cook book.

​My experiences with traveling to Japan started when I was seven years old and traveled with my parents, my grandmother, and my siblings to Gifu, Japan for the shichi-go-san ceremony (coming of age ceremony for girls aged seven and three, and for five-year-old boys). From then, we went to Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Suo-oshima Island and Okikamuro Island as a family. These trips made me want to travel to Japan on my own someday. My first chance to do so was in my sophomore year (10th grade) of high school, when I got the chance to participate in a two-week exchange program in Okinawa. Participating in this program was the first time I was away from my family, but I did not feel alone. My host family in Okinawa consisted of a single mother and her three daughters. My host family welcomed me very warmly, and I was welcomed warmly at the high school the girl who was my exchange student attended. I was able to make many friends, and wished that the time did not have to go by so quickly. This experience in Okinawa was what made me interested in experiencing Japan by living there, and ultimately I was able to live in Japan for a school year with a host family in Kobe, Japan while studying classes to complete my degree.

The idea for this blog came about when thinking of those who want to learn more about Japan, but have a difficult time since there is a language barrier and they do not speak or understand Japanese, which hinders them from learning more about Japan. Although Japan has gotten better over the years at providing access to information about their country with more information available in different languages, a lot of information is still kept behind this language barrier. Therefore, if I can help demystify some questions non-Japanese speakers may have, that would be my goal for this blog.