Gloriaria
Tried natto; not a fan
Posts: 67 
CIR Experience: 1st year
Location: Ibaraki
|
Post by Gloriaria on May 19, 2017 12:22:27 GMT 9
My placement notice arrived!!!
Seems like I'm a prefectural CIR for Thorn Castle-ken (●´ω｀●)
Now some more waiting for thr CO to contact me about my placement city~ excited for the new life!! Now time to do alllllll the research.
|
|
|
|
Post by nikinee on May 19, 2017 16:34:45 GMT 9
I know a few CIRs have gone to those in the past and then been IKINALI asked to interpret. (I think this happened to nikinee ?) Ooh yes, that happened to me! Granted, I was the only CIR at my pre-departure orientation, but still. EDIT: This actually happened at the mandatory one run by the consulate, not an AJET one  |
|
|
|
Post by Hokuto on May 22, 2017 9:52:38 GMT 9
Hokuto and I were roomies at pre-departure orientation  And Tokyo Orientation as well i missed this BUT YEAH WE WERE!!!!!!!!!! and our other roommate at Tokyo Orientation was not nearly as great as Mumble |
|
|
|
Post by Cantamen on Jun 1, 2017 0:16:59 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts...
|
|
|
|
Post by no yark shark on Jun 1, 2017 8:44:38 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts... Here's a thread with some good advice. cirhomepage.boards.net/thread/504/interpretation-tips-prep-advice-etcIn terms of things you can do before you actually get here shadowing is about all I can think of. Interpretation is really all about practice/experience/faking it until you make it, so just do your best! |
|
|
|
Post by CaptainSeery on Jun 1, 2017 8:51:00 GMT 9
Do you know yet what kind of interpreting you'll have to do? There is a big difference between formal speech interpreting at courtesy meetings (since you'll usually have a script beforehand) and interpreting for guides showing off the city. There's usually no script for that, so it requires lots of prep and finding out information about the places you visit.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sheepy on Jun 1, 2017 8:51:48 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts... I do quite a large bit of 通訳 (mostly unscripted stuff) for work here in my placement, and I have learned that 通訳 only gets less intimidating the more you do it. There are strategies to improve listening comprehension and speaking in general, but in my opinion, you can only truly improve your 通訳 abilities through actual experience. Of course shadowing, vocabulary exercises, listening to broadcasts, etc. will be extra supplement in general. My advice though for when you actually are doing interpretation: Even if you feel like you are messing up, don't ever show it; as long as you are showing confidence in your face, no one will second guess you. Of course, do try your best to be true to the speaker's own words and don't be afraid to ask clarification questions (to a certain extent) if you feel like it is needed mid-interpretation. |
|
Mumblesnore
Dead Stargod 
’Tis the season (for Eggnog)
Posts: 16,154 
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Tokyo
|
Post by Mumblesnore on Jun 1, 2017 8:55:27 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts... One good practice you can do to prepare for TSUUYAK is just to listen to Japanese and then try to repeat the sentences back verbatim IN JAPANESE. It's a lot harder than you would think. Listening is just as important as speaking, and you need to train your brain to be able to remember all the pertinent information after hearing it the first time. Once you get comfortable repeating back the Japanese, then you can start actually interpreting it into English. There are tens of thousands of Japanese words that could potentially come up during an interpreting session, and so instead of just wildly studying TANGO, with the hopes that you might need it one day, it's more important to develop the skills to think quickly on your feet, not let small mistakes throw off your rhythm, be able to talk around concepts fluidly if you can't think of an exact word rather than wasting time, etc. There are things that you can do to prepare once your TSUUYAK ILAI actually comes. - ask for any and all transcripts of AISATSU and speeches beforehand - ask about the audience/who you will be interpreting for - once you know the topic of your interpreting, THEN you can go and study individual words and phrases that are likely to come up - taking extensive notes before you know what you're doing can often end up hurting more than helping, but you should have a pen and paper ready to right down numbers. A lot of interpreters (even pros) have a cheat sheet for large numbers because it can be hard to translate $8.7 billion into yen on the spot. - when you arrive on the scene, it's PERFECTLY FINE to say "As part of my job as CIR I often get assigned to interpret, but I am not a professional interpreter. If you could speak in simple Japanese, and explain any jargon or technical terms, that would TAIHEN TASUKARIMASU." |
|
|
|
Post by Cantamen on Jun 1, 2017 9:38:37 GMT 9
Do you know yet what kind of interpreting you'll have to do? There is a big difference between formal speech interpreting at courtesy meetings (since you'll usually have a script beforehand) and interpreting for guides showing off the city. There's usually no script for that, so it requires lots of prep and finding out information about the places you visit. My pred told me "You will also interpret for visitors who come to Long Fields City on official visits. These visitors can be anyone from a group of students to a government official." |
|
|
|
Post by CaptainSeery on Jun 1, 2017 9:48:30 GMT 9
Probably a mix of formal and unscripted interpreting, then. Any advice I have would just be echoing Mumblesnore and Sheepy so I won't bother. But they give very good advice, listen to them. |
|
mikazuki
Tried natto; not a fan
frozen chosen
Posts: 96
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by mikazuki on Jun 1, 2017 9:58:25 GMT 9
oh man, this is exactly the part of my placement i'm most worried about. thanks v much for the tips, senpai. T_T
|
|
|
|
Post by Sheepy on Jun 1, 2017 10:01:46 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts... One good practice you can do to prepare for TSUUYAK is just to listen to Japanese and then try to repeat the sentences back verbatim IN JAPANESE. It's a lot harder than you would think. Listening in just as important as speaking, and you need to train your brain to be able to remember all the pertinent information after hearing it the first time. Once you get comfortable repeating back the Japanese, then you can start actually interpreting it into English. There are tens of thousands of Japanese words that could potentially come up during an interpreting session, and so instead of just wildly studying TANGO, with the hopes that you might need it one day, it's more important to develop the skills to think quickly on your feet, not let small mistakes throw off your rhythm, be able to talk around concepts fluidly if you can't think of an exact word rather than wasting time, etc. There are things that you can do to prepare once your TSUUYAK ILAI actually comes. - ask for any and all transcripts of AISATSU and speeches beforehand - ask about the audience/who you will be interpreting for - once you know the topic of your interpreting, THEN you can go and study individual words and phrases that are likely to come up - taking extensive notes before you know what you're doing can often end up hurting more than helping, but you should have a pen and paper ready to right down numbers. A lot of interpreters (even pros) have a cheat sheet for large numbers because it can be hard to translate $8.7 billion into yen on the spot. - when you arrive on the scene, it's PERFECTLY FINE to say "As part of my job as CIR I often get assigned to interpret, but I am not a professional interpreter. If you could speak in simple Japanese, and explain any jargon or technical terms, that would TAIHEN TASUKARIMASU." Definitely this. In my interpreting notebook, I have cheat sheets for commonly occurring phrases in formal situations, conversions between the Imperial System and Metric System (since I am American), Japanese era years (ex. 平成29 = 2017, 平成29年度 = April 2017 - March 2018), and for the Japanese counting/number system. |
|
|
|
Post by hohoEMIsen on Jun 1, 2017 11:28:40 GMT 9
It seams my main duties will be translation, doing visits, interpreting, and social media (possibly in that order?). 通訳 is kind of intimidating- do any senpai have ideas of how to prepare a bit before I move? Should I just watch jdramas and try to speak along in english? I also have zero experience with social media, but I will be the main person for several accounts... One good practice you can do to prepare for TSUUYAK is just to listen to Japanese and then try to repeat the sentences back verbatim IN JAPANESE. It's a lot harder than you would think. Listening in just as important as speaking, and you need to train your brain to be able to remember all the pertinent information after hearing it the first time. Once you get comfortable repeating back the Japanese, then you can start actually interpreting it into English. There are tens of thousands of Japanese words that could potentially come up during an interpreting session, and so instead of just wildly studying TANGO, with the hopes that you might need it one day, it's more important to develop the skills to think quickly on your feet, not let small mistakes throw off your rhythm, be able to talk around concepts fluidly if you can't think of an exact word rather than wasting time, etc. There are things that you can do to prepare once your TSUUYAK ILAI actually comes. - ask for any and all transcripts of AISATSU and speeches beforehand - ask about the audience/who you will be interpreting for - once you know the topic of your interpreting, THEN you can go and study individual words and phrases that are likely to come up - taking extensive notes before you know what you're doing can often end up hurting more than helping, but you should have a pen and paper ready to right down numbers. A lot of interpreters (even pros) have a cheat sheet for large numbers because it can be hard to translate $8.7 billion into yen on the spot. - when you arrive on the scene, it's PERFECTLY FINE to say "As part of my job as CIR I often get assigned to interpret, but I am not a professional interpreter. If you could speak in simple Japanese, and explain any jargon or technical terms, that would TAIHEN TASUKARIMASU."I am so doing this. Thank you for the advising. |
|
|
|
Post by Honey on Jun 15, 2017 7:56:06 GMT 9
- when you arrive on the scene, it's PERFECTLY FINE to say "As part of my job as CIR I often get assigned to interpret, but I am not a professional interpreter. If you could speak in simple Japanese, and explain any jargon or technical terms, that would TAIHEN TASUKARIMASU."I am so doing this. Thank you for the advising. This is very good advice. The most important thing is for the conversation to go from one language to another, and sometimes people forget that we're not professional (most of us at least). Try to stress that if you have access to the people before the actual interpretation happens. Also letting them know that 2 minutes straight of passionate talking about a pointed subject doesn't go very well with consecutive interpretation. Of course some people couldn't give less of a fuck and toot their own horn with complicated vocabulary but that's what izakayas are for. |
|
|
|
Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on Jun 25, 2018 22:44:39 GMT 9
Sorry to resurrect this thread when it hasn't been posted on in like a year, but I was reading through and noticed that Cantamen was saying on 1st June last year that their pred told them stuff about the position and what they'd have to do [interpreting], but I haven't had any contact from a pred yet and it's 25th June...I was a reserve candidate so I wasn't sure if it was because of that? Or if I maybe don't have a pred and it's a new post for the area I got assigned to? When do people normally hear from preds by? |
|
|
|
Post by Cantamen on Jun 26, 2018 8:46:24 GMT 9
I think it's up to the pred, and how on top of things they are. Though they may just be really busy right now, summer is the busy season for a lot of CIRs I think. (also, how weird to see my old messages about interpreting. I did almost none untill about 1 week ago, since then I've been doing nothing but- which will last through the second week of July. One month of vastly more days out of the office on 通訳 than in it, including weekends  Watch out for seasonal work! If I was leaving this year, I literally would not have been in the office long enough to draft an email.) |
|
|
|
Post by hohoEMIsen on Jun 26, 2018 11:13:44 GMT 9
Sorry to resurrect this thread when it hasn't been posted on in like a year, but I was reading through and noticed that Cantamen was saying on 1st June last year that their pred told them stuff about the position and what they'd have to do [interpreting], but I haven't had any contact from a pred yet and it's 25th June...I was a reserve candidate so I wasn't sure if it was because of that? Or if I maybe don't have a pred and it's a new post for the area I got assigned to? When do people normally hear from preds by? Threads always get resurrected, so no worries! ESID as usual but yes, it is late. I didn't have a pred, but I had another English CIR who was already working then, and she sent me an email on 28th May. My supervisor sent an email on 2nd June. My physical 国際交流員採用内定通知書 arrived by post on 20th June. Even if you don't have a pred, your office should contact you. However, like you said, it might be a new post and your office might not be sure of what to do, so it might take them some time. Sorry that my answer doesn't really help. Maybe popchyk~ could give some advice? |
|
|
|
Post by Leilo on Jun 26, 2018 12:54:06 GMT 9
I feel this is an irrational fear but my CO did contact me, and send me a package. I emailed them 2 weeks ago, and again about a week ago, but they didn't reply to my emails. So part of me is hoping that my emails have been sent properly and that they can read them. ;;
|
|
|
|
Post by Ham on Jun 26, 2018 13:09:19 GMT 9
Never hurts to send a follow-up. People get busy/forget all the time.
|
|
|
|
Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on Jun 26, 2018 17:37:02 GMT 9
Sorry to resurrect this thread when it hasn't been posted on in like a year, but I was reading through and noticed that Cantamen was saying on 1st June last year that their pred told them stuff about the position and what they'd have to do [interpreting], but I haven't had any contact from a pred yet and it's 25th June...I was a reserve candidate so I wasn't sure if it was because of that? Or if I maybe don't have a pred and it's a new post for the area I got assigned to? When do people normally hear from preds by? Threads always get resurrected, so no worries! ESID as usual but yes, it is late. I didn't have a pred, but I had another English CIR who was already working then, and she sent me an email on 28th May. My supervisor sent an email on 2nd June. My physical 国際交流員採用内定通知書 arrived by post on 20th June. Even if you don't have a pred, your office should contact you. However, like you said, it might be a new post and your office might not be sure of what to do, so it might take them some time. Sorry that my answer doesn't really help. Maybe popchyk~ could give some advice? Ah, well my office has contacted me [the 市役所 観光戦略部 文化国際課 sent me an email] but it was basically "congrats on being chosen for JET programme, we will send more info at a later date so bear with, looking forward to working with you" [but in Japanese obviously]. I didn't reply since there wasn't really much content to reply to so I didn't know what to say, and since they said they'd send another email, but I got this email on the 18th and there hasn't been another yet ^^;; |
|
|
|
Post by しくchill on Jun 27, 2018 6:07:25 GMT 9
To keep the revival of this thread going (if that's alright), I was wondering if any current CIRs had advice on the subject of 名刺用 pictures. My CO asked me to send one so they can make 名刺 for me and introduce me to people around city hall hue. Is a 名詞用の写真 typically a passport style photo like you'd attach to a Japanese resume, or could I use a professional headshot? Or if it's an ESID thing...
|
|
Nurkiras
Dead Stargod
Nawty Bard
ycdn
Posts: 8,401
|
Post by Nurkiras on Jun 27, 2018 8:46:09 GMT 9
I'd go with the standard passport picture, it's the safest option, especially for something official also Leilo some COs/ supervisors can be quite forgetful. Just something I've heard I definitely don't have to deal with it every day, no sir, ha ha haDon't hesitate to jog their memory! |
|
|
|
Post by hohoEMIsen on Jun 27, 2018 9:45:20 GMT 9
Threads always get resurrected, so no worries! ESID as usual but yes, it is late. I didn't have a pred, but I had another English CIR who was already working then, and she sent me an email on 28th May. My supervisor sent an email on 2nd June. My physical 国際交流員採用内定通知書 arrived by post on 20th June. Even if you don't have a pred, your office should contact you. However, like you said, it might be a new post and your office might not be sure of what to do, so it might take them some time. Sorry that my answer doesn't really help. Maybe popchyk~ could give some advice? Ah, well my office has contacted me [the 市役所 観光戦略部 文化国際課 sent me an email] but it was basically "congrats on being chosen for JET programme, we will send more info at a later date so bear with, looking forward to working with you" [but in Japanese obviously]. I didn't reply since there wasn't really much content to reply to so I didn't know what to say, and since they said they'd send another email, but I got this email on the 18th and there hasn't been another yet ^^;; Ah, it might be good to reply to let them know that the email has gotten through to you. Something along the lines of ご連絡ありがとうございました。 皆様と一緒に仕事することを楽しみにしております。 詳しい情報を待ちしております。 どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。 but since it's kinda late already, you might want to slot in a 返事が遅くなって申し訳ございません at the top. Also, this email might trigger them to send you an update??  I hope they do Edit: しくchill I second Nurkiras 's decision. Or, you could send them an email asking them whether it's okay to use the particular sort of photo that you want - if you don't mind the trouble and don't really fancy passport photos. |
|
|
|
Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on Jun 27, 2018 9:58:31 GMT 9
Something along the lines of ご連絡ありがとうございました。 皆様と一緒に仕事することを楽しみにしております。 詳しい情報を待ちしております。 どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。 but since it's kinda late already, you might want to slot in a 返事が遅くなって申し訳ございません at the top. Also, this email might trigger them to send you an update?? I hope they do Yeah, that's a good point, thanks for the suggestions [and in keigo too TwT] ~
Fingers crossed it'll prompt them to send me some more info ^^;;
|
|
|
|
Post by Leilo on Jun 27, 2018 12:40:06 GMT 9
[but in Japanese obviously] I was actually surprised my CO emailed me in English and the stuff they sent me was all in English and Japanese. Makes me wonder if someone in office wrote/translated it, or if someone else did. -edit: sorry I failed formatting the quote and can't fix it hue |
|
|
|
Post by Dee on Jun 27, 2018 14:05:48 GMT 9
I was actually surprised my CO emailed me in English and the stuff they sent me was all in English and Japanese. Makes me wonder if someone in office wrote/translated it, or if someone else did. -edit: sorry I failed formatting the quote and can't fix it hue Mine emailed me in English at first too, but one time I ended up responding in Japanese and the emails were in Japanese ever since. hue |
|
Nurkiras
Dead Stargod
Nawty Bard
ycdn
Posts: 8,401
|
Post by Nurkiras on Jun 27, 2018 14:14:14 GMT 9
Make a power play and email them in Klingon moj puy, jagh!
|
|
|
|
Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on Jun 27, 2018 18:59:04 GMT 9
hohoEMIsen they literally replied like half an hour after I sent my email saying something along the lines of 'I was just thinking of emailing you so I was happy to get your reply', so either that's a big coincidence or they were actually waiting for my reply and being polite about it ^^;;; This email told me they're planning to send me a letter with rules and acceptance letter or something [in English and Japanese, which is great since I struggled to read a fair few of the kanji in the email TwT] and that they're gonna send me a welcome letter from the mayor on Friday, but still no mention of a pred yet? They're also asking me about what kind of apartment I want [and how much rent I want to pay!] so they can start looking for one for me.
I honestly don't know what to ask for [because I don't want to ask for too much], I think my dorm apartment on my year abroad was 1DK? It was like one [pretty big] bedroom, shower room, toilet and tiny kitchen/corridor. I mean, that was fine apart from the kitchen being tiny [1 hob, 1 sink, 1 small fridge, microwave in bedroom] but I'm guessing it's probably going to be like that in most apartments? ^^;;
I don't even know what a reasonable amount of rent is, the example in one of my textbooks says ５万円 for a 1DK but I don't know if that's a good amount or not. Well, looking at the guideline of rent costs I had written down [３万ー７万] it's kinda right in the middle...which is fine I guess, but if I ask for less will I probably end up with a bad apartment? Sorry for asking so many questions 
|
|
|
|
Post by Leilo on Jun 28, 2018 2:28:34 GMT 9
hohoEMIsen they literally replied like half an hour after I sent my email saying something along the lines of 'I was just thinking of emailing you so I was happy to get your reply', so either that's a big coincidence or they were actually waiting for my reply and being polite about it ^^;;; This email told me they're planning to send me a letter with rules and acceptance letter or something [in English and Japanese, which is great since I struggled to read a fair few of the kanji in the email TwT] and that they're gonna send me a welcome letter from the mayor on Friday, but still no mention of a pred yet? They're also asking me about what kind of apartment I want [and how much rent I want to pay!] so they can start looking for one for me.
I honestly don't know what to ask for [because I don't want to ask for too much], I think my dorm apartment on my year abroad was 1DK? It was like one [pretty big] bedroom, shower room, toilet and tiny kitchen/corridor. I mean, that was fine apart from the kitchen being tiny [1 hob, 1 sink, 1 small fridge, microwave in bedroom] but I'm guessing it's probably going to be like that in most apartments? ^^;;
I don't even know what a reasonable amount of rent is, the example in one of my textbooks says ５万円 for a 1DK but I don't know if that's a good amount or not. Well, looking at the guideline of rent costs I had written down [３万ー７万] it's kinda right in the middle...which is fine I guess, but if I ask for less will I probably end up with a bad apartment? Sorry for asking so many questions There's this thread to see what kind of apartments/rents other CIR's have: here. I would also google about apartments in your placement to see what kind of prices there are there  |
|
|
|
Post by hohoEMIsen on Jun 28, 2018 10:17:30 GMT 9
hohoEMIsen they literally replied like half an hour after I sent my email saying something along the lines of 'I was just thinking of emailing you so I was happy to get your reply', so either that's a big coincidence or they were actually waiting for my reply and being polite about it ^^;;; This email told me they're planning to send me a letter with rules and acceptance letter or something [in English and Japanese, which is great since I struggled to read a fair few of the kanji in the email TwT] and that they're gonna send me a welcome letter from the mayor on Friday, but still no mention of a pred yet? They're also asking me about what kind of apartment I want [and how much rent I want to pay!] so they can start looking for one for me.
I honestly don't know what to ask for [because I don't want to ask for too much], I think my dorm apartment on my year abroad was 1DK? It was like one [pretty big] bedroom, shower room, toilet and tiny kitchen/corridor. I mean, that was fine apart from the kitchen being tiny [1 hob, 1 sink, 1 small fridge, microwave in bedroom] but I'm guessing it's probably going to be like that in most apartments? ^^;;
I don't even know what a reasonable amount of rent is, the example in one of my textbooks says ５万円 for a 1DK but I don't know if that's a good amount or not. Well, looking at the guideline of rent costs I had written down [３万ー７万] it's kinda right in the middle...which is fine I guess, but if I ask for less will I probably end up with a bad apartment? Sorry for asking so many questions And you will never know whether it is a coincidence or they were being polite because of the all so awesome tatemae culture. Your CO isn't really obliged to tell you whether you have a pred or not, and if you really do have a pred, I think it's up to the pred whether they want to contact you. However, most JETs I know are overly excited to contact their successors, so you most likely don't have one. Either that or your CO won't give your contact details to them, which again is highly doubtful. Another reason why I think you don't have a pred is because they are offering to search for an apartment for you. If you do have a pred, the chances that you take over their apartment is high. If you're unsure about how much you want to pay and how apartments would be like in general, and don't want to ask for too much, why not keep it vague? Tell them what you prioritise and what you don't mind not having. For example, "I prioritise a cheap rent and preferably an area that is near to public transport / near to workplace. I don't really mind if my house is old, and if the kitchen is small - because I don't really cook" etcetc and then let them decide what's best for you OR If you want to base your house on a budget, you can ask "with a budget of 5万, what sort of a house would I be looking at?" |
|
I hope they do
