Mission as a translator 2

Continues from Mission as a translator.






Translator.


My old memory about a translator.
When Michael Jacson or Madonna visited Japan, there was always a lady standing
behind them and whispering to them.

They translate the conversation from Japanese to English, and English to Japanese.
I always thought,
"It is such a big responsibility as a translator.  There are many people watching
this show who understand both English and Japanese. If this translator made
a mistake, or did not translate any part of the conversation, there must be
some complains come to them..." 

That is my old memory.




My duty as a translator is only once or twice a year. Although, I always speak
in Japanese to my children in my house, however, the response from them
are always in English.

99% of the conversation with my husband is in English. There are few
sentences he uses in Japanese, "Arigato - thank you" "Itadaki masu - thank you
for the food" "Chotto Dake - just a little bit"

Also he uses Japanese words for the Japanese food, "Miso, Wakame, Konbu, Mirin,
Tenpura, Gohan" etc etc. 


Also, if my children don't seem to be understanding what I just said in Japanese,
I switched to English, so then they understand.

  Well, I regret a little bit about it. Because they are losing the ability to understand
Japanese, so I should have spoken only Japanese no matter what....  

Anyways, my mission as a translator came to me 3 years after I started to learn
Jikiden Reiki. (9 years after my arrival to Canada.)

I started to learn Jikiden Reiki in 2006. Back then, the Vancouver seminar was 
only offered in Japanese for Japanese people who live in Vancouver area.
The next year, 2007, was also in Japanese.


I asked my teacher, Mr.Yamaguchi,
"You are coming all the way from Japan to Vancouver, and only offering your seminar
in Japanese.  Why don't you offer your seminar in English?"

He said,
"I would love to do so, but I do not speak English, so we need a translator." 

I thought, 

”I speak both language in my house, and it wouldn't be so hard to
translate the subject that I already know. " 

and I told him,
"I would love to translate your seminar. I do not have any certificate as 
a translator, but I think I should be able to do it. " 

In 2008, we were able to offer the Jikiden Reiki seminar in English for the first time
in Vancouver !!!


I was so excited to myself and I almost wanted to tap my shoulder and said to me,
"You did it, Mari !" 

In 1999 summer, the only perfect sentence that I could say was

"Where is the bathroom?"

So you can imagine how much I was excited when I finished translating

the whole entire Jikiden Reiki seminar. 

To be continued ...