Konrad Godleske
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        To get started, you might enjoy translating something that you've read and enjoyed, regardless of the field it's in. My first (unpaid) translation was a short story that I liked and wanted my non-Japanese-reading parents to read. Learning to translate with good quality partly depends on the quantity of translation work you've already done (because the work, whether or not its paid, gives you opportunity to meet first hand, and experience tackling, the various problems involved in translation), so it couldn't hurt to get started.
        David Shinozuka
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        A method that I adopted years ago during the intense language-acquisition phase was to make up my mind before starting to read whether or not I would be reading simply for general comprehension or as a grammar-skills and vocabulary building exercise. That resolved up front the occasionally agonizing dilemma of whether to interrupt the reading process to make sure I could account for everything that was happening in the text, or to keep on trucking, mindful that we all have acquired much of our understanding of our native languages through intensive, long-term exposure, not necessarily via grammar books.
        Tom Coffey
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        From July 1994:
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        I can attest from my personal experience that you do not need to have some sort of advanced degree to be a professional translator. Most of the time, my clients couldn't care a whit that I never even finished a BA or BS degree. I guess that makes me kousotsu in the vernacular. I support myself quite nicely as a full-time technical translator. Of course, I already have 8 years experience in the business and clients care much more about experience than anything else.
        I started out translating in-house at a Tokyo sci-tech magazine publisher. They were quite lenient about deadlines (it was only a quarterly) and the editors would point out my mistakes quite carefully.
        Even though I did not have a degree, I had studied university physics for two years and was quite interested in the physical sciences in general, having read many science magazines religiously (Scientific American, etc.).
        If you have a particular field that you are interested in, you might try making that your "specialty" by getting and reading as many dictionaries and English publications you can on that specific field. If you can demonstrate a reasonable familiarity with the terminology for one specific field, airlines, for example, then you can tell the translation agencies that this is your specialty. Then, when they come across something in that field and their regular translators are hiking the Himalayas, your name will stick out and they will call you.
        The problem with going the freelance route is that you pretty much have to call and fax and bother and pester the agencies for at least six months before you will get any reasonable response at all. Once they are used to hearing your name, they will call you, but that first six months of no income can be a killer.
        Alan Siegrist
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        From March 2001:
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        As a generalist, I don't think it is necessary to specialize, except in learning Japanese and learning to translate. Another thing: degrees aren't worth much. Get past it. However you can get a foot in the door, go for it. Answer a call for translators that gets posted on Honyaku, for example, do a few trial translations... You need the tools, the intellectual capacity and the motivation/work ethic, but it won't work to fool anyone about your level of Japanese. Be honest about where you are, get taken under someone's wing, and study up while on the job for the first two to three years. (Actually it's an ongoing learning process. :-)
        Translation is the school of hard knocks. You learn from doing. There is no single "getting the job." Jobs (hopefully) come one after another. Building good working relationships is the goal. You like to work with someone; they like to work with you and like your work. The pay is acceptable. It may take time at first, but you get faster and better with experience. Then your skills are worth more, you can ask for more, you can handle more. When you can work twice as fast, the same page rate starts looking quite good. But you have to start somewhere. That's why some people suggested working in-house. You don't have to start that way. I didn't. But you do have to start somewhere. (Yes, get thee to the Land of the Rising Sun...)

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