boooooo
I have just been looking online at bilingual English-Japanese work in the US and Japan. Basically with my current level of Japanese I'm probably going to be doing interpretation or translation work (and translation is only if I get lucky). I'm not certified level 2 yet, so I can't call myself fluent. And while level 2 is considered fluent by many in the States (or so I thought), apparently it is considered business level in Japan and fluency is level 1. I could not pass level 1 unless I did hardcore studying for a year or so. Heck I'm not even sure I'll pass 2 this year. The only jobs really available to me are translation of Japanese to English or interpreting, and interpreting is most likely going to be something in customer service. I saw some want ads for hotels and in the past I have seen some for airlines. I would really like to get an interpretation job not so much because it is my dream job or anything but because it would be getting my foot in the door of working bilingually. I also saw a want ad for a substitute Japanese teacher in California and I'm pretty sure I could do it.... because to be a sub you don't need a teaching degree, just a degree. Unfortunately it will be going on while I'm in Japan..... and yeah I don't know about moving to Cali but I mean the job is something I could probably do. I have plenty of time before I want to work again but I want to start thinking now about things like this so I don't rush myself at the end. I already have spent time in the past looking for work and found what I really wanted to do in the Kzoo area.... unfortunately at the time they had wanted immediate help and I was obviously still in Japan. Right now I am seeing what kind of options exist and where they are.... maybe none of them is going to call out to me but I just want to see what kind of stuff is out there and whether or not I could see myself doing these jobs. Personally I have found that the best jobs are the ones found through personal connections, but I don't know a lot of people working in these fields except Angles Sensei (head of Japanese at my alma mater).... I'm sure he would write me a letter of recommendation but I wish he'd just hand me a job somewhere haha.
The crappy thing is that most of the bilingual English and Japanese jobs out there are in engineering or finance or some other specific/technical field. I studied English and I have no experience/education in any technical fields. Plus my experience is in education but I don't have a teaching degree. I'd either have to go back to school and study something else or who knows what. I wonder if I could study a specific industry while living in Japan, in Japanese, and use that to my advantage? Or find some kind of short-term internship after this job in a field useful for work in Japan? The biggest booming field in Japan right now, I'm pretty sure, is agriculture..... apparently, about 70% of all farmers are over 60 years old and most don't have heirs to run the farm when they go..... in an effort to revive food stability there have been a number of young and fashionable Tokyo-ites getting involved with farming recently. Not sure if I want to be a farmer but it's an interesting issue. I've seen it on the news and in the Japan Times.
I really would love doing translation but I'm not really sure where to start with it. I'm sure most popular stuff has already been translated and I don't know enough obscure stuff. Maybe I should talk to Angles. He said he was going to be in Kyoto for a year on some kind of sabbatical or research trip. I wonder if he's in Japan now?
I'm not sure how I feel about options like Interac, etc. I feel like I want to get out of education and into something else, even if it's retail, just using my Japanese.
Maybe if I just finish writing my book I will never have to think about this again hehe. I'll just be a famous author. Instant お金持ち (rich person)!
The crappy thing is that most of the bilingual English and Japanese jobs out there are in engineering or finance or some other specific/technical field. I studied English and I have no experience/education in any technical fields. Plus my experience is in education but I don't have a teaching degree. I'd either have to go back to school and study something else or who knows what. I wonder if I could study a specific industry while living in Japan, in Japanese, and use that to my advantage? Or find some kind of short-term internship after this job in a field useful for work in Japan? The biggest booming field in Japan right now, I'm pretty sure, is agriculture..... apparently, about 70% of all farmers are over 60 years old and most don't have heirs to run the farm when they go..... in an effort to revive food stability there have been a number of young and fashionable Tokyo-ites getting involved with farming recently. Not sure if I want to be a farmer but it's an interesting issue. I've seen it on the news and in the Japan Times.
I really would love doing translation but I'm not really sure where to start with it. I'm sure most popular stuff has already been translated and I don't know enough obscure stuff. Maybe I should talk to Angles. He said he was going to be in Kyoto for a year on some kind of sabbatical or research trip. I wonder if he's in Japan now?
I'm not sure how I feel about options like Interac, etc. I feel like I want to get out of education and into something else, even if it's retail, just using my Japanese.
Maybe if I just finish writing my book I will never have to think about this again hehe. I'll just be a famous author. Instant お金持ち (rich person)!