Inspired by this topic from everyone’s Japanese language hero, Leebo, and because I was still job hunting and thought this might help, I decided to take the JTF ほんやく検定 back in January. There’s a discount if you sit both the J>E and E>J on the same test day, so I figured, why not? If I fail, I fail, and I’m out a few thousand extra yen (which was my biggest hesitation, but it takes money to buy whiskey, as the saying goes).
For those unfamiliar with this translation exam,
it’s really meant for translators who are active in the field already and looking to obtain credentials/hone their skills to a higher level, as opposed to people looking to get into translation for the first time. I ignored this and also really didn’t do much in terms of preparation.
You have 3 hours (used to be 2) to complete a single translation task of your choosing from 5 categories: Economics/Humanities, Science/Technology, Finance/Investing, Medical/Pharmaceutical, and Information Systems. You’re allowed to use a dictionary, but no automated translation tools like Google Translate, DeepL, ChatGPT etc. for obvious reasons.
You are then graded on that single task for accuracy, and awarded one of 4 results:
Fail- no cert. for you : (
Level 3- You passed, but only with some pity points for tests being a more stressful environment than actual work. You still have some work to do, but you’re more or less good to go.
Level 2- There are some things that could be slightly improved, but your translation is acceptable by all metrics. Only Level 1s are better than you.
Level 1- No corrections necessary, perfect translation. Accurate, easily understood, and appropriate language given the original text.
It’s worth noting that your grade is only awarded for the category you chose, so theoretically you could retake it every time it’s available and collect all 5 certs if you were seriously ambitious.
The nice thing is you’re free to read the translation task for all 5 categories before you choose, so you can go in with a backup if your intended category ends up being unexpectedly difficult.
Now, since I decided to sit both J>E and E>J, that’s two 3-hour blocks. 6 hours in total. And we had the pleasure of technological issues right off the bat for the first block, which caused the test start to be delayed by 20 minutes. They extended the deadline for turn-in by 20 minutes as well, but that meant my break between tests was cut from 60 to 40 minutes to both cook and eat lunch. Very glad this was a home test.
The morning block (10:00AM-1:00PM) is E>J, so you get nice and worn out before attempting your real goal, J>E (2:00-5:00PM). (The test is in Japan, totally reasonable that X>J would be first, I’m not actually complaining.)
I made an entirely counterintuitive decision, and opted to take the Medical/Pharmaceutical test for both E>J and J>E.
This sounds insane; wouldn’t the Economics/Humanities category be easier? You might think so, but I think there’s a lot more subjective grading that can happen when you’re basically translating a newspaper article than when translating a medical journal. Prose and journalism-adjacent writing ability is being judged in addition to just grammar and vocab.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t fancy myself familiar enough with the official titles of various political parties and leaders from countries around the world, nor with whether Zimbabwe has states, prefectures, wards, or whatever, to feel confident in my ability to write a political piece and make it sound natural. Medical stuff? As long as you’ve got the vocab and grammar down, it’s all literal translation, and much less subjective. That was my reasoning, anyway.
The E>J translation was covering a study done on when patients are most likely to suffer bleeding after undergoing non-cardiac surgery, and the most effective timing to take preventative treatment. As you can probably guess, I didn’t pass (and didn’t expect to, E>J is hard enough for native Japanese speakers).
The J>E translation contrasted Hepatitis B and C, and detailed their progression into cirrhosis and liver cancer.
I would like to pause here and restate that I did not choose the Medical category for any reason other than my assumption that literal translation would be easier and more likely to pass. My background is in music education stateside, and since coming to Japan English education and tourism-related translation.
Y’all, I snagged a Level 3 pass! I don’t know how I managed that, but now I’m feeling kind of motivated to go search out medical journals and start a new Anki deck focused on medical terms to see if I can’t raise that to a Level 2. Maybe I could pick up some freelance work at the local hospital when the local foreign population are sick? Totally unexpected, and as of March I’ve started a new fully remote job, so I don’t really need it anymore, but a win is a win!
Has anyone other than Leebo taken this? Are there any Level 1s lurking among the WaniKani community? What language exams have you all been prepping for? Or what are your current goals? Feel free to turn this topic into a place to discuss all things motivational! You’re more capable than you think!
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Sincerely, I would hope that no active translators, in the medical field especially, would struggle to do better than myself. Though I really don’t have any way to gauge what’s “average” because I don’t know anyone else personally who has taken the exam.
謙譲語・尊敬語 )