Main activities 　

<Interpretation & Translation> 　

1) Our members are supporting city’s official events at public institutions as interpreters. We also translate documents issued by public institutions into foreign languages. These activities are based on the request of Ichikawa City’s International Policy Division or IIA.
In 2020, we had 9 requests of interpretation and 5 of translation. A total of 26 volunteers took charge of these requests.

2) Based on requests of foreign residents in Ichikawa, we are present at their interviews with public offices in Ichikawa as interpreter. We translate official documents which they submit to public offices in Ichikawa.
We support for mainly English, Chinese and Spanish as interpretation and English as translation.
In 2020, we had 11 requests of interpretation and 8 of translation. A total of 19 volunteers took charge of these request. The requesters were from various countries as follows : Sudan, the Philippines, Nepal,Sri Lanka,China and Egypt.

3) “Ichimail” is an email news delivery service for foreign residents in Ichikawa City.
The service is provided in English and “easy” Japanese. Our committee is entrusted this translating service by Ichikawa City’s International Policy Division. In 2020, we supported totally 24 editions of this biweekly service. We are covering the translation by 6 staffs for English and 3 staffs for ”easy” Japanese. This entrusted service was termkinated in March 2021.

4) Based on the request of Ichikawa City’s International Policy Division , our committee is backing up “World Friends” - an international youth exchange program joined by children of Ichikawa City. In 2020, we supported a video letters(video shootings) exchanging project between Ichikawa Municipal Fukijima Elementary School and Saint Nicolas School in Issy-les-Moulineaux,France. In this project, a total of 9 supporting services of translation and interpretation were carried out by a total of 25 translators and 9 interpreters.

<Workshops for improving language skills of the committee members>

　　　　English The second Saturday of every month
　　　　Chinese The first Saturday of every month
　　　　German The third Tuesday of every month
　　　　　　　　 The forth Sunday of every month(Online)

<The committee’s own activities>

Our committee members are planning and doing various events to promote mutual friendship and to improve their language skills

Although our activities in 2021 had been still restricted widely by Covid-19, as the previous year.we are doing our best to maintain our operation with measurements to prevent infections of the virus.

Previous events

Committee Meeting 　　new

The Committee Meeting of Interpretation & Translation Committee was held on 9th of October 2021 at Zennikkei Hall conference room. 20 participants including 3 joined online introduced themselves at the beginning. Following a presentation about the history and current activities of the committee, we lively discussed how to promote and expand our activities.

“Translation Workshop” 　

On April 4th 2021, we held a “Translation Workshop at Zen Nikkei Hall. 23 people gathered, including 3 instructors . The theme was "Disaster Prevention." We translated the booklet "Ichikawa City Flood Hazard Map".
The English group conducted role-playing to simulate the support of foreigners in times of disaster. The Chinese group reaffirmed the importance of considering when translating Chinese words with the same kanji as Japanese but different meanings. “Easy Japanese" is the Japanese language that combines two aspects of "easy" and "kind." This group learned how to organize what we want to convey and select information.

Outdoor Study Meeting 　

Avoiding "3Cs” this year, the I&T Committee members went to the Ichikawa City　Archaeology/History/Folklore Museum and Horinouchi Shell Mounds instead of the　regular bus tour. We met on-site and took curators’ lectures first.
Their interesting talks made us think about the people who lived here in the Jomon period. Dividing into two groups, we looked around museums and shell mounds while learning how to translate Japanese into our languages in charge (English, German, Spanish, and Chinese). We were able to spend a wonderful and productive time on a clear autumn day.

Lecture： How to Improve Interpretation Skills 　

This lecture was held on December 21, 2019 at the Zennikkei Hall, with 28 participants. Ms. Nobuko Nakaji, a professional Japanese-English interpreter, conducted the lecture. She gave us some useful hints for improving the skills of interpreting. Interpreters should be confident and calm for them to be trusted by listeners, she remarked. The informative lecture has undoubtedly inspired the audience

Training Bus Tour for Choshi　

It departed at 9 am on October 22, 2019 from Ichikawa with 20 friends. iTC intends to get to know each other well in the organization, so when we boarded the bus, we started to introduce ourselves in detail. Then our training began by learning the history of Choshi area. After arriving in Choshi, we stopped at a restaurant where we had delectable fish dishes served in a bowl of rice topped with sashimi or deep-fried seafood. Some of us went up to the top of nearby light house, which offered a magnificent panoramic view. Then, we proceeded to our next destination, the Higeta Soy Sauce Factory. Though It was closed on weekends, we were still able to enjoy the scenery of the factory through VR, showing a realistic view inside the factory. On the way back to Ichikawa, we were given quizzes based on the facts we had learned from this trip. It was a day of training and learning. (#74, P6)

Workshop : How to communicate effectively as an Interpreter　

December 8, 2018. Place: Zennikei hall
Interpreted in Seven Languages
The Interpretation and Translation Committee held the workshop titled “Tips to improve your communication skills.” 29 members including people from Peru, China, Pakistan and Thai joined. The speaker ? in English - was Ms. Caroline Dashtestani, who have been working in the field of the linguistic education, communication and mass media in the U.K. Australia, Iran and Japan. She pointed in her speech as follows. For preparation: Know your audience. Know your voice ? practice listening to your own voice. First impression: Introduce yourself briefly. Eye contact will help you connect to your audience. Try to stand in their shoes. Material: Personalize your information. Talking about history with names and dates only is always boring. Do not confuse facts with your opinion. Head down and reading is boring. Skip details if the audience losing interest. How to end: Do not end with an apology for your language skills.
After listening to the lecture, 7 members interpreted the main points into 7 languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Thai, German, Spanish, French and Urdu respectively, which were great demonstrations.
Then the attendees have challenged the exercise - how to explain the given objects short and sweet in each one’s mother tongue.

Bus Tour to the Tojo Museum of History　

Aiming to meet and get to know better each ITC member, this bus tour was conducted on September 16th, 2018. The bus, with 24 members aboard, including four American and British, took us to the Tojo Museum of History in Matsudo. We were guided and told about the history and other matters related to this museum in English for our language training. After a wholesome lunch with our members at the Ishii Farm where local vegetables were served, we headed to the Showa no Mori Museum that exhibited many equipment and items from the Showa era. It was very nostalgic for elderly members who reminisced their younger years. It was a day that we consider valuable as we enjoyed exchanging ideas on how we can accomplish our yearly goals and was also beneficial for the improvement of our translation skills..

First General Assembly in 2018

The ICT had a general assembly at Zennikkei Hall on April 29, 2018. That was for the first time since 2018 fiscal year started. The new chairperson Ms. Hiromi Nagasawa acted as hostess and expressed a stance to work positively to develop a new field, totally helpful for the Ichikawa-residing foreigners within acceptable level of the ITC category.
This meeting also known as an informal get-together, the participants have enjoyed over Bingo- Game at the end of the Assembly.

Chinese conversation training in high school

In accordance with request from high school, conversation trainers were sent to students who visit to China in the school trip.

Interpretation at the nursery school

In accordance with request from nursery school, an interpreter was dispatched for an interview between nursery school and foreign residents who are parents of newly entering students.