Speak a different language

Mrs. Vijaya Krishnakumar, teaches in the Indo-Japan centre, Chennai and also undertakes translations and interpretation assignments.

IT all started as a hobby. When my daughters started attending school, I had a lot of free time on hand. As I was interested in foreign languages I had to choose from French, German and Japanese, which were being taught. At that time everybody was learning French or German, so I wanted to try something different and signed up for Japanese language classes.

What fascinated me the most was the script of the Japanese language, which is highly stylised. Japanese grammar and vocabulary is not very tough and is very similar to our Indian languages, particularly Tamil, so translation becomes very easy. However the script is very tough, there are in fact different kinds of characters, which later assimilate pictorial representations, which makes it complex. To really become proficient one needs to practice a lot and it is a real challenge. Even today I cannot say that I have mastered the language completely because it takes ages to become highly proficient in this language.

The language course is structured in four levels, and those who have completed the first three levels can comfortably taken on translation and interpretation assignments.

One important thing to note is that with foreign companies setting up operations and IT companies making inroads into India, there are a lot of job opportunities available in this field. Organisations are looking out for professionals who can translate and interpret documents, be present at meetings to communicate between the officials and take on assignments in technical writing. There are demands for in house positions where good communicators are in need to handle over-seas projects, and coordinate with officials.

So one can be employed with a concern or also take up assignments based on their convenience. These assignments are very lucrative and you get a good chance to interact with people and get to know about their culture and lifestyle. I do attend corporate meetings to facilitate effective communication between the Indian businessmen and their Japanese counterparts. During these meetings you get to know a lot about the business acumen of the people and the scenario of the industry.

There are also job opportunities in the education sector, where you can get employed in the Indo-Japan cultural centres being set up for promoting Japanese language in India. There are a lot of IT professionals who come in for classes in the language, as Japan is fast becoming a major IT destination in the world. Companies also employ teachers to teach Japanese to their professionals; therefore you will be involved in preparing effective program packages for corporates.

We Indians are at an advantage because our knowledge of English both spoken and written is excellent. And if we go on to master Japanese then we can really make a good career in this field.

Malini Suryanarayanan