I have been fascinated by reading stories since I was able to pick up a book, and my father's career dealing with international trading partners inspired me to want to speak English as well as he did. It was this that shaped my life, leading me to a path that would see me studying abroad for two years in England.
As a child I was fascinated with books and stories. I made full use of my library access at school - one year, in the 10th grade, I read nearly 400 books! Literature and stories were my main passion, as I loved discovering new worlds, and getting into the mind of the author who created them.
My mother was keen that I learn English from a young age, so she made sure that I experienced a lot of English language songs and movies. I loved Cinderella and singing along with Sesame Street... Elmo became my first English teacher!
At the same time, my father's work saw him working with many international companies, and I was always amazed at how he could speak another language to his clients. My father was my superhero and speaking English was his superpower - and it inspired me to inherit it too.
Like so many other people, I was captivated by the Harry Potter books, but the nature of the fantasy universe with its magical beings and imaginary places made me very intrigued with how those things were described in the original English. So one day, I bought the English versions of the books and started to read them side by side, comparing it to how I imagined the English would have been.
It was this moment that got me interested in translation, about how translators decide how to convey not just the words, but the nuance and subtext of the original work.
I then went to University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, where I studied media in English. With the thorough mentoring by Professor Marsha Krakower, my eyes were opened to how media works in the society, what kind of messages it sends out, how gender is depicted in various media and how it shapes people's minds.
I enjoyed exchanging my opinions with other students, and I developed a flair for delivering my presentations which filtered through to my academic writing in English including my BA dissertation.
Alongside my studies, I joined the English Drama Club, where I both acted in and directed a number of plays. I also enjoyed singing and directing pronunciations of English, German and Latin at a large-scale college choir.
Like most people who leave high school, I chased a career in the big city, working at Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune, a law firm in the Minato ward of Tokyo. However, while I made many friends, and enjoyed my work and had plenty of opportunities to use my English when dealing with international clients, it was not really 'me'. I knew I wanted to be a literary translator, and after 5 years I decided to pursue my dream, and started looking at Master's degrees in translation...
As it was Harry Potter that had inspired me to learn English, it was only natural to want and find my own Hogwarts. I wanted to study in the UK as I had never been to Europe before and it would give me the opportunity to live and visit somewhere new.
I chose to study at the University of East Anglia, because of its strong international reputation in the field of literature, its creative writing course is considered the best in the UK, but most importantly of England's top Universities it was the only one to offer a Master's that focused exclusively in literary translation.
While I had never heard of Norwich before looking to study in England, when I learned it was one of England's most notable historic cities, I started to imagine how its University campus would be, surely a real life Hogwarts...
It is fair to say that I fell in love with Norwich during my time there. While I expected life abroad to be different, it was often similar in ways I did not expect, yet the differences would often surprise me.
While I was 100% focussed on my Master's, it was my life's passion after all, I still found the opportunity to enjoy myself - continuing my passion for singing by joining as a choral scholar in a choir at Norwich's St Peter Mancroft Church, as well as taking the opportunity to visit other parts of the UK and Europe during the breaks between semesters.
I also met many new friends from all over the world, from Mexico to Poland, from France to Hong Kong, and many many more places. Meeting all these people, experiencing life - both good and bad - in another country, gave me a whole new appreciation of how people from different places see and approach things, which added another dimension to how I approach my translation.
After completing my Master's I took my first steps on the path of being a freelance translator.
While it is certainly a less certain path than when I was climbing the career ladder in Tokyo, it is far more exciting as I know that my success is dependent on my effort and my passion.
Since graduating I have had the opportunity to work on so many different translation projects, both for big international corporations and with small independent companies. I've been involved with translation projects that I couldn't have imagined doing at the start of my journey, from movie subtitles, to a book about coffee!
Like I said at the start, I enjoy stories. I enjoy reading about new characters, discovering new worlds, not knowing what could happen next.
That's exactly how translating is. With each project I get to meet new people, discover new ideas, and I never know where the path will take me next.
Hopefully it will take me to you.
If you are interested in working together, do not hesitate to email me at aya@ayatranslates.com
My rates depend on the nature of each project, however they are typically in the ballpark of about: 10 yen/word for English to Japanese and 20 yen/character for Japanese to English.