allynick-ga, thanks for the interesting question!
Since the interview you want to get translated is in a book, it would
be somewhat difficult for you to transfer it to machine-readable
format, which would be necessary before you could use an automatic
translation service like Altavista's Babelfish. On top of that, the
results of automatic translation tend to be somewhat poor at best.
For these reasons, I would suggest that you send your book (or a
photocopy or fax of the pages in question) to a professional
translator. The price for two pages of text will probably be
affordable, and you'll be guaranteed a quality translation. Many
translators these days prefer electronic documents, and still others
specialize in business translation, so I'll start by suggesting some
that could accept your article by mail or fax.
The first translator I'd suggest is Aya Honyaku. They specialize in
anime and manga translation, but they're quite willing to work on
article translation jobs like yours. You can request a quote from them
at their website, below.
Aya Honyaku Translation:
http://www.animetranslator.com
JETserv is another online translation service that can accept mailed
or faxed documents. They charge five cents per Japanese character, and
claim that an average A4 page should cost around $20. However, since
their minimum charge is $50, you might need to pay that amount for
your two page translation.
JETserv:
http://www.jetserv.com/trans_e.htm
BJ Translations can also accept documents by fax. Though they
specialize in British English, they can also translate into American
English. You can request a translation quote at the page below.
BJ Translations:
http://www.japanesetranslations.co.uk
IKU Midwest also accepts faxed documents. Their translations start at
$19.99. You can request a translation quote at the page below.
IKU Midwest:
http://ikumi2.tripod.com/ikumidwest/id1.html
Sakura Translation Service accepts documents in .jpg and .tif format,
so if you have a scanner, they might be a good option. You can request
a translation quote at the page below.
Sakura Translation Service:
http://www.sakura.ch
You could also seek a freelance translator to do this work. One easy
way to find one is to post to the Honyaku Mailing List, a mailing list
for Japanese/English translators. This list actively encourages offers
of work, so you are likely to be able to find someone you can pay to
translate your article. You can use the form linked to below to submit
your job offer to the list.
Honyaku Mailing List:
http://www.crossroads.net/honyaku
Post a Job Offer to the Honyaku Mailing List:
http://www.crossroads.net/cgi-bin/mailmerge.cgi/templates/joboffer.tmpl
If you live in a city with a university, you might also check to see
if they offer Japanese classes. In my experience, Japanese language
instructors can often tell you where to find local people who do
translations. This way, you might not have to send your book through
the mail, and it'll be easy to talk directly with your translator, if
you have any questions.
I would say that a good way for you to start would be to send a quote
request to all of the above translation services. Get a feel for their
customer service and prices, and then decide which you'd like to use
for your translation job.
Additional Links:
About.com: Translations:
http://japanese.about.com/cs/translations/
WorldLingo.com:
http://www.worldlingo.com/
Altavista Babelfish Translation Service:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Search Strategy:
Google:
"japanese english translation professional"
"japanese-english translation"
"honyaku"
If you'd like more information on any of these services or topics,
please request an Answer Clarification. I'd be happy to help you. Your
question isn't finished until you're satisfied with my answer, so
please don't hesitate to ask! Thanks again for the question!
-vorfeed-ga |
