MA in Japanese Interpreting & Translation (MAJIT)

Abstract

In 1981, when the Department of Japanese & Chinese Studies (as it then was) instituted its postgraduate degree in conference interpreting and translation between Japanese and English, there were no tertiary institutions in Japan or anywhere else in the world teaching such a course. Australia has a national government body that sets the standards for interpreters and translators practising within the country and that develops the means by which practitioners can become accredited. The existence of such national standards has certain implications for the way in which interpreting and translation may be taught, as does the fact that Japanese differs in certain respects from the range of languages on which the European tradition of translation and interpreting is based. The MA in Japanese Interpreting and Translation and its ongoing development are profiled against this background.