How to handily get a Japanese interpreter job

Table Of Contents

To become an excellent Japanese interpreter, you must hone your skills and overcome the pressures and difficulties when practicing as an interpreter. The following article of Navigos Search will provide you with helpful information to understand more about the job and the path to success in this industry. Stay tuned!

1. Overview of the Japanese interpreter job

1.1. What is a Japanese interpreter?

A Japanese Interpreter is a person responsible for interpreting conversations and documents from Vietnamese into Japanese and vice versa.

Currently, many Japanese businesses are willing to invest in the Vietnamese market. Thus, the position of Japanese interpreter has always received the attention of many job seekers.

A Japanese Interpreter is a person responsible for interpreting Vietnamese into Japanese and vice versa

1.2. Details of job description

To conquer the job as a Japanese interpreter, you must have a clear understanding of the duties performed. Depending on the field and the size of each business, the person undertaking this position will have different detailed jobs. However, in general, they are responsible for the following tasks:

  • Interpret documents, speeches, conversations, meetings, and contracts from Japanese into Vietnamese and vice versa.
  • Provide clear and accurate interpretation. 
  • Communicate the speaker's thoughts, purposes, spirit, and feelings to the listener without adding or cutting information.
  • Draft contracts in Japanese to send to partners and clients.
  • Check and reply to emails in Japanese from partners.
  • Coordinate with other departments to help the interpretation process go smoothly and efficiently.
  • Summarize and report on interpretation work.
  • Perform other duties related to interpretation as directed by superiors.

View more: Is it hard to recruit an excellent Korean interpreter?

2. What are the requirements of a Japanese interpreter?

To increase your chances of getting hired and easily catch the eye of employers, you must be proficient in Japanese language and have job-related skills. Specifically as follows:

Japanese proficiency in four skills

The mandatory condition for becoming a professional Japanese interpreter is to master Japanese in 4 skills, including Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. You must have a Japanese language certificate (JLPT - Japanese Language Proficiency Test), at least N2 (N1 is the highest level and N5 is the lowest).
Some recruiters require candidates to have a Bachelor's degree or higher with the quality training majors of Japanese language interpreters at the University of Foreign Languages, Hanoi University, the University of Danang, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Foreign Trade University, etc. Being well-schooled will be a solid foundation for candidates to be confident in their qualifications when entering the profession. Besides, written and spoken Japanese are not the same, so you must actively learn to use them appropriately in each situation.

Candidates must be proficient in Japanese

Fluency in Vietnamese

The job of Japanese interpreters is not only interpreting languages back and forth but also a connection and exchange between two cultures of Vietnam and Japan. Therefore, candidates must have an in-depth understanding of their native language and vocabulary to convey and express ideas accurately and appropriately in each communication situation.

Understanding of Vietnamese- Japanese culture

Arming yourself with information about the culture and society of Vietnam and Japan is a solid knowledge base that helps you a lot in interpretation. If the two sides do not understand the culture and customs of each other, you must explain to them to develop a better relationship.

Crucial skills

Ability to concentrate and remember

Whether it is direct interpretation in conversations or document interpretation, you do not have much time to recall, listen and interpret at once. Failure to remember the conversation content will lead to inaccurate and not fluent interpretation. Therefore, you must have good concentration skills to listen to capture information and quickly process content from the source language to the target language. Pay attention to the speed so as not to miss important content in the interpretation.

Communication skills

The interpretation profession in general and Japanese interpreters in particular always need good communication skills. Interpreters always have to interact with many people with many meeting situations in different circumstances. Thus, you must communicate clearly, use well-organized and professional words and know how to behave flexibly. In addition, maintaining a confident, open, and friendly demeanor also helps you to make a good impression on people. As a result, the opportunity for career development and becoming a high-level Japanese interpreter will be increased.

Japanese interpreter job requires good communication skills

Ability to work under high pressure

Japanese always appreciate principle and politeness, so when communicating with and interpreting for Japanese partners, you must pay attention to the words to show respect for the other side. With the same problem, you must know how to interpret appropriately depending on the object (men, women, young people, or an elder). You are also stressed if you have to memorize or take notes of a long speech by a speaker and make sure not to misinterpret, interpret insufficiently, or over-interpret.
In addition, a critical skill in this profession is understanding client psychology to predict the meaning of interpretation and select words accordingly. Understanding them is the premise for a smooth and successful interpretation. There are many challenges in this profession. However, if you can work well under pressure, the chances of success are unlimited.

Research and informatics skills

No matter how good an interpreter you are, you will encounter unknown words during the process of working. Therefore, research skills play a critical role in knowing the semantics, helping you interpret contextually. With technology development, lookup software has been born to make it more convenient for you to look up and learn anytime. Besides, because you have to often work on computers, proficiency in Microsoft Office is also a mandatory requirement to help handle work easier.

3. How to become a professional Japanese interpreter?

Accumulate knowledge and experience

Once you have a solid professional background, you must not go around in circles but must constantly accumulate more knowledge and practical work experience.
You can register for an advanced course to further develop your career or actively learn professional experience and skills from previous people to serve your profession later.
Work in a specific field
To have a long attachment to this profession and improve your interpretation skills, you should work in a specific field and constantly accumulate experience from the seniors to build a good relationship that is helpful for your work later.
In addition to the specialist Japanese interpretation field, you can also go to Japan to live and study to get the most practical experience. This is a short but effective learning path chosen by many young people.
Experiencing every day in the land of the rising sun, you will quickly become familiar with their culture and behavior, which helps you improve your skills and gain practical experience to serve the job later.

Accumulate experience to serve the job well

Study and research by yourself

As mentioned above, you can gain more knowledge and experience through training courses or learning from masters in interpretation. However, there are many other learning methods you can study and research on your own such as gaining knowledge through books, seminars, having conversations on forums, big events, etc. This will help you expand your knowledge and get more direction for your career to build a distinguished personal brand for yourself.

Apply for a job as a Japanese interpreter at Navigos Search

When you have the expertise, experience, and professional skills, you will become a bright candidate for the position of a Japanese interpreter. At this time, there must be lots of companies waiting for you to apply. However, to work in a professional environment with a high salary, you cannot ignore Navigos Search - Vietnam's leading middle and high-level recruitment agency.
Here, Japanese interpretation jobs in HCMC, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh and many positions are waiting for you to apply.
Thanks to a team of professional consultants who deeply understand the workforce value, graduate with a Bachelor's degree or higher, have at least 3 years of working experience, and are well-trained through courses on intensive skills and a methodical recruitment process, our specialists will search and advise you on the most suitable working environment.

Vietnam's leading middle and high-level talent hunting company

Navigos Search acts as a bridge to negotiate and advise candidates on salary and benefits. After the candidate gets a nod for the job, our specialists continue to closely follow to aim for the process of "Success after achieving the dream job".
Besides, with 375,000+ senior candidates, 85,000+ senior management candidates available, and the top-notch recruitment solution, Navigos Search is currently the leading talent hunting company in Vietnam. We have supported hundreds of thousands of businesses and corporations across Vietnam to get a quality workforce and brought the best jobs to millions of candidates.
By adhering to 5 core values of Top-notch service- Always improving - Taking responsibility for the work- Always communicating honestly - Integrity, we have continuously provided quality services for candidates and businesses since our establishment in 2002.
If your business is in need of recruiting personnel, especially for the position of Japanese interpreter, don't hesitate to contact us to get the most potential candidate. Or if you are looking for a Japanese interpreter job or any other position, send us your CV to be informed when there is a suitable vacancy!

Navigos Search - Vietnam's leading
middle and high-level talent hunting company


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