Much as you want to build your skills, you may find it difficult to get to workshops. Maybe you’re just too busy or live too far away. Webinars could be your answer.
I hosted my first webinar last Saturday. After my presentation for participants of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in February, some audience members contacted me asking how they could learn more and improve their translation skills – especially while living in remote locations. Thanks to the initiative of one of them, six of us gathered on a webinar to discuss the challenges of a Japanese text that we’d all translated into English, share ideas, and answer general questions about translation work.
One participant said, “The webinar was a rare opportunity to compare translations with fellow beginners, and receive feedback on the do’s and don’ts from an experienced professional, including many nuggets of wisdom on the process of translating a text, most welcome to someone just entering the field.”
The only downside – apart from me initially neglecting to unmute everyone’s microphones and wondering why they were so quiet – was a slight delay in the transmission of the slides that I was showing. I’ll take that into account when I design my next webinar and slow the pace a little.
I see great potential for offering more webinars on communication and translation topics. If you’re interested, look for information on the Sasuga! Communications website in the coming months.
Huge thanks to JET participant Rosalind Shiraishi for your initiative in getting this off the ground, to Gihan Perera for your valuable information on how to run webinars, and to GoToWebinar for your great technology!
Image courtesy of sakhorn38, FreeDigitalPhotos.net