jedivader

My Mother-in-Law was put ain an orpahange and then adopted by a U.S. soldier when she was around five years old or so. She has a brother in Osaka which she has not seen since she was given away. We are going to Japan in a few weeks and will meet him but none of us speak Japanese and he does not speak English. We can hire a professional traslator but that is very expensive. I thought maybe there would be local American students or Japanese students that might want to practice translating for free or for some type of extra money. I have e-mailed a couple of local schools around D.C. and a couple of schools around Oska but have not heard back yet. Anyone have ideas? Anyone have a friend in the Osaka area that might do this for us. I am sure my in-laws will have no problem covering possible travel/meals and some type of payment. We are just trying to avoid having to pay the very high professional service fees, especially since after the first three hours, each hour after that is pay by the hour.

hawaiiantraveler

There are student giudes who practice their English on you and guide you around. The charge is food and transport. Do a search here for the website as it has slipped my mind. Here is one that hasn't but they charge as most people would for this service:

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/es...deservice.html

FREE THE MONKEY GOD!

hawaiiantraveler

on second look the free guides are listed,lol

FREE THE MONKEY GOD!

jedivader

Thanks for the link. My wife is going to make contact and see if they can do something. She has checked with something similar already and was told that they only had translators to take you around as a tourist guide type thing, they would not provide someone for a personal/one-on-one type thing. We need to have someone that is willing to sit with us in our hotel for a few hours and maybe go around the area or to his house so that we can communicate.

rhkkmk

maybe another word other than translators might be better....translators to me means 100% perfect translation while you would not need that...

kotoanne

If you don't mind sharing your story, write to the Japan Times (www.japantimes.co.jp) Lifelines columnists. You might also try contacting the Canadian Academy in Kobe to see if any high school students would be interested in volunteering their linguistic skills. Seems like this would be a great project for a history class. If you have someone here in the US who can write your request in Japanese, send it to a Japanese-language newspaper. I had very good luck with a request in a Japanese paper for information on a WWII prison camp near Yokohama where a family friend had been for the last few months of the war. The interpreter for prisoner interrogations at the camp read the request and contacted me! Ask for an "interpreter" rather than a "translator" and you'll probably have better luck.

Mara

I have no idea if this may help but I get emails from the following: http://www.osakacity.org/en/Default.aspx

Evidently Chicago is a sister city to Osaka and this email is sent by the Osaka Chicago office - there is a contact email - maybe they can help you??

jedivader

Thanks for the suggestions. I have sent e-mails out to numerous universities and to some of the suggestions here on Fodor.

Cicerone

I assume you have already asked the hotel if they would be able to provide a translator for free, either through their concierge desk, business centre or another employee at the hotel. I also assume you have obtained the names of translators from the hotel and have determined that their prices are more than you would want to pay, I assume you have done the same with the US Embassy, and in particular their consulate in Osaka, see http://osaka.usconsulate.gov/wwwhmain.html.

I assume that you have asked the translators if they would provide a reduced fee for this rather unique service that is required.

I assume your mother-in-law’s brother has exhausted possibilities for finding English-speaking neighbors or relatives who could provide the service.

A hotel employee may also be willing to do this on his/her off hours for a lesser fee than a professional translator would charge, so it may be worth asking at the hotel once you arrive.

I would then suggest that you contact the following to see if anyone would volunteer their services or perhaps suggest someone who could help you:

American Chamber of Commerce Osaka at http://www.accj.or.jp/user/293/Kansai/
or see the main website at http://www.accj.or.jp/user/210/index/ and try the Tokyo branch

Rotary Club of Osaka http://www.kita-umeda2660rc.org/welcom.htm

The Catholic Archdiocese of Osaka see http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/ediocese/osaka.htm If nothing else, ask they either print a request in the weekly bulletin, or include the request in the announcements made at the end of mass on a few Sundays before you arrive.

St Paul’s Anglican Church, Osaka see http://www.nskk.org/osaka/church/paul/english.htm

(I would also suggest you try local churches in Osaka when you arrive, or go through your local church or synagogue to see if they have any local connections.)

US Armed Forces, Japan see http://www.usfj.mil/ - you might also try going through the Veterans Affairs Dept in the US and see if they can connect you with an Army/Navy counterpart in Japan who can act as a translator. see http://www.va.gov/

I found a reference to an orphanage in Osaka, the Holy Family Orphanage. I am assuming this is a Catholic institution. I could not find any link, but the US Consulate in Osaka my be able to help. See http://osaka.usconsulate.gov/wwwh-ephoto2007.html You might contact the orphanage to see if they could provide translation services. (Interestingly, this orphanage seems to have had a long connection with a US Army infantry division dating back to the end of WWII. )

The US Embassy in Japan has published a list of Japanese adoption agencies, see http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-adopt.html. You might contact them to see if they could provide translators or have a suggestion for more affordable alternatives.

jedivader

Her brother does not know anyone that can translate for us. My wife has been in touch with a volunteer group that seems willing to work with us. I also was contacted by the Japan Times and they seem interested. I have contacted numerous universities in Osaka and around the Washington, DC area but have gotten nothing from those. My was was going to check with the hotel, not sure if she did yet.

jedivader

For the first day with her brother, my wife has booked a professional for three hours and has a volunteer on stand-by if we need more time. For the second day, we have the volunteer for as long as needed.

Thanks for the help!

Kathie

Great! Please let us know how it goes.

thomasgroendal

Contact me and I will help you if I can, although my schedule is tight.
I am a professional translator/interpreter but depending on your demands and my availability I might be willing to help you pro bono.
Tom Groendal
http://jpn.proz.com/?sp=profile&sp_m...t&eid_s=864820
My email is the same as my username on Fodor, with hotmail.com on the end.

Mark_Chapman

My wife was adopted from a orpahange in Osaka when she was about 5 by an Air Force family and left behind a sister. How did your mother-in-law go about finding her brother??

Mara

Mark - This is an old post - if the original poster doesn't comment I would suggest you going to the forum at japan-guide.com and ask there - they are very knowledgeable and there was a similar discussion a while back....

jedivader

Mark - Not quite sure how she knew how to contact her brothers. I can ask if you really want to see if it will help your wife locate her sister. I know my mother-in-law has a friend that speaks Japanese and goes back to Japan often that helped her with contacting the orphanages and tranlating letters. The trip was great and Japan is awesome.