Courtroom interpreters still in short supply in Japan as number of foreign defendants grows
A judge asks a Vietnamese defendant accused of breaking the Immigration Control Law whether the written indictment is correct. A court interpreter conveys the question to him in Vietnamese, using a microphone. "Everything is correct," he responds at the first hearing of his trial at ...
Mie's first-in-Japan 24-hour interpretation service for child care counseling boosts efficiency
The Mie Prefectural Government has been operating Japan's first 24-hour multilingual telephone interpretation service for public counseling centers dealing with child care issues since last year, allowing for more inquiries to be handled more efficiently. The service allows for response times that are 20 times ...
A Nagoya-based nonprofit organization has started a free translation service to support elderly Chinese residents having trouble with Japan's nursing care insurance system because of the language barrier and lack of knowledge. Wang Rong, 51, who heads Tokai Daily Life Support Center for Foreigners, hopes ...
Tokyo interpreting firm hopes to cash in on tourism boom with over-the-phone assistance
The operator of a Tokyo-based call center is expanding services to target municipalities and companies in need of interpreters to communicate with foreign residents, tourists and customers. For two months from February, LanguageOne Corp. offered call-center services to hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses in ...
Shiga, Saga offering 24/7 multilingual phone help for tourists
Can I get a discount on this vase? How do I get to the ABC Hotel? Where can I find a Chinese-speaking doctor? Getting simple questions understood can often be difficult for international tourists here, where bilingual or multilingual speakers are hard to find. To address ...
Tokyo to set up free call center for Olympic interpretation services
Tokyo plans to set up a 24-hour call center this year so tourism-related businesses can obtain free interpretation in three languages ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
