Honyaku FAQ
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Michael Hendry
Jul 2, 2008, 12:13:07 AM7/2/08
to hon...@googlegroups.com
FAQ
English
Welcome to the
Honyaku mailing list.
==========
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the list
owners/moderators at honyakumods!@yahoogroups.com (delete the ! in the address)
==========
==========
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the list
owners/moderators at honyakumods!@yahoogroups.com (delete the ! in the address)
==========
The Honyaku mailing list is an
open mailing list, started in 1994 by Dan
Kanagy. It is an exchange forum for professional translators and those
Kanagy. It is an exchange forum for professional translators and those
who aspire to be professional to discuss issues relating to
translation
between Japanese and English. Much of the
discussion here is
written in Japanese.
If you are asking for assistance in translating a
simple word or phrase for
free, this is probably not the best place to ask, because the people here do
translation for a living. You would not ask your dentist to fix "just one
tooth" for free; please give us the same courtesy.
Such questions can usually be answered in other groups, however, such as:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.lang.japan/topics
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/forum/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nihongo101/
free, this is probably not the best place to ask, because the people here do
translation for a living. You would not ask your dentist to fix "just one
tooth" for free; please give us the same courtesy.
Such questions can usually be answered in other groups, however, such as:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.lang.japan/topics
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/forum/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nihongo101/
The Honyaku mailing list is currently
hosted by Google Groups, which has a
straightforward web-based system for subscribing, unsubscribing, and
managing your list preferences. We recommend doing it via the web, but it
can also be done by e-mail (see below).
We urge you to follow the guidelines given here for posting notes to the
Honyaku list. By following them, you ensure that your notes are easy to read
and respond to. With so many notes posted to Honyaku daily, it pays to make
your e-mail as readable as possible. To do otherwise is to risk having your
e-mail ignored. Your first thought in posting to Honyaku should be, ‘How can
I save rather than waste people's time?’
1. Act responsibly
List members are diverse, with many languages, nationalities, religions,
etc. Try to avoid saying things that can upset people. Other people in other
cultures may feel very strongly about profanity, religion, racial or ethnic
slurs or other "buttons." Think before you post.
straightforward web-based system for subscribing, unsubscribing, and
managing your list preferences. We recommend doing it via the web, but it
can also be done by e-mail (see below).
We urge you to follow the guidelines given here for posting notes to the
Honyaku list. By following them, you ensure that your notes are easy to read
and respond to. With so many notes posted to Honyaku daily, it pays to make
your e-mail as readable as possible. To do otherwise is to risk having your
e-mail ignored. Your first thought in posting to Honyaku should be, ‘How can
I save rather than waste people's time?’
1. Act responsibly
List members are diverse, with many languages, nationalities, religions,
etc. Try to avoid saying things that can upset people. Other people in other
cultures may feel very strongly about profanity, religion, racial or ethnic
slurs or other "buttons." Think before you post.
If you find yourself being irritated
repeatedly by a list member's comments,
try contacting that person offliist. If
that doesn't work, contact a moderator
or owner offlist.
Note that there are several list owners and moderators, but none of us
review posts. Each poster is responsible for the content of his or her post.
We recommend that you conclude your e-mail with your name. Some host systems
strip out e-mail headers, and you can ensure that everyone knows whom your
e-mail is from by concluding it with your name. Many people prefer to remain
anonymous. However, as a list frequented by professional translators and
people who use the services they provide, posters who conceal their names
may appear non-professional, and that could have a direct effect on how
people respond to you -- or hire you.
2. First, search the Honyaku archive
The question you want to ask in Honyaku may have been asked before. It is
always a good idea to check first, to save yourself and everyone else time.
Try searching the archive of posts maintained by Brian Chandler at
http://www.imaginatorium.org/honyaku/
He also offers downloadable packages of Honyaku posts that you can search
offline.
A second website with a searchable archive of older Honyaku posts can be
found at
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/honyaku/
3. Ask questions with sufficient context
Omitting context is asking to be led by the blind. People prefer to give
good answers rather than bad. When you provide sufficient context, you make
it possible for people to give good answers.
Remember that while you may know the type of document you are translating,
the subject matter, the surrounding text, the illustrations, and the author
and likely readers, other Honyaku subscribers will know nothing unless you
first tell them.
4. Use meaningful subject lines
Choose subject lines that reflect the content of your e-mail. Many
subscribers scan subject lines to identify which notes to read and respond
to. A note with a meaningful subject line is more likely to receive a
meaningful response than one simply titled "Help."
5. Use JIS and not Shift JIS Japanese.
JIS Japanese is more widely compatible with Internet e-mail; shift JIS
contains control characters and can cause problems--it is better avoided. If
using a MIME-capable mailer when sending Japanese, make sure your
Content-Type header appears as charset=iso-2022-jp and not
charset=iso-8859-1. The latter Content-Type will make Japanese illegible for
some people (the Japanese will be converted into European characters). The
best way to send e-mail with Japanese is to use a mailer that is Japanese
aware. If you use a Web interface for e-mail, you should expect problems
with receiving and/or sending Japanese text, and you should expect that some
subscribers will not be able to read your Japanese. You can find more
information on posting Japanese at the following sites:
http://www.fumizuki.com/mojibake.html
http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/web/email-programs-for-japanese
6. Don't use Japanese-only subject lines
Not everyone can read Japanese-only subject lines, even some people with
Japanese-capable computers. If you want your e-mail to be read, you will
want to use subject lines that are legible to all. Romaji or English is best
for subject lines.
7. Use "New message" (not "Reply") to initiate a new discussion
The "New message" function in your email client or web interface is the
right way to ask a new question or introduce a new subject. Do not use
"Reply" to start a new discussion. Use "Reply" only when replying to a
message and not to post a new message. The Reply function was not created as
a shortcut for inserting the mailing list address in your e-mail. When you
use Reply in this way, your message will appear for people using threaded
e-mail clients as part of the thread of the message you are replying to. You
therefore risk having your message ignored since there will be people who
won't realize that you meant your message as a new message. Reply means what
it says.
Use it only when replying to messages.
8. Quote e-mail judiciously and not in entirety
When quoting, don't quote entire messages, only the relevant portions of the
e-mail. Be nice to people reading your notes. Don't make them hunt for what
you want to say.
It should never be necessary to quote the entire e-mail you are replying to,
unless you are trying to save yourself some time at the expense of everyone
else in the list. Consider the impression you make when you reply to e-mail
by quoting it in entirety.
While it has become common practice in the business world to leave entire
quoted messages at the end of e-mails as a virtual paper trail of the
preceding discussion, this practice is not appropriate for mailing lists
where messages are duplicated and distributed to hundreds of subscribers.
9. Wrap your lines at 70 characters (or so)
Add a hard carriage return after every 70 characters. You can set many
mailers to do this automatically for you. Advantages: Your text won't break
in strange places (like in the middle of a word) and people can quote
portions of your note without creating ugly alignment problems.
10. Confidentialty and privacy
The Internet is a critical part of a professional translator's life and
work, and for that reason spam, confidentiality and privacy are paramount
issues. When someone posts a message to this list, that person retains
copyright to that message. That means, in theory, you should get the
permission of the original poster before copying it anywhere.
We all know that messages get cross-posted without such authorization, but
that doesn't mean we can condone it. We recommend deleting the mail
Note that there are several list owners and moderators, but none of us
review posts. Each poster is responsible for the content of his or her post.
We recommend that you conclude your e-mail with your name. Some host systems
strip out e-mail headers, and you can ensure that everyone knows whom your
e-mail is from by concluding it with your name. Many people prefer to remain
anonymous. However, as a list frequented by professional translators and
people who use the services they provide, posters who conceal their names
may appear non-professional, and that could have a direct effect on how
people respond to you -- or hire you.
2. First, search the Honyaku archive
The question you want to ask in Honyaku may have been asked before. It is
always a good idea to check first, to save yourself and everyone else time.
Try searching the archive of posts maintained by Brian Chandler at
http://www.imaginatorium.org/honyaku/
He also offers downloadable packages of Honyaku posts that you can search
offline.
A second website with a searchable archive of older Honyaku posts can be
found at
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/honyaku/
3. Ask questions with sufficient context
Omitting context is asking to be led by the blind. People prefer to give
good answers rather than bad. When you provide sufficient context, you make
it possible for people to give good answers.
Remember that while you may know the type of document you are translating,
the subject matter, the surrounding text, the illustrations, and the author
and likely readers, other Honyaku subscribers will know nothing unless you
first tell them.
4. Use meaningful subject lines
Choose subject lines that reflect the content of your e-mail. Many
subscribers scan subject lines to identify which notes to read and respond
to. A note with a meaningful subject line is more likely to receive a
meaningful response than one simply titled "Help."
5. Use JIS and not Shift JIS Japanese.
JIS Japanese is more widely compatible with Internet e-mail; shift JIS
contains control characters and can cause problems--it is better avoided. If
using a MIME-capable mailer when sending Japanese, make sure your
Content-Type header appears as charset=iso-2022-jp and not
charset=iso-8859-1. The latter Content-Type will make Japanese illegible for
some people (the Japanese will be converted into European characters). The
best way to send e-mail with Japanese is to use a mailer that is Japanese
aware. If you use a Web interface for e-mail, you should expect problems
with receiving and/or sending Japanese text, and you should expect that some
subscribers will not be able to read your Japanese. You can find more
information on posting Japanese at the following sites:
http://www.fumizuki.com/mojibake.html
http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/web/email-programs-for-japanese
6. Don't use Japanese-only subject lines
Not everyone can read Japanese-only subject lines, even some people with
Japanese-capable computers. If you want your e-mail to be read, you will
want to use subject lines that are legible to all. Romaji or English is best
for subject lines.
7. Use "New message" (not "Reply") to initiate a new discussion
The "New message" function in your email client or web interface is the
right way to ask a new question or introduce a new subject. Do not use
"Reply" to start a new discussion. Use "Reply" only when replying to a
message and not to post a new message. The Reply function was not created as
a shortcut for inserting the mailing list address in your e-mail. When you
use Reply in this way, your message will appear for people using threaded
e-mail clients as part of the thread of the message you are replying to. You
therefore risk having your message ignored since there will be people who
won't realize that you meant your message as a new message. Reply means what
it says.
Use it only when replying to messages.
8. Quote e-mail judiciously and not in entirety
When quoting, don't quote entire messages, only the relevant portions of the
e-mail. Be nice to people reading your notes. Don't make them hunt for what
you want to say.
It should never be necessary to quote the entire e-mail you are replying to,
unless you are trying to save yourself some time at the expense of everyone
else in the list. Consider the impression you make when you reply to e-mail
by quoting it in entirety.
While it has become common practice in the business world to leave entire
quoted messages at the end of e-mails as a virtual paper trail of the
preceding discussion, this practice is not appropriate for mailing lists
where messages are duplicated and distributed to hundreds of subscribers.
9. Wrap your lines at 70 characters (or so)
Add a hard carriage return after every 70 characters. You can set many
mailers to do this automatically for you. Advantages: Your text won't break
in strange places (like in the middle of a word) and people can quote
portions of your note without creating ugly alignment problems.
10. Confidentialty and privacy
The Internet is a critical part of a professional translator's life and
work, and for that reason spam, confidentiality and privacy are paramount
issues. When someone posts a message to this list, that person retains
copyright to that message. That means, in theory, you should get the
permission of the original poster before copying it anywhere.
We all know that messages get cross-posted without such authorization, but
that doesn't mean we can condone it. We recommend deleting the mail
address of the original poster, and
possibly his or her name as well, to
preserve that person's
privacy.
Another thing to be careful about is posting information that can harm you
as translator. Many clients are very sensitive about information leaks, and
there have been times where a client -- or even a government -- has
investigated information leaks from translators to a list or forum. This can
cost you a client, and (if you are bound by an NDA) it can cost you a lot
more. Please think carefully about what you are revealing, and whether or
not you should rephrase your question. Remember, it is impossible to stop a
message after you've posted it, because they are delivered to all the
individual subscribers.
In general, just think twice about how you handle information... In the
"Information Era" this is becoming a rather important skill for all of us.
11. How do I . . .?
How do I subscribe?
To subscribe to the Honyaku mailing list, send an e-mail message to:
honyaku-...@googlegroups.com
This message must be from the address you want to use, but can contain any
kind of message
How do I post messages?
When you are subscribed to the list, you can post your own messages for
distribution to everyone else. Send your post to:
hon...@googlegroups.com
You must send your post from the same e-mail address at which you subscribed
to Honyaku.
How do I unsubscribe?
To unsubscribe from the Honyaku mailing list, send an e-mail message to:
honyaku-u...@googlegroups.com
This message must be from the address you subscribed from, but can contain
any kind of message
How do I set my list options?
You must handle this via the Google Groups website. You can choose to have
mail delivery stopped (but can still read messages on the web), or have
digest delivery.
11. Resources
Adam Rice has developed a website that complements the Honyaku list, at:
http://honyakuhome.org/
A helpful compendium of information on Japanese encoding for mail is
maintained by Nora Heath at:
http://www.fumizuki.com/mojibake.html
Downloadable packages of Honyaku posts are maintained by Brian Chandler at:
http://www.imaginatorium.org/honyaku/
He also offers a link to a searchable archive of older Honyaku posts at:
Another thing to be careful about is posting information that can harm you
as translator. Many clients are very sensitive about information leaks, and
there have been times where a client -- or even a government -- has
investigated information leaks from translators to a list or forum. This can
cost you a client, and (if you are bound by an NDA) it can cost you a lot
more. Please think carefully about what you are revealing, and whether or
not you should rephrase your question. Remember, it is impossible to stop a
message after you've posted it, because they are delivered to all the
individual subscribers.
In general, just think twice about how you handle information... In the
"Information Era" this is becoming a rather important skill for all of us.
11. How do I . . .?
How do I subscribe?
To subscribe to the Honyaku mailing list, send an e-mail message to:
honyaku-...@googlegroups.com
This message must be from the address you want to use, but can contain any
kind of message
How do I post messages?
When you are subscribed to the list, you can post your own messages for
distribution to everyone else. Send your post to:
hon...@googlegroups.com
You must send your post from the same e-mail address at which you subscribed
to Honyaku.
How do I unsubscribe?
To unsubscribe from the Honyaku mailing list, send an e-mail message to:
honyaku-u...@googlegroups.com
This message must be from the address you subscribed from, but can contain
any kind of message
How do I set my list options?
You must handle this via the Google Groups website. You can choose to have
mail delivery stopped (but can still read messages on the web), or have
digest delivery.
11. Resources
Adam Rice has developed a website that complements the Honyaku list, at:
http://honyakuhome.org/
A helpful compendium of information on Japanese encoding for mail is
maintained by Nora Heath at:
http://www.fumizuki.com/mojibake.html
Downloadable packages of Honyaku posts are maintained by Brian Chandler at:
http://www.imaginatorium.org/honyaku/
He also offers a link to a searchable archive of older Honyaku posts at:
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/honyaku/
Welcome to Honyaku, and we hope you enjoy your stay!
==========
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the list
owners/moderators at honya...@yahoogroups.com
==========
Welcome to Honyaku, and we hope you enjoy your stay!
==========
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the list
owners/moderators at honya...@yahoogroups.com
==========
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