Jennifer O'Donnel

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Jennifer O'Donnel
• Where do you live?
  • UK
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I was jumping down a mountain in Japan when I was 18 and realised that I loved Japan and Japanese so much that I wanted to be an interpreter as a career. One thing led to another and now I have an MA in Translation do freelance translation. I plan on taking classes in interpreting this year.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Adventurous
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Working with interesting people and texts.
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • It was 900+ pages of a dating sim script for 2 of the characters. The pay was around $1 a page in the end and I worked on it for 2 months. Taught be great time management and improved my speed. Also taught me that I need jobs that will pay rent.
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Go to Japan to do your MA in Translation. The UK education is more academic than vocational and being in Japan for my MA would have been better for me in the long run.
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • jisho.org
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • まおゆう：魔王と勇者 (Maoyuu: The Demon Lord and The Hero)