Japanese Proficiency Exam

[Harisenbon]

Let's see. I picked up my first book of Kanji at age 7 or so, copied all the pretty pictures, and remembered how to write 人 and 雨. That's about it.
Then in 93 I started taking Japanese class at my highschool. DId that for 4 years, with a 2 month summer exchange program in Japan. That was the first time I ever actually had to SPEAK Japanese, and it was a big shock, as my Japanese teacher (one of the old shcool language teachers) taught us to read and write, but didn:t focus too much on speaking.

No Japanese classes at my college forced me into a sabatical, but I attended 関西外国語大学 in my senior year for about 4 months. I graduated, started trying to keep Japanese on my own through a private tutor once a month until I got accepted on the JET program a year later.

I am currently about to end my 3rd year on the JET program, which means that I'm currently starting 就職活動 and looking for translation positions. I take classes around one or two times a week, and study about 3 hours a day (except when I'm being lazy). I've passed JLPT 2kyu, and hopefully will pass 1kyu this february.

[CAPiTUL]

I'm just curious: does translation work REALLY pay that well?
The ones that I've noticed through online job search engines, don't really pay terribly well. 30,000 a year, roughly, on either side of the pacific.

[AJBryant]

It depends one who you work for, what you translate, and how fast you are.

Tony