Oh, I had a blog.

Oops.

It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything, and it's sort of indicative of what has been going on in my life. I last wrote about having a lot on my mind, and that much is still true.

However these thoughts are no longer negative. Things have been going my way, I've taken huge steps towards finding a path in life for myself and I finally have something to really look forward to.
I joined yet another translation group, and this time I've had a very warm welcome and have already gotten work done, even though the material is still porn, and I am getting no compensation for it.

At least I am doing something.

And the big occurrence is that I was accepted for an exchange period in Japan next fall \:3/

I cannot wait to for it, but I also need to worry a little bit about my finances (what little there is). Japan is a very expensive country, and I'm just barely scraping by as it is, not to mention I have to survive the summer as well with minimal resources unless I find a job a.s.a.p.

On top of that, I also properly started master level studies this semester, which adds some more pressure, but I'm sure I'll make it through.

Conflicted future

I have started my duties as an international tutor now, and I feel now, more than ever before, that this is something I would do for a living. A true calling if you will. Offering help to people who are a little bit lost after such a quick change in setting and lifestyle is something I enjoy immensely. I somehow knew that I would like it as well, even though I'm usually quite bad at dealing with social situations.

However, I am still conflicted about what to do. I could pursue my original goal of becoming a full-fledged translator, go for proficiency in interpreting, or go for this new goal of international communication studies. They all appeal to me equally, though now the path of translator seems less and less appealing outside of voluntary work. It is a lonely job from what I've heard, and even our translation professor has advised students to not follow through as the current work conditions of translators are quite frankly abysmal, especially for students who have just gotten their degree.

Even then, the demand for translators right now is actually quite high due to professionals who have been in the business for a long time walking out of their jobs. It is a real dilemma.

Japanese and my interest/motivation.

I had my contact with Japanese culture at the tender age of 10 when a Japanese exchange student came to live with us during her time here. She showed me and the rest of my family what kind of foods are popular in Japan, how to do origami, taught a few words of Japanese and, probably most importantly considering where I am today, she introduced me to manga through Ranma½ which had just started coming out in Finland.

After that I got curious about Japan in general, watched more anime, found like-minded people and realized a while later that I could understand basic spoken Japanese all the sudden. This is when I went for my first two Japanese classes. They covered basic grammar, hiragana, katakana, just under 200 kanji and a healthy dose of culture. Fast forward a few years, I  got into my second Japanese class, this time a year-long effort. I got to learn basic grammar, katakana and hiragana again, but this class went much deeper in grammar and kanji than the one I was on before. After completing just that class, I'm now well on the way to becoming a skilled Japanese speaker/writer/translator, not to forget the amazing teacher I had either.

With the soaring popularity of Japanese popular culture in today's society, now is the perfect time to know Japanese. Demand for people who know the language is extremely high due to the sheer volume of material coming from Japan that people would like to see translated. Now is a great time to know Japanese and also just to be a fan of Japanese pop culture.

Striving for... things.

One of the main reasons for starting a blog was to ensure that if/when i start doing independent translation work, I could post updates and receive commissions here. The other goal was to put myself out there, to tell people hey, here's a skilled translator for you. It's my dream to be doing freelance translating as a full-time job one day. As such, my skillset at the moment only includes Japanese to English, English to Japanese, Finnish to English, English to Finnish and Swedish to Finnish As well as interpreting prowess in Japanese, Finnish and Swedish. I hope to expand my skills to include Korean and Chinese some time in the future hopefully. I can also typeset to some extent now ;w;

Right now I'm fully focused on Japanese and I hope that I will be able to find a career where I would need it. I am currently using my Japanese skills in private projects only, which is not ideal. In the mean time though I'm also going to gather studies in Intercultural communication to maybe find a career in diplomacy or international business relations.

For now I'm content with translating hentai (hey, it's simple at least ;w;) for a very small audience, but I hope the future has more in store for me.

I'll probably talk more about Japanese and Japan in general some time soon to illustrate why I've chosen to study it.

The first post ;w;

As I've again failed to acquire a steady job for the summer, I have a lot time on my hands. As such I've decided to open a blog after much contemplation. This will hopefully keep my writing skills in peak form and offer me a chance to unravel some of my thoughts.

The main reason though for starting a blog now, as opposed to any other time, is that I did manage to get signed as a freelancer, as well as doing international tutoring \:3/. Both are extremely exciting to me. As the freelancer job requires certain skills, I've decided to dedicate a lot of my time to practicing said skills on my own time. I will probably post some or all of the results here along with other stuff.

I've already started work on a few personal translating projects (JP-EN) and I've also taught myself how to complete the process on my own. That is, translating the text and then adding the text on to the page itself. As I am waiting for actual assignments, doing this will hopefully help me be ready for the real thing.