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<h3><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/national/" rel="tag" class="" title="See all stories from National on Japan Times, daily news on Japan">National</a></h3>
<h1>The race is on for volunteer interpreters for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics</h1>
<h5 class="">by <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/int-mizuho_aoki/" title="Posts by Mizuho Aoki" class="" rel="author">Mizuho Aoki</a></h5>
<p class="">Staff Writer</p> </header>
<div class="" id="jtarticle">
<p>As the Rio Olympics enter full swing, Japan is also gearing up
for another kind of competition, namely the race to nurture volunteer
interpreters for the 2020 Tokyo Games.</p>
<p>Next month, seven universities specializing in foreign languages —
including Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Kobe City University of
Foreign Studies and Kansai Gaidai University — will jointly hold a
four-day intensive seminar in Chiba Prefecture so students can brush up
on their translation skills.</p><div style="height:385px" class=""><div style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><br></div></div>
<p>With their sights set on the Tokyo Olympics, the universities
launched the program last year to allow students to deepen their
knowledge about the Olympics, foreign culture and hospitality.</p>
<p>About 400 specially selected students are expected to take part in the September workshops.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, other foreign language aficionados are expressing a desire
to volunteer their skills for the games, including on Twitter, where
some have called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in the
Olympics.</p>
<p>“I will study English and Chinese harder from now on because I want
to take part in the Tokyo Olympics as a volunteer,” said a Twitter user
who went by the name @saho81.</p>
<p>According to the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, some 80,000 volunteers will be needed to run the event smoothly.</p>
<p>A draft last month detailing the requirements for someone to become a
volunteer said applicants must be aged 18 or over as of April 1, 2020,
and they should be able to work eight hours a day for 10 days.</p>
<p>Desirable skills include foreign language abilities, knowledge of
Olympic sports, and experience in working as a volunteer at sporting
events, according to the committee.</p>
<p>Still, as with the Rio Olympics, volunteers will not be paid and must
shoulder their own travel and accommodation expenses, causing some
people to question the committee’s plan.</p>
<p>Noriyuki Nishiyama, a language policy professor at Kyoto University,
said some of the tasks left to volunteers will apparently require
interpretation skills, and asking such professionals to work for free
showed the committee’s underestimation of the hard work that goes into
becoming proficient in a foreign language.</p>
<p>“It takes years of effort to gain the mastery of a foreign language
to work as an interpreter. It’s not something people can learn in a
short period of time,” said Nishiyama. “But they think it is OK not to
pay for such significant skills. That shows (the committee’s) ignorance
toward foreign language skills.</p>
<p>“Japan has been pushing English education, saying gaining language
proficiency provides huge economic benefits,” Nishiyama said. “But it
doesn’t make sense if such people with foreign language skills are not
paid.”</p>
</div><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/10/national/race-volunteer-interpreters-2020-tokyo-olympics/#.V6tFiTUm6-c">http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/10/national/race-volunteer-interpreters-2020-tokyo-olympics/#.V6tFiTUm6-c</a><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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