[lg policy] The race is on for volunteer interpreters for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

[Harold Schiffman]

National <http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/national/> The race is on for
volunteer interpreters for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by Mizuho Aoki
<http://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/int-mizuho_aoki/>

Staff Writer

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.

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.

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.

About 400 specially selected students are expected to take part in the
September workshops.

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.

“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.

According to the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, some 80,000
volunteers will be needed to run the event smoothly.

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.

Desirable skills include foreign language abilities, knowledge of Olympic
sports, and experience in working as a volunteer at sporting events,
according to the committee.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/10/national/race-volunteer-interpreters-2020-tokyo-olympics/#.V6tFiTUm6-c
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