Conversing with Pioneer Interpreters: The Past and Present of Interpreting Training in Japan

This article presents the beginnings of conference interpreting in Japan. It focuses on the training of Japanese pioneer interpreters at the US Department of State and their establishment of agencies that served as mediators between professionals and clients in the language market, and on the establishment of agency schools as the country’s main training providers. The article analyses the major characteristics of today’s agencies and training schools in terms of structure and language pairs. Methodologically it adopts oral history interviews conducted with two Japanese pioneer interpreters and three managers of renowned agencies based in Tokyo. Ultimately, the contrast between agency and university courses is examined and looked at from the perspective of pioneer interpreters.