WFAS 2016 --- oh, please ...

I have thought for a while, whether I should say/write this here. Finally I made my decision.
  In November this year a world conference about acupuncture (WFAS 2016)  will be held in Japan. People working in this field probably know this  for a long time already.
 When I registered the other day via the  website set up for the WFAS 2016 I noticed, that the English of that  website is of embarrassingly poor quality. Although I contacted (mail)  first the secretariat of the conference and second the secretariat of  the "Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion" (JSAM = organizer),  neither of these offices considered it necessary to reply to my mail ..  or what would have been MUCH better .. correct the mistakes.
I have been trying to 'advertise' the good aspects of Japan (and/or Japanese acupuncture) to the world for about 20 years.
  This website looks to me like a deliberate attempt at demonstrating to  the world at large, that the Japanese are stupid and don't give a dime  about what other people think. Thereby also thwarting my efforts to  promote the "MADE IN JAPAN" brand.
I am not really open to the  suggestion/excuse, that the organize has not enough money. The general  participation fee is about USD 500. Assuming 500 participants register, a  not very unrealistic figure, the organizer collects USD 250,000 to run  the show. There surely should be 500 USD to ask an agency to draft a  proper text. If anybody would ask me (which nobody does!), I would call  it a disgrace.
Please! Send them a note. Maybe if a number of  non-Japanese people would complain about the strange English, the people  in charge might finally wake up ...

WHO fraud!!!

Over ten years ago I ordered a book published by the WHO, providing some conclusions related to the FAILED project "HFA2000" = "Health for All by the Year 2000".
The conclusion was / is, that modern western medicine simply CANNOT provide even halfway "sufficient" medical services for ALL of mankind.
For that the help of traditional medicine is required:
"Traditional Medicine and Health Care Coverage. a Reader for Health Administrators and Practitioners"; Bannerman Iarc,R. H. Bannerman

At the time I ordered the book, it was "out of print" and I thus ordered it as "print on demand"
AND paid upfront for it. (I cannot find the receipt right now, but I know I have it somewhere)

Since then I not onl DID NOT receive the book, which seems to be available as printed book again, but I never even got an update about the printing status.

Not considering the other activities of the WHO ... as long as the WHO as an organization engages in TRADE with merchandise / services (books, publications)
-> http://www.who.int/publications/en/ ... the one and only acceptable international rule applies:
The WHO provides products/services in exchange for the money paid by the customer.

I DID pay my money.
WHO never sent me the paid product or informed me of any changes in order status.

THAT ... is called FRAUD in ANY business ALL OVER the world.

Trying to "reach" the WHO seems impossible.
I tried to contact serveral offices, sent mails to several different addresses, tried to sent fax messages to number shown on the website ...
NOBODY, EVER even tried to answer.
Replies to mails are automated messages made by robots.
Fax machines NEVER respond.

Another characteristic of a scam organization.
You have all those fancy web sites, phone numbers etc., but they apparently are just a deceptive scheme.

I called the WHO Japan - a completely unrelated, independent organization.
They told me, that even they have no means of "getting in contact" with the WHO except for some occasional email.
The "WHO people" apparently talk ONLY to high government officials or people offereing billion dollar donations.

Please feel free to "spread the word" about the WHO.

Looking for an interpreter ...

English: Active nuclear power plants in Japan. Deutsch: In Betrieb befindliche Atomkraftwerke in Japan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other day, a German gentleman asked on a certain mailing list, whether somebody here in Japan might be interested and/or willing/capable to work for ONE MONTH as an interpreter (Japanese-German) for an on site engineering supervisor WITHIN a nuclear power plant. Meaning within an area, where the workers are exposed to a certain degree of radiation, even thogh that is considered "safe".
Naturally, nuclear power plants are located AWAY from human settlements .. for "safety reasons".

Given these conditions, there cannot be that many people capable/willing to work there.
The very polite German person who initially asked, made the JAPANESE person in charge contact me.
From that person I heard totally different, very surprising conditions regarding timing and location.
That person offered payment for 8 hours/day; NO payment for Saturdays/Sundays; a marginal (10%) increase for overtime etc.
Possibly THOSE are the usual conditions for professions like welders, electricians etc., but NOT for interpreters!
In the business world of interpretation that offer is/was preposterous.

For my own reasons, I wrote back, I BASICALLY accept the conditions, but still have a few questions.

That was on a Friday evening.
The person in charge replied after the weekend:
"Since you did not answer my question (whether I accept the conditions) with YES or NO, I will look for someone else."

That Japanese person is supposed to be ASKING EXTERNAL EXPERTS FOR HELP, not ordering his personal slaves.
As such, I personally believe this is a VERY rude and arrogant attitude.
(This refers to the Japanese person. The German manager was very polite and business like.)
Not only in Japan, but also in Germany or any other part of the world.

Maybe giant corporations like this one (the request came directly from them):
KSB Service GmbH, (Germany; KSB Aktiengesellschaft) have so much money, they believe they can BUY people and treat them like dirt.
Or maybe this particular Japanese person sees himself as one of those medieaval feudal lords ...

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クラウドソーシング

先日仕事探しに東京まで言って "Job Fair" と言ったエベントに参加した。幾つかの会社、大半外資系、が人材を探していることだった。

先ず目をつけたのは「翻訳業務をサポート」する人を探していた会社。どのような仕事かと聞いてみてとても信じられない話を聞かされた：

目指しているのは品質ではなく、何より安さ、とその次速さだけだ。通常の翻訳（和英訳、私の場合技術論文など、では単価が原文の一文字当たり9円前後）より遥かに安い：720文字分には２ＵＳＤ＝一文字当たり0.2円　→　通常のレートの50分の一！

なのに貰ったパンフレットに（表に）：　"Would you like to earn money?" そして裏面に：

Make Money

Get paid for your work via PayPal account.

Start translating and earn money now!

しかし、どんなに簡単な文章であっても、720文字分＝凡そ2ページの翻訳は2-3分で出来ない。早くできたとしても40分を考えて見ましょう。真面目に翻訳するなら1時間の方が妥当な数字。でもとりあえず40分で考えて見ましょう。時給に直してしまえば凡そ330円。神奈川県便りによると神奈川県の正式の「最低賃金」は840円となっている。一日8時間働いて、週五 日、で月給が5万円・・・

これは "earn money" とは言えるだろうか。月に5万円でどうやって生活すればいいのだろうか。

私は翻訳者としてそのような「奴隷制度」をサポートするのは道徳にもとるとしか思わざるを得ない。

そして「翻訳者」は一種の職人だ。まともな翻訳者はそれなりの「職人気質」があるはず。それはこのような制度＝ビジネスで踏み潰されてしまう印象だ。

だがお客さんが喜んでいるのなら、日本や他の先進カ国で真剣に仕事をしている職人が全員失業させられ、残ってしまうのは格安＝品質の悪い＝意味不明な「翻訳？？？」それでいいのでしょうか。