Kristi Fernandez has translated a number of light novels, manga, and drama. She’s also the creator of the group Japanese Translators of New York and a champion for translators on Twitter. We talked Japanese study and light novel translation for the eighth episode of the How to Japanese Podcast:

• What inspired your Twitter thread on translator appreciation?
  • Jessica Chavez
  • Shawn Wylie
• What was your path to Japanese fluency?
  • Japan Society
  • Kodansha
  • Penguin Random House
  • Yen Press
  • Vertical, Inc.
• What self-study strategies were you using? Was anything particularly effective?
• What do you remember about your first encounter with Japanese in Japan?
• How did your college course present 敬語 (keigo, polite speech) versus more casual speech?
• When did you feel like you were making progress with the language?
• What was the first novel you read? And what reading strategies did you have?
  • 蹴りたい背中 (Keritai senaka), 綿矢りさ (Wataya Risa)
  • 金原ひとみ (Kanehara Hitomi)
  • Matt Treyvaud
  • 新恋愛講座―三島由紀夫のエッセイ (Shin-renai kōza), 三島由紀夫 (Mishima Yukio)
  • The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary
  • アルク (ALC)
  • The Green Goddess
  • 新和英辞典 (Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary)
• Are you finding time to read in addition to your translation work?
  • A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World
• How did you find a job using your Japanese skills when you returned from Japan?
  • Pasona
• How did you get your first translation job?
  • The Dark Maidens
• What is the marketing process for translation and what kind of work do you do to fill up your schedule?
• Creating an online presence
  • Japanese Translators of New York
• What’s the translation process like for you?
• Has anything changed with your translation process?
• Do you work from a digital or paper copy when translating?
• What are your thoughts on The Dark Maidens? Do you think it has anything to say about the Japanese high school experience?
  • Learning to Bow
• What has made the foreign market more receptive to light novels?

At the top, I talk briefly about some of the purchases I made on Amazon Japan during my time on JET and the strategy I used to make sure my package was delivered.