[JIF2019] Communication is the Exchange of Human Warmth
Takako Nakayama
President of Communicators Co., Ltd., Principal of the interpreter training institute “Saturday School”, and conference interpreter.
While at the International Christian University, studied under Professor Mitsuko Saito*, said to be the pioneer of cross-cultural communication in Japan, and developed an interest in interpreting. After graduation, continued to study while assisting at the Saturday School, presided over by Dr. Saito, starting out on the road to freelance interpreting. Gaining experience in her career as a conference interpreter and Japanese-English news broadcast simultaneous interpreter, she also worked as an instructor at the interpreter training institute. Was involved in founding Communicators with other colleagues from the Saturday School in 1986. After a period as a guest lecturer at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey Translation; Translation and Interpretation; Conference Interpretation Program and then as a freelance interpreter in the USA, was appointed president of Communications Co., Ltd. in 2004.
* The first person to gain a Ph.D. in cross-cultural communication in Japan. Taught at International Christian University, nurturing a large number of interpreters. Her books, The Science of Spoken Language and The Theory of Listening were bestsellers at the time.
Shizuka Kitamura
Member of the Board of Directors, Head of Interpreting Department and Head of Business Department of Communications Co., Ltd.
The power behind the interpreting business with Communications, Shizuka makes it her duty to provide detailed care that takes into account the needs of both the client and interpreter. As one in a responsible position in the interpreting business, she has gained great trust from clients by assigning and coordinating interpreters with due care for the viewpoint of “we would like to work together with you.”
Communication is the Exchange of Human Warmth
“An interpreter should be a communication specialist, not a language specialist.”
Based on this principle, the Saturday School has nurtured a large number of interpreters who interpret with sincerely by understanding messages, not words. The agent that was founded around the people who took courses at the Saturday School is Communications. We would like to share with everyone what we require of a “communication specialist” and what we mean by “an interpreter with a high total performance.”