Technical Writer, Japanese to English Technical Translator
Hi! I'm Jay.
I have 25+ years experience in the software industry. I’ve spent the majority of that creating highly technical documentation and training content for large enterprises such as Amazon and Microsoft. I’m fluent in Japanese and am experienced in translating content at any level of complexity into English.
Looking for a technical writer or translator? I’m available now for projects of any size!
Highlights
- Experience creating content for Amazon Web Services, Visual Studio, and other high-profile products
- Deep technical subject matter expertise - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Dynamics CRM, C#, Python, and Powershell
- Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) certified level N1 (advanced Japanese)
- Experience working with teams in Japan on complex projects
Why Hire a Technical Writer Directly?
Technical agencies can find you good technical writers. (May of them have been my colleagues in the past!) But agencies will also charge you double or triple what they pay the actual technical writer. Going direct cuts out the middleman and gives you a better return on your investment.
Wouldn't a service like Fiverr or Upwork be cheaper?
Services like Upwork and Fiverr are teeming with inexperienced talent angling to grab a job at the lowest possible price. Often, the results are less than stellar. (Many English “writers” on Fiverr, for example, are not fluent in English and produce stilted work riddled with mistakes.) Many companies end up losing money with these services because they end up paying someone else to redo the work!
Samples
Much of my work is proprietary. Here are a few public articles I’ve written over the years so that you can get a sense of my style. For even more examples, check out my blog!
MSDN Magazine, January 2002
An article I wrote around the same time that the original version of the Microsoft .NET Framework released, detailing how to host ActiveX controls created in .NET and Visual Studio in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
CodeProject, 2007
A small article I wrote while on the .NET Framework Windows Forms team at Microsoft on binding RadioButton groups to enumeration properties in C#.
Amazon Web Services, 2018
In-depth article on a then new feature in Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Container Service (ECS) that enables detailed tracking of container activity in a large-scale environment.
BlogHerald.com, 2020
An article I recently wrote for BlogHerald on how to use the Patreon Plugin for WordPress to create a members-only area.
2018 – Present
Since 2018, I have run a multi-author Web site dedicated to discussion of issues in modern Japan, with all reporting based on Japanese language sources. I also occasionally translate full articles, such as this series of interviews by reporter Hiro Ugaya with survivors of the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown.
Services
Technical Writing
As a kid, I always wanted to be a writer. As an adult, I take great delight in breaking down extremely technical computing concepts into language that anyone can easily understand. My work has seen me write technical docs for everything from Amazon Web Services to applications for health care analytics and even oceanic engineering.
Japanese Technical Translation
Machine translation is all the rage these days. But machine translation has significant limits. And for technical content, it’s all but useless.
I’ve been passionate about learning Japanese since I was a middle schooler. Now, I combine my rich knowledge of the language with my English writing and technical skills to translate documents of any complexity into easy to understand, native English. Let me help you bring your Japanese content to English speakers!
Contact Me
To get started with a discussion of your needs and my current prices, please contact me today. I’ll be in touch with you within the next 24 business hours.