• 日本語
  • English
  • 日本語
  • English

ABOUT

Contents

BIOGRAPHY

Rie Hiramatsu is a freelance interpreter, voiceover artist, Japanese and English pronunciation coach, born and raised in Japan, a musical upbringing taught her from an early age to be sensitive to sounds, and the sometimes subtle differences in them.

English was her first foreign language. She quickly learned to appreciate that it holds a universe of wisdom, and richness of culture, far different from the Japanese language and culture of her upbringing.

She received her formal education in Japan, Northern Ireland and England, and has since has worked for a broad spectrum of business enterprises, government agencies, domestic and global media corporations (e.g. television and radio stations) – everything from personal interpreting to government level conferences.

Now having many years of professional experience, not only as an interpreter and translator, but also as a voiceover talent she has acquired multiple university degrees, and advanced qualifications in the fields of media, interpreting, teaching Japanese, and English to speakers of other languages, voiceover (in both languages), and subtitling.

Recent projects in which she has been involved include Japanese interpreting & providing voiceover for BBC World News (Video-on-demand) materials and English interpreting & voiceover for BBC One.

Having moved to the UK in 2007, she now resides in London and the Peak District. Her business takes her to Europe, the Far East, Middle East, USA and Africa.

Find out more about her education and work background on her, click on the LinkedIn Profile below:

WHY CHOOSE ME?

What makes a good interpreter, or translator?
…accurate, professional and confidential. Yes, that is all part of it.

But, is that everything?

If you’re not ready to waste all your efforts you have put in the project up to now.
If you don’t have all the time in the world to interview one by one till you meet ‘the right one.’
You need to find your interpreter, not tomorrow, not next week, but now.

All the organising, researching and communicating you’ve had to do, to make your project successful, to make your guests feel truly welcome.

How can you be sure the interpreter won’t let you down?
That the interpreter doesn’t waste your efforts or time.

One of my clients described his experience of working with me:
“Would this be another expensive mistranslation of my work – that would cost me money and time?” I had been burned before by poor translations that had been expensive for my business.

“Fortunately, I was very happily surprised.” he continued,

“From the first emails Rie demonstrated her professional ability from the start. She was obviously passionate and very knowledgeable about the nuances of Japanese language.”

“And, when we spoke over skype I found her phenomenally fluent and nuanced in her English communication. She was very concerned about how my message should be conveyed to fit with my customers. I got excellent reactions to my newly translated Japanese Report.”

“While I have written similar work, I’ve never experienced a response like that, and I directly attribute it to Rie’s ability to get my message across the cultural gap.”

I pay close attention to your objectives and needs from both a linguistic and a cultural perspective.

“Commitment is an act, not a word” (Jean-Paul Sartre)

MEMBERSHIPS & QUALIFICATIONS

Memberships

  • Qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (MITI)
  • Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (MCIL)
  • Board Member of J-Net, the Japanese language specialist network of the ITI
  • Member of the Japan Association of Translators (JAT)
  • Member of JATINT – Interpreting Group – one of 3 SIG i.e. Special Interest Groups of JAT
  • Full Member of Japan Association of Conference Interpreter (JACI)

Qualifications

  • DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting) (2018)
  • PGDip, Interpreting, London Metropolitan University (2011-14) – Consecutive Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting, Public Services Interpreting (PSI) – Legal, Interpreting Theory
  • PGCert, Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language, Institute of International Education in London (2007)
  • Fuji Television’s “AnaTore” (i.e. broadcaster’s training), basic to advanced level – Reading News, Narration and Reports.
  • Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA), Subtitles and Voiceover Scripts
  • MA, International Media Studies, University of Ulster (1998-2001) – Film studies, Gender, New Media, Photography and Wayfinding in Media
  • AA, English Literature (1990-92) – English and American literature
  • CPD (Continuous Professional Development)
  • Copywriter College (Japan)
  • CIOL – PSI Legal
  • eCPD – Business School for Translators
  • eCPD – Translating Japanese Contracts
  • Advanced Conference Interpreting for EU/UN accreditation test, London Metropolitan University (2014-15)
  • IJET25 – Annual International Japanese-English Translation Conference in Tokyo (2014)
  • PSIT Network – Annual Conference “Wake Up Call: Health and Social Care Interpreting for interpreters and service providers.”(2015)

TESTIMONIALS