The Babel University School of Translation held its second academic commencement ceremony on November 5, 2004 (Friday) on its Honolulu campus.

Chancellor Yuasa’s address

The person who was awarded an MST degree at this time was Ms. Kinuko Sudo, who came from Japan for the occasion. She attended the ceremony wearing a black gown. Current PST graduate students residing on Oahu, along with local translators, were on hand to celebrate the occasion.

Following Chancellor Yuasa’s address, Ms. Sudo was presented with an academic degree from the Chancellor, and a graduation cap from Dean Ishida. All the attending people shouted out encouraging words at the ceremony where the tassel was shifted to the left side of her graduation cap when she received her diploma. At that point, one more MST degree holder was born.

Ms. Sudo with the degree

Following the conferment ceremony, there was a short break after which Ms. Sudo gave her presentation. In her straight-forward, relaxed manner she talked about her reasons for seeking a career in translation, her studies in the United States, how she became acquainted with PST, and what she learned upon entering the school and through lectures. In addition,

Ms. Sudo talked about her translation project "Panic Disorder: The Medical Point of View"

she also touched upon her graduation translation project entitled “Panic Disorder: The Medical Point of View,” and talked about her reasons for selecting this project, the struggles that she had getting through it, and things she became aware of as she received guidance throughout the project.

After a coffee break, two lectures followed. The first address was given by Dean Ishida. It was entitled “Trends in the Japanese Translation Market.”The second speech was given by local author Stewart Coleman, whose theme was “ 'Eddie Would Go,’ Hokulea, and the Hawaiian Renaissance.”

Dean Ishida’s lecture "Trends in the Japanese Translation Market"

Professor Ishida’s speech touched upon the severe situation in the publishing industry, and he then followed this up with a detailed numerical analysis of the five fastest growing industry translation fields, which are finance, patent, medicine, IT, and law.

Currently active translators in Hawaii and graduate students all listened raptly to his presentation. Afterwards, a lively question and answer session took place regarding regulations and established practices of copyright issues of translated materials, and also about policies to deal with damage claims caused by mistranslations.

Mr. Coleman, a surfer, a teacher, and a writer presented by Mr. Akimoto, a PST student

Mr. Coleman’s speech took on a totally different atmosphere. He is a surfer, and also a teacher at a well-known school in Hawaii who wrote the non-fiction book called “Eddie Would Go”. Interspersing his remarks with jokes,

Mr. Coleman light-heartedly talked about the process he went through writing the book, about the central character of the book, Eddie Aikau, and also about the outrigger canoe “Hokulea”, which relived the tremendous accomplishments of the ancient Hawaiians by traversing the ocean all the way to Tahiti. Mr. Coleman described the impact this voyage had on people of Hawaiian ancestry.

Giving graduates leis is a Hawaiian custom

After the speeches concluded, a celebratory get-together was held. Ms. Sudo and current PST students had lively discussions about their struggles while attending lectures. Furthermore, people surrounded the President and Dean and talked about topics such as Hawaii, the translation marketplace, ways to enhance learning, and publishing strategies.

The closing time of 7:30pm came and went with people still involved in animated discussion. It was a convivial gathering filled with robust laughter and smiling faces.