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Welcome!

Welcome to the ICU TI-Friends website!

Our website is a platform for updating the latest information about interpreting students at International Christian University.

This website aims to:

  • release information about currently enrolled interpreting trainees and interpreting program alumni
  • function as a new continuation of Professor Tamura’s interpreting trainee website: https://scm.info.icu.ac.jp/tamura
  • provide insights to interpreting trainees with interpreting/translation-related blog posts (Some are locked posts, and access is limited to people in the TI-Friends Facebook Community. Refer to How to use this website for more details.)

We hope you’ll get to know more about the ICU TI activities/community through this website!

TI Students Activities

A. ICU’s MCC Interpreting Trainees Winning Contest Prizes

2025
■ Kana Matsuda 松田佳奈さん (3rd-Year MCC Interpreting Trainee): 1st Prize at 7th Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix (Japan Association of Conference Interpreters) (June, 2025) 
ICU Student Wins First Place in the 7th JACI Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix (Student Division)
2024

■ Nao Ihara 井原菜緒さん (4th-Year MCC Interpreting Trainee): 1st Prize at 18th Annual Interpretation Contest at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (November, 2024) 
本学の学生が「第18回学生通訳コンテスト」で優勝
ICU Student Wins the “18th Student Interpretation Contest”

■Aloha Komatsu 小松あろはさん (Graduated in 2023): 1st Prize at 6th Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix (Japan Association of Conference Interpreters) (June, 2024)

■ Nao Ihara 井原菜緒さん (4th-Year MCC Interpreting Trainee): 2nd Prize at 6th Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix (Japan Association of Conference Interpreters) (June, 2024)
本学の卒業生と学生が「第6回JACI同時通訳グランプリ」で優勝、準優勝
A university graduate and a student win First and Second places in JACI Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix 2024


2020-2023

■Mako Yoshida 吉田眞子さん (4th-Year MCC Interpreting Trainee): 2nd Prize at 16th Annual Interpretation Contest at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (November, 2022) 
本学学生が「第16回学生通訳コンテスト」で準優勝 
ICU Student Wins 2nd Prize in the 15th Annual Student Interpretation Contest 2022 

■Aloha Komatsu 小松あろはさん (3rd-Year MCC Interpreting Trainee): 1st Prize at 15th Annual Interpretation Contest at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (November, 2021) 
本学学生が「第15回学生通訳コンテスト」で優勝|国際基督教大学(ICU) 

■Ayako Iwasaki 岩崎彩子さん (Graduated in 2021): 2nd Prize at 14th Annual Interpretation Contest at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (November, 2020) 
本学学生が「第14回学生通訳コンテスト」で準優勝|国際基督教大学(ICU)


B. ICU’s MCC Interpreting Trainees and Alumni Serving On/Off-Campus

MCC interpreting trainees have also been serving as interpreters in various events on/off-campus, such as:

※ 守秘義務の観点より表示していない案件もあります。There are assignments that are not shown here due to confidentiality reasons.

2025
■ Jan 12 72nd JAITS Kanto Chapter Meeting Lecture by Professor Carla Mathers on Language Access in the United States: A discussion of the development of the court interpreting profession (SI)

■ Jan 10 Tokyo DARC Alcoholism Information Session at ICU (SI)

■ 3-4月 大阪万博UKパビリオン建設現場通訳業務 (CI)

■ Mar 11-14 FOODEX JAPAN 2025 (CI, Whispering)

■ April 17-19 世界フィギュアスケート国別対抗戦 2025 (CI, translation)

■ 6月 国際基督教大学 核兵器に関する講義と被爆者講話 “Echoing the Voice of Nagasaki” (SI)

■ Jun 1 non-no web フィギュアスケート選手 インタビュー (CI)

■ Jun 14 ICU Jane Goodall in Japan Event (SI)

■ July 14-16 Idaho State University Fukushima Case Study Research Trip (CI)
SI: Simultaneous Interpreting, 同時通訳, CI: (Consecutive Interpreting), 逐次通訳
2024

■ May 16 MCC Interpreting Course Special Event: Panel Forum with NHK Broadcast Interpreters (SI)

■ June 5-7 第9回 Japan Drone 2024 / 第3回 次世代エアモビリティ EXPO 2024 (CI)

■ Jun 22 70th JAITS Kanto Chapter Meeting Lecture by Professor Ikuko Nakane on Interpreter-Mediated Police Interview: A Discourse-Pragmatic Approach (SI)

■ 7月 モントル・ジュルヌ・ジャポン株式会社 接客時の通訳業務 (CI)

■ 7月 大阪万博USパビリオン建設現場通訳業務 (CI)

■ 9月 東京ゲームショウ 展示ブースにて来訪者対応 (CI)

■ Nov 9 ICU Guarantor Open Campus (SI)

■ Nov 15 埼玉県・タイ旅行会社 観光商談会 (Remote, CI)

2020-2023

■ Dec 10, 2022 ICU SSRI-Sophia IGC Symposium “Accelerators for Sustainable Development” (SI)

■ Jul 22-23, 2023 ICU SCRA-Asia Seminar (CI)

■ Oct 13, 2023 ICU Peace Research Institute event “A Truly International Person: Towards a Dialogue Connecting Individuality and Diversity” (SI)

■ Oct 17, 2023 ICU Student Retreat Lectures “What is Beauty?” (SI)

■ Nov 3-5, 2023 27th Annual Congress of International Association of Dynamic Psychotherapy (Whispering, CI)

■ Dec 17, 2023 Ig Nobel Prize Special Lecture by ICU Associate Professor Chan (SI)


C. ICU’s MCC Interpreting Trainees’ Senior Thesis Research in Interpreting/Translation Studies

About Interpreting Studies (click on the triangle on the left for more information)

Interpreting Studies, which is an empirical exploration of interpreting activities, is a relatively new field of social science. This discipline originally emerged with the birth of simultaneous interpreting, beginning in the 1920’s at the ILO in Geneva, making its public debut at the Nuremberg Trials right after World War II, and being adopted by the United Nations as the official mode of interpreting. In contrast, the act of interpreting itself, i.e., oral translation or communication assistance between two or more parties speaking in different languages, most probably dates all the way back to when mankind first began to speak and started interacting with other tribes who spoke a different tongue.

The discipline which was initially started by researchers intrigued by the highly acrobatic linguistic multi-tasking of these simultaneous interpreting pioneers has kept growing and expanding over the past several decades, especially since its ‘social turn’ that took place in the 90’s with the acceleration of global human migrations, creating new needs for language interpreters in every facet of social life. These new changes have also created new issues that await empirical inquires and investigations. Interpreter-mediated communicative events, not only of spoken but also of sign languages, are a very unique form of social activity that invites infinite explorations from various angles.

The MCC interpreting trainees have also been undertaking Senior Thesis research in the discipline of interpreting/translation studies in such topic areas as the following:

■学生通訳者の通訳準備におけるAIツール使用の実態と見解
Student Interpreters’ Situation and Perception of AI Tool Usage in Interpreting Preparation
井原菜緒 Nao Ihara

■YOASOBIの楽曲における「空耳」を含む日英歌詞翻訳
Japanese to English Lyrics Translation including “Soramimi” in Songs by YOASOBI
太田梨胡 Riko Ota (Rico)

■学生通訳の現場と諸問題
The Current Situation of Student Interpreters and the Problems that They Face
小松あろは Aroha Komatsu (Aloha)

■Undertaleのゲーム・ローカライゼーションにおける創造翻訳
Transcreation in the Game Localisation of Undertale
𠮷田眞子 Mako Yoshida

■世界人権宣言の英語版とその日本語版の比較解析
Comparative Analysis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English and Japanese
岩崎彩子 Ayako Iwasaki