To be japanese translator should i do japanese and linguistics or japanese and english language uni course?

i want to be a japanese translator but i don't know which course at university would be the most useful out of japanese, japanese and english language or japanese and linguisiticsTo be japanese translator should i do japanese and linguistics or japanese and english language uni course?
I have to disagree with Brownie. I, too, am a professional J to E translator, and have done highly technical work for Nissan and Mitsubishi, among others. But I have NO special background in engineering. What matters most, obviously, is having the necessary language skills. If you have that you will find plenty of work! If you also have specialized knowledge, great, that will help you, too. There is always a great demand for translators (J to E, or E to J) in just about every field imaginable, so if you don't know about biotech work, maybe you'll do translation of financial documents. I translate such a wide range of documents from several different outsourcing companies, so I never know what kind of job I will do next. But they keep sending me work because they know I have the language skills (and proper English writing skills) to get the job done.



In answer to your question, Major in Japanese and minor in whatever interests you. Study of English means the study of literature, but it's probably true that the English major graduates with the best writing skills of any other undergraduate degree. So that is useful. Of course, if you minor in something else (Finance, for example) it will give you specialization, and possibly even open up other career paths you hadn't considered. Personally, if I could go back, I would MAJOR in Finance and minor in Japanese. There are some sweet jobs in Tokyo for Japanese speaking foreigners with a background in Finance.To be japanese translator should i do japanese and linguistics or japanese and english language uni course?
I would recommend not studying Japanese at university initially. Most Japanese to English translators (and vice versa) have a speciality such as technical, patent or medical translation thus having a first degree in a relevant subject is extremely important. You can learn Japanese as a secondary option. Finding a job as a Japanese to English translator (or vice versa) is exceedingly difficult as you will be competing with bilingual Japanese people who were brought up in Australia, Hawaii etc.