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translating occupation for meishi 2007/9/3 14:17
I'm making billingual business cards to give to people, and what I do is an international shopping service for clothing (people who want Japanese brands place orders with me, and I buy and ship for a commission)

The english side of the card will have "Japan-Based Personal Shopper" or something like that. What would be a good translation of this kind of work? Or should I just write shopping service in katakana, and assume anyone with questions can ask me personally?

thanks!
by Kate  

. 2007/9/3 15:55
You can have a literal translation, but people more often then not would wonder, even from the english side "what a personal shopper does", I know what it is as you just explained it in the thread, but someone getting a card that just said "Japan-Based Personal Shopper" would probably wonder what a personal shopper was thus inquire more.

Maybe something more direct to what you do.."Clothing Exporter" or somesort?
by John rate this post as useful

... 2007/9/3 16:47
The phrase "パーャiル・ショッパー" (katakana phonetic rendition of "personal shopper") does appear on the web when you google, but many instances refer to those in US and the experiences Japanese individuals had with such people (outside Japan). Since the phrase is known, you could simply put that on your card, and use it as conversation piece, because people would want to know "so what do you exactly do?"

The complete Japanese version of this would be "買い物代行" (kaimono daikou, shopping on-your-behalf), but this sounds a bit too matter-of-fact maybe?

I would leave out the "Japan-based" part, though, because no matter how you put it, 在日,
日本ベース, 日本本拠,it does not quite sound fashionable; the fact that you have the card in Japanese and maybe you are living in Japan, right? that should explain that part sufficiently.

Or - as suggested, you could go "importer specializiing in Japanese products" or something like that... or, you could keep the phonetic version of "personal shopper" but maybe add a line that goes something like "Bringing Japanese fashion items to your door!" 日本のファッションアイテムをお手元に!
by AK rate this post as useful

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