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    • Gwen Clayton, AG68, publishes English translation from Japanese of "Rice, Miso Soup, Pickles"

    Gwen Clayton publishes English Translation from Japanese of

    Gwen Clayton was at Perse Girls from 1983-1990 and is currently working as a translator from German and Japanese into English. Gwen published her first book-length translation from Japanese in 2025 and is publishing two books translated from German in 2026. She read Japanese at the University of Oxford and spent 8 years working as a solicitor before becoming a freelance translator. 

    1. How did you move from a career in law to translation?

    I studied Japanese and then law, started to train as a solicitor and did some of my training contract in Tokyo. There I worked in several bilingual offices. A few years later, I found myself back in Japan, this time with two small children. Legal translation was an obvious type of work to do at home. 18 years later, I am still translating, but I don’t just do legal texts anymore. 

    1. How are you appointed to each of your new projects, e.g., do you work with particular publishers or literary agents, or via translation agencies?

    I initially worked only with translation agencies, but as my network developed I found I had more and more direct clients. Almost all of them found me as the result of recommendations by colleagues. These were small companies and law firms initially, but then later included museums and academic institutions. Now my clients include publishers and literary scouts, too. 

    1. How did your time at Perse Girls contribute to your career development?

    It gave me the confidence to believe any kind of work was open to me. And that I could have a family and a fulfilling career too.

    1. What is your favourite aspect of your work?

    I like working with words, solving the word problems that come with translation, getting lost in a text. But I like collaborating on translations and working with editors too since everyone approaches the same text differently.

    1. What advice would you give to current students and recent leavers interested in a career in translation?

    Do something else first, so that you have a specialism, and know how to write about that in your own language. But keep your foreign languages alive, so that you can come back to them later!

    1. What do you remember about your language lessons at Perse Girls?

    Trying to learn a poem in Italian for a competition and not being able to pronounce the letter ‘r’ properly. The Russian teacher giving impromptu Hungarian classes, which I was allowed to join in preparation for going there on an orchestra tour. Winning a French oral prize. The language labs, with their bulky headphones.

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