TALK ABOUT YOUR COLORFUL DAILY LIFE

Hello everyone! My name is Gyawali Mani and I’m from Nepal! I currently live in the capital of Nepal, Katmandu, where I am a Japanese instructor, translator and interpreter. I also work as an online marketing researcher for a large Japanese mail order company.

Under the current “stay home” conditions driven by the corona virus I was very happy to find work as a freelancer on Workshift where I hope to leverage my Japanese language skills and contribute effectively to Workshift’s client needs.

TALK ABOUT YOUR PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

As a child I enjoyed learning languages and I started studying Japanese 12 years ago and consequently was gradually drawn to the charm of the Japanese language. When I first arrived to Japan I was struck by the clean streets with almost no garbage to be seen anywhere, such are the good manners and proper etiquette of the Japanese people.
I became more and more enamored by the Japanese people and their culture and this drove me to study this nation and what is called the most wonderful culture and society in the world. For that reason, I naturally began to enjoy my efforts to study Japanese.
Once I entered a Japanese university it became clear to me how difficult it would be to learn Japanese, but I was determined to fulfill my dream and I believed that studying hard was the key to make that dream come true.

People around me would often ask “Why do you like studying so much?” but I just believed that studying would make my brain better. The more I studied the smarter I would become. Just like muscles. If you do push-ups and sit-ups everyday your muscles will get stronger. If you stop those muscles will become weak. The brain is the same, if you study every day your brain will work better but if you stop studying your brain will not work as well. If our brain works well your brain power will improve. While it is hard and painful work, the improved brain power resulting from it will help you overcome the hardship of studying. It is said that it is important to study hard in order to lead a happy life. This way of thinking is what drove me to study hard and successfully earn a master’s degree.

On another matter, cricket is not a popular sport in Japan but I have been putting a lot of effort and pride into sharing my knowledge of the sport of cricket with Japanese children as part of a regional exchange activity. I hope my efforts will help promote the sport in Japan and I am proud of my efforts to do so.

After arriving in Japan, apart from my university studies, I was greatly impressed by the diligence and seriousness that they applied to studying and work. The Japanese are a leading civilization, they search for knowledge, they absorb it with objectivity, combine it to what they have and then expand on it. This is probably the source and reason for their striking economic rise.

From now Japan will become more of an international society and I think Japan has a large role to play in Asia. Asia not only has many people and resources but within the region it also has mutually complementary economies and common cultural roots that connect us.

Geographically we are near each other and we have a relatively high level of cultural ties (Confucianism, Chinese characters) that contributes to drive cooperation and national exchanges in Asia. These mutually shared parts of our heritage will continue to spread. In the past the Asian economic region has had dynamic growth and in the 21st century we hope to see continued sustainable high levels of growth. I think Asia’s only developed nation, Japan, should play several roles while aiming for regional symbiosis, including the role of spreading the global consciousness of its citizens throughout the region. I myself hope to serve as someone who can bridge the gap between my home country, Nepal, and Japan.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE

During university I part time work at a restaurant where I was able to learn new skills which have since then served me well now that I am out of school and in the work force. My work and daily life used to be largely influenced by my experiences from the past but now that I have had more contact with real customers at my job and I feel that I have grown much more and have developed new ways of thinking. As a child I always enjoyed languages and at university I learned completely new ways of structuring words and thoughts. I enjoy reading translated documents and comparing them to the original documents. I find it very interesting to learn the depth of meaning in Japanese and I have been able to utilize those skills to write accurate translations for my current work. I have been able to work as a professional translator and I plan to continue as a professional translator going forward. I think I grasp the key points of translation work.

I have also worked at the customer center of a global mail order company supporting individual customers. I enjoy communicating with people and I am confident in my ability to establish a good, smooth and trusting communications relationship with anybody. I wanted to build deeper bonds with customers so at the mail order company I actively tried to improve my communication skills. My job is mainly mail-order customer service related to order taking, questions, and responding to complaints. There is stress but I get to speak with men and women of all ages from all over Japan which is very stimulating work that I enjoy and never get tired of.

WHY DID YOU JOIN WORKSHIFT?

The Corona virus changed the way work is done. Going out to work became difficult and working from home increased. As a result, I switched to more remote work. I was looking for a way to leverage my Japanese skills and also take advantage of more opportunities to be in contact with Japan so I decided to register on Workshift.

These days a lot work requires knowledge of special vocabulary for translation and interpreting. Of course, such jobs are all precious new work experiences for me. Moreover, experience in translation and interpretation work is very important. Depending on each experience one’s sphere of knowledge expands which then expands your scope of expertise for getting more jobs. I was hoping to find more job opportunities on Workshift so I registered.

HOW FREELANCING FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE

I think the flexibility that freelancing work affords me suits me very well. I can use my time freely. I can select jobs in fields that I find interesting while at the same time I am improving my expertise in those fields. Getting the opportunity to work on my skills is welcomed. I decide on which jobs to undertake, how long to spend on completing them, these are all my decisions to make which I think is great!

FUTURE PLANS

My dream is to be a “bridge connecting Nepal to Japan”. I want to use my values and senses in many ways to make this bridge. Until I am able to realize this dream I will work at Japanese companies, expand my management knowledge, promote trade with my country Nepal to become more popular, and it would be wonderful if I can connect all of this activity with my work. In the future I hope that all that I have learned will help me contribute to the development and growth of Nepal. Eventually, My goal is to become a successful independent business man helping many people.

IMPRESSIONS OF WORKSHIFT WAS IT SMOOTH APPLYING FOR JOBS?

Workshift is very easy to use and I quickly got used to it. You can communicate smoothly with the client through the message system to confirm work content, delivery, and revisions. It was such a great opportunity working on Workshift because it helped me gain confidence. Not only that, through Workshift I was able to increase my skills and work experience. I think it is a really good platform that can provide good opportunities for all freelancers. Going forward I will do my best to offer support to Workshift’s clients throughout Japan.

ADVICE FOR NEW FREELANCERS

I only recently began life as a freelancer so I don’t feel qualified to offer good advice but I can say that I have learned a lot and I would like to share my experience with all the readers. First of all, don’t be afraid of anything and the most important thing is to be confident and take challenges. Before I won my first job I had many rejections.

Even if you fail one time believe that there will be more opportunities. Don’t give up, try the next ones. Doing so is a step forward. A popular proverb is “Failure is the foundation of success”. When checked why failure was the meaning of this proverb it turns out the failure leads to investigation of the source of the failure which leads one to eliminate the mistakes which in turns takes you closer to success. Said another way, if you do not review the reasons for the failure nothing will be learned, it will just be a failure, and will not become the source of future success and will lead to nothing. As the proverb suggests we should never give up if we want to move forward.

Working as a freelancer brings freedom but it also requires discipline because you need to do your best, make a good product and delivery on time. begin the battle by reading all of the published new job posts, check the job requirements, and when you find a job that you are confident you can meet all the conditions for then write a compelling application to appeal to the client.