At a Senate subcommittee hearing last month, Commerce Department officials were asked about their progress in implementing the Japanese Technical Literature Act. The act calls for the government to monitor technical developments in Japan, consult with the private sector about its needs for such information and coordinate federal efforts to acquire, translate and distribute it.
No more than 300 U.S. scientists and engineers are capable of reading technical literature in Japanese, according to Joseph F. Caponio, director of the National Technical Information Service. At the same time, only 200 of the approximately 10,000 scientific and industrial journals published in Japan are entirely translated into English.
But Barry Beringer, director of congressional relations for Commerce Undersecretary Robert Ortner, said the department will spend up to $2.1 million this year on translation from Japanese and on other activities, some of which have been underway for years. In addition, Deputy Secretary Clarence J. ...
