Sorry that I've gone MIA since my last post, but hey, I need to make a living somehow.
I hope this thread is useful to improve your Japanese language at the very least, and if not, well I guess I failed. And I hope that the current supply/demand for translators is not as dire as it was, which prompted to create this thread.
If there was one thing most translator have problem with is hearing comprehension. It's not really an issue in anime, compared to real-life Japanese -- and yes there's a huge difference, but it's a very important skill so that you don't guess-late (guessing instead of translating). I've been searching for many ways to improve this skill, and I found this thread in a Japanese language forum:
http://www.jpalc.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=44 (second post).
I've translated the important ones which are as follow:
Everyday, listen to the news in Japanese for one minute, and write down what you have heard.
Listen to the news for ten minutes. If there is any word you don't know, listen to the news again until you grasp its meaning.
Read a Japanese literature aloud, record it, and see if you've read them eloquently. Bad pronunciation will affect your listening comprehension.
Think in Japanese.
Many time is wasted relistening, and relistening, and relistening yet again while translating. I guess this is it for now. I will update the first post in the next weeks, not next year, I hope.