Translation from English to Japanese and from Japanese to English
Japanese Translations Done by Professionals
Have you found this page because you need Japanese translation services? Search no more: you’ve found them!
HumanTranslation provides first-class English-to-Japanese and Japanese-to-English translation services to businesses and individuals at affordable rates.
We have formed a time-proven system of text processing from the initial communication with the customer to final delivery that makes it possible to ensure top quality and convenient service.
If we think of three words that describe our approach to translation, we would mention “three A’s”: accuracy, appropriateness, and adaptation.
- Accuracy means that you will get a text in the target language that conveys exactly the same message and produces the same impression on the reader as the original. No additions, no omissions, no misrepresentations.
- Appropriateness is all about the intended purpose. The text may serve to inform, impress, conduce, invite, or state – and the list may go on and on. All these purposes require a particular style, tone, and techniques. And this is where the translator’s cultural background comes in useful as you need to achieve the goal set with a particular target audience in mind! And the translator that comes from the appropriate background knows how to impress and how to seduce.
- Adaptation is the highest degree of appropriateness that requires creativity. If you have a legal text intended to inform, you will not need any adaptation. However, if you need to translate a letter from English to Japanese, you will have to avoid a direct way of conveying the message typical of English and express your thoughts in a more ambiguous manner. The highest degree of adaptation is transcreation that we can propose for marketing materials.
Does that look difficult? Well, language services balance between business and art, and you can now clearly see why it is so.
If you need translation services from Japanese to English, you will need to specify at least the country for which the text is intended (US, Australia, or UK), and we will choose the best specialist for you.
The World of Japanese Translation
The Japanese economy relies heavily on imports and export, which explains why translations between English and Japanese continue to be in high demand. Japan exports top-class products manufactured by its automotive, electronics, and precision instruments industries and needs to cooperate with global suppliers to receive the spare parts.
Don’t be surprised to find out that rates per word for Japanese translations are higher than for European or Asian languages as it usually involves more work and the translation speed is slower.
Our Team
We have a pool of carefully selected native speakers of Japanese and English living in different parts of the globe, which allows for flexibility in time zones and translation assignments. We invest in their professional growth and periodically submit their work to peer review just to make sure they stay in tune. Our translators use the best tech and QA tools available on the market, so you may rest assured your text will get into the hands of professionals.
Certified Translation
If you need a certified translation of documents to be filed with any official institution, we will assign it to a certified (or sworn) translator who knows the rules of translating such texts. You will receive the translator’s statement (signed and sealed) to testify to the accurate and complete rendering of the original text into the target language.
Language Facts
- Japanese is spoken around the world, but the only country where it has the status of an official language is Japan.
- In Japanese, there are 3 systems of writing that you will sometimes find within one sentence.
- There are multiple ways of referring to yourself in Japanese, not just “I”. There is a word for “I” you should never say in front of your boss, “I” that only a samurai can say, and several others.
- You will not find any articles or plural forms in Japanese.
- Unlike Chinese and some other Asian languages, Japanese is not tonal (that is, what you say does not depend on how you say that), which is a great relief for tone-deaf people.
- Casual, polite, and formal Japanese are different things that even vary in grammar! And formal Japanese may be hard even for native speakers as it is further split into the verbal forms that humble the speaker (when he is in the subordinated position) and elevate the listener (when the latter is a VIP, for instance).
- Do you think that Chinese and Japanese are somehow similar and even related? Not at all! In fact, they don’t even belong to the same language group. What is amazing is that Japanese is unique in this respect as it has no “relatives” among the languages and seems to have appeared out of nothing!
Language Tips:
Do not start translating before you get clear on the actual message to be conveyed: the Japanese way of saying things may be ambiguous, and word-for-word translation typically avails to nothing.
Remember cultural differences. English is a language of directness and straightforward communication, while Japanese is all about vagueness, ambiguity, and multiple meanings implying that you will have to read between the lines. With that in mind, be sure to translate not only the message itself but also the way of delivering it in the appropriate manner.
As there are three styles of writing in Japanese, it’s better to ask the customer about preferences and jointly determine the most appropriate option for the intended purpose and the target audience.
Also, you may need to discuss the suitable tone of politeness as even standard business communication may require either a polite or honorific tone, depending on the circumstances.
If you need to deliver an impeccable translation into Japanese, you will have to be prepared to set longer deadlines as several review rounds will inevitably be required. Translation into Japanese is a complex thing, and it would be naïve to expect perfection to be achieved quickly in one go.
