Japanese Translation

Five Problems You'll Probably Encounter in J-E Translation

(and how to conquer them)

Translating an Asian, character-based language into a tongue that uses a Romanized alphabet is already difficult enough, without counting words and a somewhat universal verb tense — two prevalent characteristics of Japanese. For people learning the art of translation, these things can be difficult, so we decided we’d write a quick guide.

What are three key things to keep in mind when translating from J-E?

There’s an old adage in real estate that the three most important things are location, location and location. In the same vein, the three most important things to keep in mind when translating from J-E are context, context and context.

Context is always important in translation, regardless of the languages involved: It’s important to know who wrote the source text (and for what purpose), who will be reading the translation, and to understand any items that are referenced in the source text.

If you’re an English speaker that has learned to speak Japanese, you probably feel perfectly comfortable dropping subjects and particles when doing so. It doesn’t mean that when you go back to speaking English you’re going to turn to your friend and say, “going park but, go together?”

Likewise, Japanese texts will assume things are understood by the reader in a way that English texts will never do. So when you’re translating from Japanese into English, you’ll find yourself having to add all of that information back in.

Now that we’ve determined that context is key in Japanese-English translation, let’s look at a few common problems translators encounter — and how to overcome them.

1. Set Phrases (慣用句)

Japanese is a language of imagery, of expressive wording and context-dependent verbs. This creative foundation can make translating from Japanese into English difficult, because there are certain “set phrases” that, when translated literally, have little meaning or sound unnatural in English. These set phrases include common idioms and proverbs, as well as sayings that are used on a more everyday basis.

Common examples include:

お世話になる

Literal meaning: I will need you to take care of me.
How you should translate it: This is used in situations when the speaker has become indebted to the listener. When this is used as an opening greeting, such as at the beginning of a letter, it can always be omitted, because it is just a formality and doesn’t actually mean anything — especially in business settings. If this comes at the end of a letter or something of the sort, conjugated in the past tense as お世話になりました, its meaning is more akin to, “I am in your debt.”

心を語る

Literal meaning: I will tell my heart.
How you should translate it: This one really depends on context. It can be translated as, “I will tell you how I feel” and is used when someone is confessing their true feelings.

空気を読めない

Literal meaning: I cannot read the atmosphere.
How you should translate it: This is used to describe someone who just isn’t getting the picture, or is slow on the uptake. It can be replaced with words such as “dense” or “clueless.”

間の抜けた

Literal meaning: A hole in your timing.
How you should translate it: It can mean kind of vacuous or foolish when applied to a person, but it’s usually used when someone is lacking substance or a core.

揚げ足を取る

Literal meaning: I took a fault.
How you should translate it: This phrase is used when the speaker is finding someone’s fault or catching them in a misstep. The non-literal phrase, “tripping someone up” is a good substitute. Just saying “catch” as in “catch someone in a mistake” can work as well.

How should you go about translating these? Google Translate and other automated translators won’t do much, but there are directories online — check out our Translation Resources sections for a comprehensive list — and browsing others’ examples and Googling them is always a good idea as well.

2. Onomatopoeia (擬音語) and Mimetics (擬態語)

Remember what we said above, about Japanese being a creative language? This creativity is also demonstrative, as shown by the fact that pretty much every action in Japanese has a sound effect to go with it — something akin to the Roadrunner’s “mreep mreep”, if you’re a bit lost. These sounds are often demonstrated through the repetition of two characters:

ドキドキ

How you should translate it: This literally refers to the thumping of the heart, and when paired with する as a verb, it can mean to feel nervous (sometimes in an exhilarated way). It’s commonly used in romantic contexts — think about the emotion of a teenager plucking up the courage to take the hand of the object of their affection, and the words you would use to describe that situation: nervous, heart racing…

バラバラ

How you should translate it: This refers to something being physically disrupted or split apart, but it’s often used in abstract ways too. Translating it as “all over the place” or “random bits and pieces” is a good place to start.

ガラガラ

How you should translate it: This one is a bit tricky, because its definition changes based on the items its used in relation to. If you are talking about a sound that is ガラガラ, you can use the words rattling or clanging. For voices, however, raspy works better. ガラガラ places are empty, and not crowded.

Some of these exist in English — “thump thump” is the rough translation of ドキドキ, but others have meanings that are a bit more difficult to convey in English, or even more tricky, multiple meanings. Words like ガンガン either mean “hurt” or “hard” depending on the context they’re used in. Others, such as the sound of a dog — “woof woof” in English — have direct equivalents in Japanese: ワンワン.

One of the simplest and most commonly used ways to translating a Japanese mimetic is to use an adjective that fits the emotion that is emulated by the Japanese sound being made. A phrase like イライラしています could be roughly translated as "antsy" or "nervous" because it's used when the speaker feels some type of anxiety. The appropriate word usually differs with the context it's being used in, though, so it's good to have a degree of caution when translating.

While capturing the meaning of the text in a translation is essential, it isn’t necessary to attempt to translate the text directly. When you’re dealing with an unfamiliar onomatopoeia or mimetic, you should first take a step back and focus on the emotion that is being conveyed, rather than attempting to find a direct equivalent to the sound being made.

Photo Credit: Hiromy

3. Word order and natural-sounding English

When translating, conveying the meaning of the original text is essential, but so is doing it in a way that is readable and natural to native speakers. One way to do this is to use translators who are native in the target language. However, even understanding both languages may not be enough — you must be able to reword sentences as necessary without mangling the meaning of the text.

Japanese sentences are typically written in a Subject-Object-Verb format, sometimes omitting the Subject, while English usually follows the Subject-Verb-Object standard. This isn’t too difficult to decipher, simply flip them around to make the sentence make sense in English.

Ex. 私はケーキを食べました would become “I ate the cake.”

However, Japanese often deals with the passive voice, which is generally discouraged in good English writing. Translating something entirely in the passive voice can sound unnatural and even a bit awkward, especially when combined with the fact that the Japanese present tense is more or less the same as the future tense.

It’s important to make sure that your translated text sounds natural, and sometimes this means changing the sentences you’re given into the active voice. However, as with most issues related to translation, context is important: If the work you’re translating is literary, you may want to retain the passive voice for aesthetic purposes. It’s not a good idea to keep an entire document in the passive voice though, unless the client asks for it specifically or you have a solid, justifiable reason.

4. Counting words and unclear plurals

Denoting a plural in English is usually quite simple: We just add an "s" at the end of the word and call it a day. However, this isn't the case in Japanese. Sometimes people use counting words to indicate how many of a particular object there are, but other times, these words, known as "counters" are omitted, which can make translating the sentence confusing.

It is nearly impossible to tally up a total without using these counters, though there is a general set of counting words that people will accept. While most round objects are grouped under one set of counting words, this is not the case in English. We rarely say, "There are three round objects" — it sounds unnatural and is unclear. We substitute the "round objects" with the name of the item we are referring to. Depending on the context of the situation, you may also be able to drop the subject of the sentence and imply what exactly is being counted as well.

Counting is made even more difficult in Japanese when you consider the fact that the Japanese language has few plurals and uses them even more rarely. Though the kanji that indicates the repetition of the one before — think the second character of 人々 — does exist, it isn't used on an everyday basis and generally just indicates that there is a group of said objects — not an actual number.

In order to deal with this, translators usually refer to the context from which the text is given, in an effort to deduce the number of objects involved, or they omit the number altogether. When it’s not possible to determine how many things are being counted, there’s nothing wrong with asking the client — it’s better to get a correct answer first than find out you were wrong down the road.

5. Honorifics and Polite Speech

Japanese speakers often use a form of polite speech known as 敬語, when addressing their elders and those whom they view with respect. There is no direct equivalent of this in English — perhaps a "Yes, sir" will do the trick, but you can only use those so many times — so how do you ensure that the person to whom the translation is addressed does not mistake the lack of honorifics for insults?

The truth is, you don’t really have to translate 敬語 into English, because there is no direct equivalent. In fact, translating the honorifics can even become somewhat insulting to the reader if read in the wrong context — think about business letters and how formal the Japanese used in them is.

While there are times when it is appropriate to maintain the polite speech, it can sometimes come across as sarcasm, so use your best judgment. Your goal is to convey the feeling of the situation, not the exact words.

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Useful Resources

What education is necessary to become a Japanese interpreter?
Interesting video about becoming a Japanese interpreter.
Popjisyo
A great pop-up style online dictionary to help with your translations.
Jim Breen's Japanese Language Page
A great site with a lot of resources concerning the Japanese Language. You can look up kanji, find other language tools, and find some great Japanese language learning resources.
Denshi Jisho - Online Dictionary
A great online resource for vocabulary, sentences, and Chinese characters.
History of Kanji
A page by Jack Hepburn on the history of Chinese characters in the Japanese language.