通訳 – The Best Resources – Translation for Japanese
If you are looking for a translation for Japanese you have lots of choices. The basic functions or all online translators are the same. If you just want to translate English to Japanese or Japanese to English any is fine.
But, not all translators offer the same features or user experience. Here are my top choices.
INDEX
Best Overall Translators
There are a lot of translators on the web. The three I feel are the best are Jisho, Wikitionary and Weblio.
Jisho
Jisho has several great tools for someone learning Japanse.
◆ Example Sentences
◆ Kanji radicals and option to draw Kanji
◆ Verb Inflections
◆ Audio
These are just a few of the things you can do with the website. Not only that but I also find it is easy to use. Other English to Japanese or Japanese to English translators don’t have this much detail.
Wikitionary
Wikitionary is a good tool for those who like details. It is similar to Jisho because it provides lots of information about specific words.
But, more than just being a translator it gives the pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet, the etymology of words and so much more.
Weblio
This is what I use personally most of the time. It is a Japanese website geared toward Japanese people searching English. For that reason it may be a hurdle if you are just starting to learn Japanese.
Weblio shows even more information, examples sentences taken from the web, example collocations and so on. It is a good tool to have even after you learn Japanese.
Translating is like an art. You can know the words for concepts in both English and Japanese but not know which words is best. Weblio provides multiple translations and examples sentences to help you translate Japanese to English, or translate English to Japanese.
Hinative – Best for Complex Questions
This is actually not a translator. This is a website where native speakers answer language learners’ questions about the language. Sometimes a traditional dictionary is not enough.
Hinative can help you ask more specific and complex questions. Sort of like a curated dictionary. You can search a word in Japanese and get related questions people asked. Just click and get your answer from a native Japanese person.
Google Translate – Get Quick Results
Online translator’s like Google Translate and DeepL are still the quickest way to translate sentences and words from English to Japanese or Japanese to English.
Everybody knows that Google Translate is not perfect. That is ok, it is a lot better today than in the past. If you search just simple words or short sentences most of the time it is good enough.
One other thing that Google Translate gives you for free is the Romaji for any Japanese sentence. So, if you don’t know the Kanji reading then this is the quickest way to find out.
You also get a robot which can speak the sentence for you. The robot voice is not always 100% accurate. If you want something better then try Suzuki-Kun which shows you the intonation for full sentences.
If you are learning Japanese then you will be using a translator all the time. If you are learning Japanese here are 7 unique ways to learn Japanese.
