Translating Japanese and English

Translation is a level above simply knowing a language. It requires deep knowledge of both languages, and a good intuitive sense of what people are saying. Let’s take a look at my experience and some tips to translate better.

Learning to Speak and to Translate Japanese are Different

When I started learning Japanese and did not know anything about languages, I had a lot of misconceptions. I thought that basically learning a language was as simple as finding the equivalent word in a dictionary. I remember thinking of things I wanted to say and looking for the words in my English to Japanese dictionary. Once I found the words I would just string them together in a sentence and I would have a phrase. The problem was these phrases were grammatically incorrect most of the time. I had not yet learned about word order, verb forms, or even particles.

https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/

Learning to Speak Japanese

After spending more time learning Japanese I felt silly and embarrassed about my mistakes. This is ok though when you are learning Japanese. Learning to speak is part knowledge and part skill. You get skills by practicing the language and through that, you strengthen your intuitive sense of the language. So, when you are learning Japanese and especially in the beginner stage don’t worry about being perfect. Worry more about just learning and practicing. You will improve and correct your errors over time.

Learning to Translate Japanese

Learning to translate Japanese to English or English to Japanese requires more than just speaking. Translation requires knowledge of both Japanese and English, along with other things. When you translate you need to also be able to understand what the writer or speaker is trying to say. In other words, not only what they are saying but the deeper meaning or intention behind their words.

When people say things they can mean a lot of different things. It is not always obvious in the original language what people are trying to say.  But when you have to translate you need to know or make a guess. Some things in Japanese which can remain ambiguous need to be stated clearly in English. It is the same way when you translate English to Japanese.

During this process, you will inevitably lose something in translation and add something. Your goal when translating it is to try to keep closest to the original as possible. Well, that is at least part of it. Sometimes if something is too close to the original it does not sound natural when translated. So, it is important depending on the situation and purpose of the translation to also think about what you will prioritize. Will it be accuracy, or keeping it natural.  When I want to translate something from Japanese to English or English to Japanese these are some of the things I do.

Tips for Translating Japanese to English or English to Japanese

So when you translate from Japanese to English or English to Japanese here are some tips.

Using Dictionaries is not always enough

Keep track of several online dictionaries where you can quickly search words. It is good to see a list of several different translations for a word. Usually, words have multiple translations and you will need to decide based on the context which word is the closest. If you are unsure which word would be the best then try doing a search on the internet to see how that word is used in context. Then compare those contexts to the original source to see if they are the same context.

Leaving out Redundancies

Languages are redundant. In a sentence, they will say the same thing in a different way or use two different words, word forms, or so on to make their point clearer. If these redundancies do not make the sentence clearer when translating then I would leave them out. Unless it is important to leave it to express some unique intention the writer or speaker is trying to express with them.

When you are not sure which word to use

When you translate things often you will run across unfamiliar topics, or words. You may even know some of the words in both English and Japanese but not know which word would line up to best. In that situation, you can try things like searching images of the word. What that does is it shows you context through images on how that word may be used. That can give you an idea of if the word is appropriate or not. You can also try searching on Twitter, comments, or other places online to see how normal people are using those words.