Japanese Technical Translation for Business

Japan has long been a fertile market for American business. As with any international business environment, accurate, timely translation of necessary written materials is a major need. International Language Services (ILS) stands ready to assist you with your translation needs, no matter what type of business needs you have. Our native-speaking Japanese translators are available with a wide range of specialized training and experience in many business types, from technical to manufacturing. Japanese, like Chinese, presents a number of challenges for translation of business documents and other materials. Some of those include:

• Japanese Characters – Japanese, like Chinese uses characters to depict its language in written form. Japanese is more complex, however, having three different types of written language. Kanji characters are Chinese in origin, and operate in a similar way to Chinese in depicting words in a single character or a combination of characters. Japanese also has two syllabic script formats, hiragana and katakana, which represent the sound of the various syllables used in Japanese. To complicate matters further, the Latin alphabet is often used to present company names and for entering Japanese text on computers. Both Arabic-style number and traditional number characters are also in common use. All of these forms may appear in the same document or other material.
• Cultural Language Content – The Japanese language makes large use of honorific forms to indicate the status of speakers, listeners, and other persons. While most often used in speech, these also appear in many forms of written communications. If used incorrectly, they can easily interfere with understanding.
• Grammar – In Japanese, there is great flexibility of word order in sentences, although verbs always occur at the end of the sentence. It is also a topic-centric language, and the subject and object of a sentence are often omitted if the context is clear. Plurals and negatives are formed very differently than in western languages. Many other differences in grammar and sentence structure also exist, complicating the task of translating English into Japanese. Clearly, native speaking professional translators, like those at ILS, are needed to ensure clean communication.
• Polite Language – Japanese is unique in its use of grammar to indicate different levels of status and importance. In polite language, one uses humble language forms to speak of oneself, and different, more respectful forms when referring to others. For American business communications, these features of Japanese can be challenging. Accommodating cultural differences is second nature for our technical translators.
• Technical Vocabulary – Japanese uses a mixture of borrowed western words and newly-created in reference to technological and scientific subjects. Japanese-speaking translators must have knowledge of the technical vocabulary used by your business. Our Japanese technical translators, with their specialized experience and training, are ideally suited for this type of translation. We support a wide range of industries, including marketing, law, manufacturing, consumer electronics, engineering, medical devices, science, medicine, advertising and more.
• Formatting – The mixed use of multiple systems of written Japanese, along with Latin alphabetical characters and two types of numerical notations makes formatting documents in Japanese a challenge. At ILS, we format documents and other materials in Japanese on a regular basis, and can provide files ready for your immediate use.

Every international company has its unique requirements for technical translation. Since 1982, we have been translating all types of documents including user instructions, technical manuals, IFU’s, labels, catalogs, websites, brochures, decals and packaging. We also can translate your Japanese technical documents into many other languages, such as, Spanish, Chinese, French, English, Russian, Greek, Korean, Italian and more.

International Language Services – Japanese Technical Translation Company

When choosing a translation services provider for doing business in Japan, ILS is one of your best available choices. Our native-speaking Japanese translators, who are also fluent in English, have experience and training in a wide range of technologies and business types. When we select translators for you, we make certain that both the primary and secondary translators are knowledgeable in the specialized vocabulary of your business. All translations are reviewed and edited carefully for accuracy, suitability of language, and proper tone. Our ability to format your translations enables you to entrust your translation project, from start to finish to ILS, assured that the completed files will be accurate, properly formatted, and delivered on time, ready for publication in your desired medium. Contact us soon to discuss your current or upcoming Japanese translation projects.