English - Japanese translation

Writing an English message that translates clearly into Japanese

Keep the action attached to the right person

Japanese often places the main action near the end of a clause and uses particles after nouns to show their relationships. An English reader may recognize a name or a borrowed word near the beginning and assume the rest follows English order. That is an unreliable way to inspect the result. Look for who does what to whom across the whole clause, especially when a message contains a request and an explanation.

Japanese can also leave out participants already understood from the conversation. An English ‘I’ or ‘you’ therefore need not appear as a separate word every time. A shorter Japanese sentence is not automatically missing information. Conversely, if your English paragraph switches from you to a colleague, name that colleague at the change: otherwise the translated conversation may appear to continue talking about the same person.

Give requests a concrete action

Translate an actual request rather than an English expression whose purpose is only implied. ‘Please wait’ can be ‘待ってください’ (matte kudasai). It names the action directly. That construction is a useful everyday request, but it should not be treated as the universally most deferential wording for every business relationship. A request to a customer, a sign instructing visitors and a quick message to a friend may call for different levels of formality.

A practical improvement is to identify the recipient and the action before translating. ‘Please send the revised file today’ gives the translator an object and a deadline. ‘Could you do the thing we discussed?’ leaves both outside the text. For this pair, that missing information matters because Japanese may omit a subject or object that appears recoverable even when the recipient of your new message cannot actually recover it.

Do not look for an English-style future ending

A Japanese verb form can describe a future event without an equivalent of English ‘will’. Time expressions and the surrounding situation help determine its reading. ‘明日行きます’ (ashita ikimasu) can mean ‘I will go tomorrow.’ The word meaning tomorrow carries a clear scheduling clue; the sentence does not need a separate future-tense ending.

Preserve dates and scheduling words in the English original. A routine such as going somewhere every week and a plan to go tomorrow should not be reduced to the same fragment before translation. When reviewing an appointment message, check its stated day and time rather than trying to locate a word-for-word counterpart of will or going to.

Questions about ability are not always requests

English ‘Can you…?’ can ask about ability or politely ask someone to act. Japanese has ways to distinguish these purposes, so make your intention explicit when the difference matters. ‘Can you open the file?’ might mean ‘Is the format readable on your computer?’ or ‘Please open it now.’ In technical support, write the first intention as a compatibility question and the second as an instruction. That prevents a perfectly reasonable answer about capability from being mistaken for refusal to carry out a request.