Question: Why pay for a translator when I can get a machine translation for free?

Answer: Machine translations of typical Japanese documents rarely make much sense. Try it yourself at the sites listed on my "Free Japanese Resources" page.

Question: I've heard that Japanese is the language of ambiguity. Is it possible for a Japanese document to be translated so that it sounds like natural English?

Answer: Yes. While Japanese can be written with amazing levels of ambiguity, that isn't the intention of technical documents. Ambiguities can best be avoided if the translator understands what the author was trying to say. Japanese can be translated into into normal sounding English, but it requires extensive rearrangement of the text.

Question: How can you tell a good translation?

Answer: A translation shouldn't sound like it was translated from another language. When I am translating, I ask myself how the Japanese writer would have expressed his ideas if he had been reared and educated in an English-speaking country. I assume that he would appreciate seeing his ideas written in a way that sounds normal, natural, and educated.

Question: Why do you only translate from Japanese into English. Shouldn't you also be able to translate from English into Japanese

Answer: It is extremely rare for a person to be a competent writer in both languages.

Question: Why do Japanese translations generally sound so vague and odd?

Answer: Many Japanese documents are translated by translators whose native language is Japanese. They don't have the skill to write well in English. They cannot select the most appropriate terms or use English grammar to convey subtleties.

Question: What are the advantages of working with an individual translator rather than with a translation agency?

Answer: Translations can often be improved if the client and translator can communicate directly with each other. For example, if I recognize that a section of a document is irrelevant to a customer's needs, I'll ask if the section should be translated. Translation agencies usually don't let clients have direct contact with the translators. They are afraid that the translator will steal their customer.

Question: Some agencies guarantee that the translation will be checked by a second party. Isn't that a good idea?

Answer: In theory, yes. However, many of the checkers at agencies are not competent to perform this task. They're generally native Japanese who expect English phrases to conform to the original Japanese pattern. They're not familiar with all the variations that are legitimate in well written English. Translators who have to please these checkers are highly constrained in how they can express the original ideas, and the resulting translations often sound awkward.

Question: How do you estimate how much a translation will cost?

Answer: One Japanese character (including kana) is approximately equivalent to one half of an English word. Subjects that contain a lot of foreign words, such as computer manuals or chemical papers, will have fewer English words. Conversely, texts with many dense character phrases will have more. To estimate the number of English words, I count the number of kanji and multiply by a realistic conversion factor (1.8 to 2.2).

Question: Will you treat the materials I send you with confidentiality? I notice that your site has the names of articles you have translated. I would not want you doing this with my documents.

Answer: Your materials will be kept absolutely confidential. The list of translated documents were government funded and were and never intended to be confidential.

Education

For more information see my resume or a list of translations that were government funded and are available to the public.