Japanese translation

A language of complexity and precision

Japanese belongs to the Japonic family and has borrowed heavily from Chinese and, in modern times, from English. It is overwhelmingly a language of Japan, though the diaspora in Brazil, the United States and Australia is significant in cultural terms.

The writing system is one of the most complex in the world, using three scripts at once, often in the same sentence. Hiragana is a syllabic script used for grammatical elements and native words. Katakana is a parallel syllabic script used mainly for foreign loanwords, technical terms and emphasis, and appears constantly in modern text given the volume of English absorbed into Japanese. Kanji are Chinese-derived characters, of which an educated Japanese person is expected to know around 2,000, with many professionals using more. The implications for typesetting, encoding and layout need to be addressed from the start of any project.

Japanese grammar works on principles unlike English. Verbs come at the end of sentences, and the subject is often omitted when context makes it clear. The language has an elaborate system of honorifics, keigo, encoding the social relationship between speaker and listener through vocabulary, verb forms and sentence endings. Getting the level wrong in a business communication is a significant error in Japanese professional culture, and one a non-specialist translator or any automated tool is very likely to make.

Key industries in the Japanese market

Automotive

Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru and Mitsubishi represent a concentration of automotive expertise. The sector generates enormous volumes of technical documentation, quality management materials, supply chain communications and regulatory filings. Concepts such as kaizen and kanban, which originated in Japanese manufacturing, carry nuances translators must handle with care.

Technology and electronics

Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Fujitsu, NEC, Sharp and Toshiba have shaped consumer electronics for decades, generating software localisation, product documentation, patent filings and commercial materials in very large volumes.

Pharmaceuticals and medical devices

Japan has the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market and a highly developed medical devices industry. The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) has exacting requirements for Japanese-language documentation, making this one of the most specialist areas of Japanese translation.

Finance and banking

Tokyo is one of the world’s great financial centres. Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, Mizuho and Nomura operate internationally and generate large amounts of regulatory, compliance and client documentation..

Gaming and entertainment

Nintendo, Sony PlayStation, Sega, Capcom and Square Enix have Japanese roots, and manga and anime have global audiences of hundreds of millions, generating game localisation, subtitling, dubbing and publishing translation needs.

Retail and luxury

Japanese consumers are among the world’s most discerning shoppers, and marketing, in-store communications and e-commerce content must meet extremely high standards of quality and cultural sensitivity.

Engineering and manufacturing

Fanuc, Keyence and Komatsu operate globally in precision engineering, robotics and industrial machinery, generating technical documentation that needs specialist translation.

Food and beverage

Japanese cuisine has had a huge global influence, and exports of sake, wagyu beef, premium rice and seafood are growing, with export documentation, labelling and certification needing careful translation.

Did you know?

English has adopted a fair few words from Japanese such as sushi, origami and karaoke. When it happens the other way around it’s called wasei-eigo: Japanese-made English. Many English words have been loaned into Japanese intentionally rather than by natural assimilation, and thus the meaning of the original English can become distorted. The words enter everyday use and become so commonplace that they can end up meaning something completely different.

Some examples of wasei-eigo:

Hepburn Romanisation is the worldwide standard form of romanising the Japanese language. It was established by James Curtis Hepburn (an American missionary) in 1886 when he published a Japanese to English dictionary.

Why translate your business materials into Japanese?

Japan does not treat English as a substitute

Japanese partners, regulators and consumers expect Japanese communication that is correct, appropriately formal and culturally sensitive. Materials that are obviously machine-translated signal a lack of seriousness that is noticed and remembered.

Regulatory compliance is non-negotiable

PMDA submissions, financial product disclosures, food labelling and consumer contracts all carry Japanese-language requirements, and the standards enforced are high.

The honorific system requires authentic expertise

Choosing the right level of formality for a business letter, a manual or a customer communication takes an understanding of Japanese professional culture that only an experienced human translator can reliably provide.

The automotive and technology supply chains create ongoing needs

For businesses connected to Japanese automotive or technology companies, Japanese technical and commercial documentation is a day-to-day reality.

Japanese popular culture is a global force

For businesses in gaming, entertainment, licensing or consumer brands tied to anime, manga or gaming culture, Japanese translation is a commercial and creative necessity.

Getting Japanese right

The writing system, the honorific register and the cultural expectations of the market all need translators who are true experts. Japanese typography, character encoding, script mixing and vertical text options are things to address at the start of a project, not as an afterthought.

Why trust Atlas with your Japanese translation?

Native Japanese translators with deep sector expertise

The translator for your automotive manual, your PMDA submission, your game localisation and your luxury campaign are four different native speakers with specialist knowledge. We match on subject, register and audience with particular care in Japanese.

Human translation, always

We don’t use AI to translate. Every Japanese project is handled by a real person who is a native speaker of the language.

The writing system handled correctly from the start

Whether your content will appear in print, on a website, in an app or in a video, we make sure the technical implementation works as well as the words.

Keigo and register managed with cultural knowledge

The honorific system cannot be reduced to rules. Our translators bring cultural immersion and professional experience, and we always discuss the relationship context and purpose of your content before work begins.

A named project manager on every job

Every Japanese project is led by a dedicated member of our team who takes personal responsibility for quality and delivery. Projects often combine translation, typesetting, subtitling and voiceover, and one person overseeing them produces better results.

ISO-certified quality

Atlas holds ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management) and ISO 17100:2017 (Translation Services) certifications, and was one of the first UK translation agencies to achieve the latter. For clients working with the PMDA or Japanese financial regulators, these provide documented quality assurance.

35 years of experience

Japanese has been in our portfolio since Atlas was founded in 1991. If you have a Japanese project to discuss, or are thinking through your approach to the Japanese market for the first time, we would very much like to hear from you.