English to Japanese Translation
Japanese is the pair where the usual assumptions invert. Character count falls sharply, yet the text can occupy the same width because Japanese characters are full-width. There are no spaces between words, three scripts run in one sentence, and politeness level is a structural choice rather than a tone preference.
Does Japanese text get shorter or longer?
Shorter in characters, not necessarily narrower on screen. A Japanese character occupies roughly twice the width of a Latin one, so halving the character count can leave the line almost the same length. Vertical space usually shrinks; horizontal space often does not.
The practical consequence is that you cannot estimate Japanese layout from the word count. It has to be checked in the actual font and line height, especially in tables, buttons and anything with a fixed-width column.
Japanese also has no spaces between words, so a line can break almost anywhere. Typesetting rules called kinsoku shori govern which characters may not start or end a line — small punctuation, closing brackets, elongation marks. Software that breaks lines naively produces text that a Japanese reader registers as broken even when every word is right.
What is keigo and why does it have to be decided up front?
Keigo is the Japanese honorific system: polite, respectful and humble registers with different verb forms for the same action. The level is chosen by the relationship between writer and reader, so a document has to commit to one before the first sentence is written.
A product interface, a contract, a press release and an internal memo sit at different levels, and mixing them within one document is a visible error rather than a stylistic wobble. It also cannot be adjusted afterwards by editing a few words, because the register is carried in the verb endings throughout.
We ask who the reader is — consumer, corporate client, regulator, employee — and set the register with you before translation starts, then hold it across every later file through the glossary.
Do you handle the three scripts and vertical text?
Yes. Normal Japanese mixes kanji, hiragana and katakana in the same sentence, with katakana carrying most loanwords and product names. Text runs horizontally in most business and digital contexts, and vertically in some print and traditional formats.
- Katakana conventions for brand and product names, decided once and kept
- Full-width versus half-width numerals and Latin characters, applied consistently
- Kinsoku line-breaking respected in typeset and DTP output
- Vertical typesetting for print where the format calls for it
How is a Japanese translation certified?
Japan has no national register of sworn translators. Certification is normally a translator's or agency's certificate of accuracy, and where an authority requires more, that statement is signed as an affidavit before a Japanese notary public and apostilled for overseas use.
This differs from Brazil, Germany or France, where a state-appointed translator signs the document. If you are submitting a Japanese document abroad or a foreign document in Japan, tell us the receiving body: the route that gets accepted is decided there, not by us.
Official Japanese documents also carry hanko seals and stamps. These have to be transcribed and described in the translation, not ignored, because the receiving authority is checking that every mark on the original is accounted for.
Frequently asked questions
Is machine translation usable for Japanese?
For getting the gist of an inbound document, sometimes. For anything published or relied on, no — register, subject omission and ambiguity resolution are exactly where engines fail on this pair, and the errors read as fluent rather than obviously wrong.
Can you localise a Japanese interface, not just translate it?
Yes. Interface work includes katakana decisions for product terms, full-width and half-width handling, date and address formats, name order, and checking that strings fit the rendered layout rather than the character budget.
Do you translate from Japanese into English too?
Yes, with English-native translators and a separate reviewer. Japanese source often omits the subject, so this direction depends heavily on a translator who can query the original rather than guess at it.
Need English to Japanese translation?
Send the file and tell us who reads it. We set the register before we start.
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