Translation into Japanese
Japanese is as unique and mysterious as the country of Japan itself. The formation of this language is closely intertwined not only with the culture and historical past of the Japanese but other nationalities too. There are around 140 million Japanese-speaking people in the world with 125 million native speakers. These are mainly residents of the land of the rising sun, the United States, and the Polynesian islands. Despite Japanese not being as widespread as English, Spanish, or German, one can find a professional for translation into Japanese.
Unusual history of the Japanese language. Researchers believe that it was formed based on the Altaic languages. Those interested in written translation from Russian into Japanese will probably be surprised that the Japanese built their writing based on Chinese, adapting other people’s hieroglyphs to their language characteristics.
If you want to translate a website or program from Russian to Japanese, but you doubt whether it is worth doing it, here is an interesting fact for you: Japanese make up more than 10% of Internet users, which means that Japanese is a promising tool for promoting your product.
Features of written translation into Japanese
Anyone who is engaged in translation from Russian to Japanese knows that it is a difficult task. Until recently, there were practically no foreign words in Japanese, and this was its unique feature compared to other languages.
The presence of 4 alphabets further complicates the process of translation of a text into Japanese:
- Kanji is the Chinese alphabet used in Japanese writing;
- Hiragana is the alphabet for individual Japanese particles and suffixes;
- Katakana is an alphabet for borrowed terms from European languages;
- Romaji is a transliteration of the Japanese script in Latin.
The combination of all these features makes translation into Japanese a task that only professionals can do.
How to effectively translate from Russian to Japanese
Our company knows well what is important for a high-quality translation from Russian to Japanese. The translator’s qualifications and his ability to reflect the most important features of the Japanese language in his work are especially valuable.
- Emotions. The logical connection in the text is not too important for the Japanese. A few years ago, for example, Japan’s national television advertised a newspaper where people stood in front of a cow and said, “If only it were a man!” There was no connection between the cow and the newspaper, but the video became popular due to the emotional message.
- Laconic. Texts in Japan are about fifty percent shorter and more compact than in other countries, and direct speech is avoided wherever possible.
- Skipping some parts of speech. The Japanese often omit the subject if it is possible to figure it out from the context. There is also no category of numbers (singular and plural) in this language. Therefore, translation into Japanese turns from a boring activity into an exciting quest. By the way, this comparison is also true about Estonian, where there are no genders of nouns.
How to order a translation of a text into Japanese
Are you preparing documents for the Japanese embassy or a cooperation agreement with Japanese partners? Contact our manager by phone or fill out the form on our translation company’s website. We will tell you how best to complete your project and offer various options to help you save money when translating from Russian to Japanese.
