Japanese Language Translation

World class Japanese language translation from qualified professional linguists

At Alexika, we specialise in professional translations between Japanese and all of the world’s major languages. 

• Number of Japanese native speakers globally: 126 million
• Number of countries where Japanese is an official language: 1
• Approx. percentage of world trade conducted in Japanese: 8.1%

A world leader in automotive, electronics and many other sectors, Japan is the world’s third largest economy and is often considered to be one of the most innovative and dynamic. As well as being the ninth most-spoken language in the world, did you know that approximately 10% of Internet users are estimated to be Japanese speakers?

Alexika’s native Japanese translators cover many professional and technical fields, ensuring fully-authentic translation of your documents.

Expert, Professional Japanese Translation: More about the Language

The national language of Japan, Japanese (日本語) is an East Asian language with a complex grammar system, based on three scripts. 

The language’s prehistory is shrouded in mystery and many varied theories exist about its early years. We do know that Chinese had a big influence over the first form of written Japanese — known as Old Japanese — with many characters and vocabulary being borrowed from this language. Two more stages then followed (Early Middle and Late Middle Japanese) before Modern Japanese came into being in the 1600s. Interestingly, Japanese does not actually hold official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language.

Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana are the three writing systems used to create Japanese characters. Kanji are traditional Chinese characters, whilst Hiragana and Katakana are both alphabets that were introduced at a later stage.

The use of so-called English “loan-words” has become more commonplace in Japanese. However, you may be surprised to learn that some common English words are actually borrowed from Japanese: for example karaoke and tycoon. The largest Japanese community outside of Japan is in Brazil, with significant minorities to be found in the US (Hawaii in particular), Canada and Australia.

Japanese is often dubbed as one of the most challenging languages for English native speakers to learn. Because the two languages have an entirely different linguistic history, many words don’t have a direct equivalent. 

Cultural awareness is essential in the Japanese translation process, too; tone and register in the language are more complex than English. Enlisting the help of an experienced language service provider is highly recommended to ensure the appropriate message is conveyed. 

Another tip to bear in mind is to allow flexibility in the layout of your documents. The contraction rate when translating from Japanese into English can vary wildly between 10–55%. When translating out of English into Japanese the expansion rate is even higher, often between 20–60%. Note that Japanese uses characters whereas English is word-based.

We offer professional Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translations, as well as other language combinations including Japanese.

How We Achieve Perfect Japanese Translations

Achieving nailed-on authenticity and accuracy is as challenging as it is important. At Alexika, our native translators have proven experience and in-depth knowledge of your industry.