Translation Services Japan: Eat Your Fingers Off, Machine Translation & The Mathematician

Terms such as useful and meaningful are bandied around liberally in the video below: Let me assure you that machine translation (MT) is anything but.

 

(Source: Business Insider)

I’m sure KFC, having forked over good money –in fact millions of dollars in international advertising fees- only to have one of the most powerful catch copies of all time garbled for the Chinese market, would not consider machine translation either useful or meaningful!

Here’s that copy in case you missed it in the CNN video:

“Finger-lickin' good”

And here’s how it got screwed up -um, lost- in translation:

“We'll eat your fingers off”

(On an interesting side note, the image above is a play on this infamous translation blooper advertising restaurants at the JFK Airport food court).

Machine translation is being billed by marketing spin doctors as an alternative to, and is therefore in direct competition with, professional human translation. These outrageous claims are made by manufacturers of machine translation software that obviously have a vested interest in seeing their wares sell, and by so-called professional translation companies that don’t have a clue about the efficacy of this product nor the ability to assemble a team of professional human translators.

Unfortunately, this false promise of economic efficiency and effectiveness has struck a chord among the general public.

Indeed, we get plenty of customers that were duped into using machine translation on their websites only to reap disastrous results -- Economic loss, legal woes, and worse. One particular customer out of Sri Lanka comes to mind. When I asked this client how much he paid for the machine translation solution on his used car website that he was contracting the Translation Services Japan to replace, I was very surprised to learn that our Japanese translators were cheaper! That bears repeating:

A Japanese-to-English translation solution by professional human translators turned out to be cheaper than a failed machine translation solution!

If I have not made my case against the dangers of (using) machine translation, then consider the following article: Machine translation forces major Japanese publishing company Takeda Random House Japan Co., Ltd into bankruptcy

Japanese Book Translation - Ranking on AMAZON JAPAN TOP 100

The market for English language books in Japan is relatively small.

The reason why is because Japanese folks struggle with English (despite the vast amounts of resources invested in learning it as a second language).

That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t a demand for English books translated into Japanese.

Quite the contrary, the market for publications in Japanese is mature and many books published abroad are translated into Japanese. Indeed, due to the great demand in the local Japan market, many works of literature and art (movies) are often translated into Japanese before any other language. (Of course, the fact that Japan is a large, rich market is also a consideration.)

This represents a fantastic opportunity for authors looking to expand their reader base in Japan, a country of avid readers with a penchant for foreign publications.

Video: Watch this case study, and discover how your English book or novel translated into Japanese can also rank on AMAZON JAPAN

Need English to Japanese Book Translation? Contact Japan, Tokyo based SAECULII YK

Professional Japanese Book Translation – Why Simply Translate?

Translating a book from English to Japanese is not simply about changing words from one language to another - It’s about conveying emotions, cultural nuances, and complex ideas in a way that resonates with a whole new audience. 

Japanese Title: 1946年日本回想録: 敗戦を乗り越えた人々

When you choose a professional Japanese book translation service, such as SAECULII TRANSLATION JAPAN, you’re not just translating; 

You’re transforming your work to captivate a new market.

The Possibilities with Expert Japanese Translators

Imagine seeing your book rank in the TOP 100 on AMAZON JAPAN just weeks after release. 

That’s what happened with the Japanese edition of Memoires of Japan 1946 (A People Bowed but Not Broken). This success story isn’t just about language proficiency; it's about understanding both the source and target markets deeply.

The clients, Sakkam Press Ltd, praised our meticulous attention to detail, noting how pleased they were with our service: 

"Please pass on my thanks to everyone who worked on the project. I have been extremely impressed with the level of attention that your team paid to every detail of the translation. I'm delighted we chose SAECULII. Feel free to give my name as a reference for future bids if you need one."

Why Trust Us with Your Japanese Book Translation?

Choosing the right Japanese translator is crucial. 

Bernard T. Smith, author of Memoires of Japan 1946, put his trust in our translators' ability to capture the essence of his original text in Japanese: 

“On balance, I would like to leave it to the translators to find the nearest meaning in Japanese. They seem to have very good sense of the situation and made a very good job of it so far.”

Are you ready to see your book thrive in the Japanese market? Then unlock the potential of your literary work in Japan with a partner who understands both the language and the readers. Contact a professional Japanese Book Translation Service

p.s. 

Memoires of Japan 1946 (A People Bowed but Not Broken) has been added to the National Diet Library (国立国会図書館). When your translated work is selected for inclusion in Japan’s National Diet Library, similar in prestige to the U.S. Library of Congress, you know it meets the highest standards. Such an endorsement not only elevates the status of your book but also reflects the quality and accuracy of its translation.