(Updated August 25, 2025)Frequently Asked Questions(and some not asked frequently enough)
Translation
We need a marriage certificate translated from Japanese to English. Can you help?
Yes, we can provide this service. Read more
Can you certify a translation for us?
Yes, we can provide this service, and have done it countless times. It is very often required by individuals needing translations to submit to government agencies or financial institutions. Read more
We are a world-class provider of language solutions. Can you help us with the translation of the attached file?
No. We do not work with translation agencies, brokers, or other resellers of language services, regardless of whether they attempt to position themselves as localization companies, "providers of sustainable and globally empowering language solutions," or any other silly demographic devised to disguise their true nature as translation brokers. Our clients are world-class manufacturers and other corprations and law firms and span four continents. Our client list does not include companies in the translation business.
What type of AI translation engine do you use?
Since the documents you need translated have been created by a carbon-based author, we will not pretend that it is appropriate for us to attempt to translate them using a silicon-based alien intelligence translator. There are some very good reasons we do not use AI in translating client documents; it creates artificial translations.
Can you post-edit a machine translation for us?
No. We are a translation provider. And our clients know that we are a true translation company and realize why we don't engage in repair work on the output from a machine translation system, with or without the over-hyped buzzword AI.
Can you provide a translation from Japanese into French?
No. We specialize in providing high-quality translations between Japanese and English, a task at which we excel. Read more
What is your turnaround time for translation?
To answer that question in a meaningful way, we need to see the document(s) you need translated and provide you with a proper quotation. Contact us
How many translators do you have?
Many translation brokers, particularly those outside Japan, claim to have hundreds and some claim to have thousands of translators "registered" with them. Those bloated numbers are purposefully deceptive and tell of a willingness to lie about something clients cannot verify. There are some very sobering facts about the translation business that most translation consumers don't realize.
We very likely have enough translation capacity to assist you. Please contact us so that we can assure you of that. Contact us
We have a translation here that was poorly done. Can you edit it to bring it to the point at which you could certify it?
We are a translation company and are not normally engaged in fixing or certifying translations done elsewhere. As long as the translation you have was not done by AI and you can provide the source-language text, we might be able to assist, but you should keep in mind that the task of editing and/or rewriting a poorly done translation requires a skilled translator who could have translated the document in question properly from the start. This means that the editing effort might cost as much as we would charge to translate the original document and might actually just be a total retranslation, making the total cost likely greater than if you had started from scratch with a proper translation, unless you obtained the original translation for free.
Starting with a good translation that does not require repair work by a different entity is the best approach.
What languages do you handle?
We specialize in translation of documents for industry, patents, and other IP and legal documents (either Japanese-to-English or English-to-Japanese, but mostly JA-to-EN). This enables us to provide you with the best quality and to excel over translation providers claiming to translate in dozens or even hundreds of languages. Read more
Interpreting
Can you provide a court sworn interpreter?
We are based in Japan, and there is nothing equivalent to a "sworn interpreter" in Japan. That said, at depositions, the parties have presumably agreed to use the specific lead and check interpreters beforehand, and the interpreters take an oath to provide accurate and unbiased interpreting before the deposition begins.
We are deposing a Japanese witness. Can you interpret for us?
Perhaps, but because we are based in Japan and have numerous Japanese clients, we might not be able to help you depose a witness from a Japanese entity, but there are exceptions. Contact us
General Questions
What is the best way to contact you?
Because of the time difference between Japan and the US, the best method to contact us from outside Japan is usually by email, although a phone call, the time difference allowing, is perfectly fine. We undertake to respond in a timely manner. Contact us
We need to reach you by telephone. What is the best time to reach you?
During our normal business hours here in Japan. If you are calling from outside Japan, please note the time difference. For example, the current time and date in Japan is:
For this reason, calls from outside Japan might be received outside of normal business hours. We will, however, undertake to get back to you as quickly as possible if you leave us a message (or send us email at such times. Contact us
Can you accept payment by PayPal?
Yes, although we do this mainly for individuals in Japan needing assistance.
Can you accept payment by check?
Unfortunately, no, as checks written on foreign banks are no longer accepted by Japanese banks.
Can I pay by credit card?
Since our business model is B2B transactions, we do not accept credit card payments. The standard payment method is a bank transfer to our corporate account here in Japan.
Can you provide a quotation in US dollars?
Because all our invoicing is in Japanese Yen, a US dollar quote would only risk having the payment fall short of (or exceed) the billed yen amount due to currency fluctuations. For that reason, we quote and invoice in JPY.
Students & Beginning Translators
These responses to questions frequently asked by students and beginning translators are obviously informed by my opinions and experience.
That said, readers should realize that the writer:
- has been in JA-EN translation and interpreting for over four decades and
- is still active in JA-EN translation and interpreting, while keeping an eye and ear open to events affecting the lives and livelihoods of colleagues.
With that background in mind, here are answers to some frequently asked questions and some that should be asked more, but are not.
Is Japanese-to-English translation a promising field?
Definitely no, particularly if you are talking about freelance translation, but there are other related career choices.
What is the best way to register with translation agencies?
At this point in the evolution of the translation industry, it is very unlikely that a search for a translation agency that will provide attractively paid translation work to freelancers will be successful. In fact, many agencies have given up ordering much more than the work of repairing the result of dropping source-language texts into an AI system. That work is not going to build you a career in translation.
I have discussed the alternatives in another answer.
I'm majoring in Japanese and want to get into translation of games and anime. Any advice?
Because those are very popular fields, competition is fierce and rates are known to be low. The higher-paying fields are things like legal, medical, finance, patents, pharma, and variety of other technical fields, all of which require knowledge well beyond what you would learn in a language program or know on your own by being a gamer or anime fan. Additionally, even translation in those higher-paid fields is largely shifting to use of AI to replace human translators.
Should I obtain a JLPT qualification?
If you are aiming at getting an in-house job at a company run by anglophones, perhaps, because people there might not otherwise be able to judge your Japanese skills.
But the entities that can be most useful in giving you freelance translation work (or even in-house work at a non-translation company) should not care, and if you are dealing with native Japanese speakers, they will be able to figure out your capabilities very quickly, without having a JLPT qualification flashed at them. One exception is an anglophone company with no Japanese speakers and little ability to judge your Japanese skills.
Also, I recommend against even mentioning a JLPT qualification, because—to people who know—it could mark you as a beginner.
If freelance translation is not promising, what are the other career paths for someone with Japanese language and translation ability?
There are several possibilities.
One is to seek in-house employment at a Japanese company. If that is in Japan, it will probably require a high level of spoken Japanese, and in almost all cases it will require you to have skills related to the target company totally unrelated to your language and translation skills.
Another possible path is that of pursuing translation as a business, competing with existing agencies for direct clients. That is a very difficult path, particularly seeing that even direct translation clients are switching to AI, which would leave for agencies mostly low-paid post-editing tasks. I believe the outlook for even agencies is not promising.
What skills other than language and translation are helpful in building a career as a translator?
This is a question that is not asked nearly enough. Knowledge of language and translation alone might have worked in the past, but it is now totally insufficient to survive, unless you are aiming at an academic career.
To survive while using your language and translation skills, you need to have skills, knowledge, and qualifications in a non-language, non-translation field. Google is not at all your friend when you have to interact directly with a client, and the type of client you need to interact with will require direct interaction. You will need to have field-specific knowledge ready to demonstrate face-to-face.
Should I move to Japan and work as a freelance translator?
The quick answer to this is that you probably should, since that is where the higher-paid writer-driven work is, but another valuable piece of information is that it is highly unlikely that you can do that, not because of skills, but because of the government requirement to have a stable income (job) in order to live in Japan for any useful length of time. I do not know any translators who have succeeded at coming to Japan and becoming a resident while "just" freelancing. There is usually an associated cover story. That is sometimes an arrangement to show the government that there is a "real" job with a real income, while working at something entirely different (i.e., translation).
What are some of the best ways to improve my Japanese?
The short answer is to come to Japan and live your life in Japanese. For reasons mentioned here, that is not an easy path. Undergraduate and even graduate study of Japanese is rarely sufficient to acquire Japanese skills that would be convincing to native Japanese-speaking clients.
Is there a market for translation of Japanese literature?
Yes, but it is very small compared to the demand for non-literary translation from Japanese.
Are there any organizations I should join?
One organization you might consider is Japan Association of Translators. This is the only group of non-literary translators in Japan that is not essentially operated by Japanese translation agencies.
JAT has experienced a reduction in membership in recent years and has seen a shift from native English to native Japanese-speaking members, but it still has potential to be useful. It has much fewer opportunities for face-to-face encounters than in previous years, and its website appears to be in a constant state of disarray and "will be fixed soon." Much legacy content has been lost. Still, I recommend that you look into JAT.
What is the going or market rate for JA-EN translation?
There is no such thing as a going rate or market rate for translation. You can get what you can get, and what you can get depends on a large number of factors.
I am just starting out as a freelance JA-EN translator. What type of work can I expect to get?
If you are resigned to selling your translation services to agencies, the work you will be asked to do is increasingly not translation, but rather work to repair the translation output of AI systems. That work will not train you to translate, nor will it lead to the agencies giving you translation work. It is essentially a dead-end.
I live in Kansas [or Hachinohe in Japan]. Any advice?
Seriously consider moving. The direct networking you will need to do to obtain direct clients cannot be done from remote locations. Freelancers need to discard the notion that they can sell their services from an online venue. It is possible for translation-brokering agencies, because they don't need to (and dare not) make a translator available for interaction with a client. If you go off on your own, you cannot use online venues to obviate interaction with clients.
How should I use LinkedIn to attract clients?
LinkedIn might be useful for attracting agencies, but agencies are quickly moving away from ordering translation services from freelancers.
What is the career outlook for a new graduate from a Japanese language or translation program at a university?
The short answer is very bleak, particularly if you are aiming at freelance translation. Agencies that have supported most translators for decades are quickly shifting to use of AI to replace translators in the translation process, leaving only very low-paid post-editing of translations created by AI systems.
Is there any reason to fear AI as a career risk if translations done by AI are not be as good as those done by humans?
True, humans are going to be better than AI for some time to come, but AI is already good enough to succeed at replacing humans in the translation process.
Can I survive if I adopt AI for translations myself?
Only if you can acquire clients that are not using AI to replace human professionals. That will rule out almost all translation-brokering agencies, which are largely replacing humans with AI.