Hi, can I borrow your eyes?

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Hi all,I'm a translator trying to create a slogan for my business, and I need you help.When you read the sentence like below, how does it look like to your eyes?"Let's say, in Japanese, "save" can be translated to ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? and many more, so how do you know which suits the best? Hunch?"I'm a Japanese and so are able to read the whole sentence without difficulties. What I'm trying to convey with this slogan is that a word can be translated in many ways in another language. Without context it's not possible to choose the right one. (So for the slogan, I'm a bit being sarcastic to emphasize: WE CARE THE QUALITY, WE CARE THE CONTEXT)Is the slogan working to your eyes too? do you see my point? or just looks garbled?Thanks for you time,M.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

It should be "WE CARE ABOUT THE QUALITY, WE CARE ABOUT THE CONTEXT".

In my opinion it doesn't really work. Without your explanation I don't think I'd have been sure what caring about "the context" referred to.

(By the way, I'm kind of curious about "???". Isn't that just a phonetic rendering of English "save"? I'm surprised that such a very basic vocabulary word would be borrowed from English -- although, as you demonstrate, there are penty of native Japanese alternatives too.)

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Hi Wordy,

Thanks for the reply, and please give me some more time here.

The slogan, "Let's say, in Japanese, "save" can be translated to ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? and many more, so how do you know which suits the best? Hunch?" actually comes with the writing, "As a principle we do not translate your application before we understand it. This means that we actually go over your applications using our iPhones, not only the strings on files. This is because we know that an accurate translation can not be accomplished without thorough comprehension."

I mean, on the landing page of my website, you'll see the slogan. And if you click a tag you'll see the short description.

If that's the case, do you think it makes sense? Like, you'll see a question first and find the answer on the next page.

The other question is, you probably understand some Japanese though, how do you think it looks like to average British? Garbled?

Thank you for your cooperation in advance,
M.

P.S. We actually use many, really many, this kind of phonetic words, especially when the sounds are simple enough to follow to us. I think the best example is baseball. we say, ??? for out. we say, ??? ??? ?? for hit and run, ?? ??? ?? for count "two and two." And this kind of thing happens not only in the sports fields, but in our actual lives, too. Although we never apply this type of rule to the words like "sophisticated" because most Japanese are unable to recognize the sound.

BarbaraPA · Answer

You were suggesting this as your slogan?
"Let's say, in Japanese, "save" can be translated to ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? and many more, so how do you know which suits the best? Hunch?"

No, that is a horrible, terrible slogan! A slogan is a very short set of words - Just do it. I'm loving it. Think different. Maybe: It's more than a hunch.

A tagline is a brief description of what you do: Knowledgeable, context-based Japanese translations.

I don't speak Japanese at all. I would come to you because I don't know it. For me to see a huge list of incomprehensible symbols doesn't make me say "Oh, you must really know what you're talking about." It just makes me say "Huh?"

Mitsuo23 · Answer

You are making sense. And what you said was really helpful.

Thanks,

M

BarbaraPA · Answer

I'm sorry - I said that really harshly and there was no need for that.

What is it called when you have the Japanese words but written in Roman letter? Like "arigato"

If you want to draw the reader in, maybe you could have a box on the site, in which you write the word "save" at the top and the three versions in the "English-looking" Japanese words beneath.
You could have some simple text underneath: These words all mean "save." How do you know which one is the right one for your sentence? Go with your first hunch? Toss a coin? An on-line translator can't help you, but a native-speaking Japanese translator can. See more about the translation process. (And that has a link to the page that you want to talk more about this.)

Mr Wordy · Answer

mitsuwao23The slogan, "Let's say, in Japanese, "save" can be translated to ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? and many more, so how do you know which suits the best? Hunch?"

Oh, are you saying that you intend this to be the slogan? This couldn't be called a "slogan": it's too long and complicated. I though the slogan was "WE CARE ABOUT THE QUALITY, WE CARE ABOUT THE CONTEXT". That's a plausible slogan but, as I say, I don't think it's sufficiently comprehensible without supplementary explanation. A "slogan" needs to instantly make sense by itself.

mitsuwao23The other question is, you probably understand some Japanese though, how do you think it looks like to average British? Garbled?

No, sadly I don't really understand any Japanese. I just recognise a few of the written characters. The Japanese in your sentence would look like total gibberish to the vast majority of British people. If you persevere with something along these lines, it would help to use some punctuation: "??, ???, ???, ????, ??, ????, ????". Otherwise it looks like one impossibly long "sentence" meaning "save".

mitsuwao23
P.S. We actually use many, really many, this kind of phonetic words, especially when the sounds are simple enough to follow to us. I think the best example is baseball. we say, ??? for out. we say, ??? ??? ?? for hit and run, ?? ??? ?? for count "two and two." And this kind of thing happens not only in the sports fields, but in our actual lives, too. Although we never apply this type of rule to the words like "sophisticated" because most Japanese are unable to recognize the sound.

Right. Yes, I'm aware that Japanese uses quite a few phonetically rendered English words for imported concepts, but I was just a bit surprised by "save" because it seems such a basic and universal concept.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

oh, oh, don't get me wrong. What I said is what I meant. You probably had a nicer way to say it. But you anyway said what I needed. So thank you.

Also thanks for the tip.
M.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Thanks for your suggestion. I knew you probably wouldn't call it a slogan, but couldn't find a proper word to explain it.

Well, anyway, it seems I gotta find another way to explain my point from scratch.

Thank you very much for your help
M.

Hi, can I borrow your eyes?

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