Frequently asked questions/よくある質問
Is The Kanji Foundry an agency?
No. It's a one-man translation company which specialises only in Japanese to English translations in the fields of pharmacology, pharmaceuticals, patents, medicine, medicinal chemistry, medical instruments, biotechnology and Good Manufacturing Practice. No other languages and no other subjects.
ザ・漢字ファウンドリーはエージェンシーですか？
違います。ワンマンの会社なので、言語は日本語から英語、分野は薬理学、医薬、医療機器、バイオテクノロジー、医薬品科学、ＧＭＰに関するもの。他の言語、分野は残念ながら取り扱っていません。
Is it as expensive as an agency?
No. It offers a very competitive rate for Japanese to English translations at a level of quality expected from the best agencies. I've worked for quite a few well-known UK and European translation agencies and I know how much they charge.
エージェンシーに頼むよりも高いですか？
いいえ。評判がいいエージェンシーと同レベルの正確な日本語ー英語翻訳を、エージェンシーよりも安いレートで提供しています。私自身、英国大手の翻訳会社の仕事をしてきているので、一般的なエージェントのレートは熟知しています。
What do I do if I want a translation in areas other than those in which The Kanji Foundry specialises?
A very good place to start looking for a UK-based translator or interpreter into and out of Japanese is J-Net. It's the Japanese language specialist group of The Institute of Translation and Interpreting which is one of several organisations representing the interests of professional linguists in the UK.
ザ・漢字ファウンドリーが取り扱っている分野以外の翻訳に関してはどうすればいいですか？
英国で日本語＜ー＞英語の翻訳者、通訳者を探すのにはJ-Netが一番いいと思います。これはThe Institute of Translation and Interpretingという日本語のスペシャリストグループで、英国のプロフェッショナルな言語学者達が組織したグループの一つです。
What if I need translations of documents into a variety of European languages?
An agency is your best option. They range greatly in quality and price but I couldn't recommend one over another.
ヨーロッパの信吾への翻訳に関してはどこに相談すればいいですか？
エージェンシーが一番いいでしょう。 ただし質と金額はエージェンシーによってかなり違います。 私自身がお勧めできるエージェンシー は特にありません。
What about turn-around times?
Reasonable. Perhaps not as fast as those offered by agencies, especially for large projects where several translators may work on the same project, but good for small- and medium-sized projects.
翻訳にかかる時間はエージェンシーに比べ、どのくらいを目安に考えたらいいですか？
大きなプロジェクトの場合、エージェンシーとさほど変わりませんが、中・小規模のプロジェクトなら早いです。
What if I have a general enquiry about Japanese translations?
You can contact The Kanji Foundry here with any enquiry at all related to its business. If I can't help you, I'll try to put you in touch with someone or an organization who can.
日本語の翻訳に関して一般的な質問がある場合はどこに聞けばいいですか？
ザ・漢字ファウンドリーで取り扱う件に関することならどんなことでも私にご質問ください。 もし、それ以外のことであれば他の問い合わせ先をご紹介いたします。
What about business card translation, typesetting, web site localization and interpreting?
Well, I don't do any of those but you can find links to people who do on the J-Net website.
Other factors to take into consideration....
Character count - Unlike other languages, the cost of translation from Japanese is calculated according to the number of Japanese characters in the source document and not the number of words. This is mainly because there are no spaces between Japanese words (although there are commas and full stops) and counting the number of words is too time consuming for an estimate. It is not easy to say exactly how many English words there will be in the finished translation too but a ratio of 1000 Japanese characters to 700-900 English word is reasonable.
Document format - The commonest format for documents is Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). Other formats are .odt for Open Office, .txt and .rtf. Chemical structures are often drawn in ChemDraw format (.cdx). I can handle most document formats.
British or American spelling? - A lot of pharmaceutical translation work uses American spelling for standardization. You can select British or American spelling for the final translation but I need to know this at the start of the project. I usually use Verdana 11pt and US spelling unless instructed otherwise.
Reference materials - Do you have any reference materials, glossaries or prior art which may influence the way the translation is done and the technical terms used in it? If so, I'd like to have copies of them to make sure my translation fits in with them.
Deadlines - If you ask me to look over a document for potential translation, I will make a character count and give you a realistic deadline when I can finish the translation by. Many documents require post-translation processing, that is, the addition of tables, figures and graphs which often don't need to be translated but can be copied and pasted from the original document into the final translation. This may take some time, so please bear this additional time requirement in mind when thinking about the deadline. Complex tables can also take more time to translate and format.
Document transmission - Most documents I receive for translation are in MS Word or PDF format. This is a convenient format for me and I prefer PDFs to be text documents rather than bitmaps when possible. Please consider the format in which you want the translation returned. Word is the most common but I can supply documents in these formats: PDF, Open Office, RTF, Adobe InDesign, MS Publisher, PowerPoint and plain text. I have access to various patent databases (public and commercial) so patents are easy for me to obtain using just the patent publication number. Translation of patent claims only or claims and examples only is common as it keeps costs for the customer down and keeps translation time to a minimum. Please enquire if you only want a specific part of a patent translated such as the claims or examples or just the bit which mentions how they made compound (4-a) on page 35, for example.
The use of machine translation tools - Machine translation (MT or machine-assisted translation (MAT)) refers to a computer programme that translates text from one language to another. I've tried it from Japanese to English (using two well-known standalone applications, Systran and Fujitsu Atlas) and I don't like it so I don't use it. I don't like it because it just isn't very good. There are plenty of online translation engines if you want to try it yourself.
What about translation memory? - Translation memory (TM) refers to a computer programme that memorizes the way particular sentences, phrases and words are translated and shows the translator how they were previously translated (or shows a fuzzy match) when it next encounters them. If a document for translation contains a lot of repetition, translation memory is a good thing because it speeds up translation markedly, increases efficiency and decreases inconsistencies. I use TM when I can, but the work I do is seldom repetitive so it's of limited practical use to me. If I use TM, I factor this into the cost estimate and can usually offer a lower price if the project is 'TM-friendly'.
