Luke James is a professional translator

Helping Japanese and French-speaking tech companies reach a larger audience by translating their content into English.

Hi, はいさい and bonjour !

My name’s Luke, I’m a native English speaker from the South Wales coast in the United Kingdom, and I’ve been working in the translation industry for over 4 years now. I’m currently based in Bristol, England.

I translate marketing, UI and other content related to the tech industry from Japanese and French into English – working into British, American, Canadian or Australian English. I also provide English editing services.

Qualifications and experience

Formal education and practical experience to ensure you are getting the best service possible

ITI J-Net board member, February 2023–Present

MA (Distinction) Applied Translation Studies (Japanese into English and French into English), University of Leeds

Japanese Language Proficiency Test N1

Associate Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (AITI)

2 years living and working in Okinawa, Japan

3 × winner of the ITI J-Net Japanese > English translation competition (Novice category), 2019–2021

Luke is smiling while dressed in a yukata at a ryokan in Hakone, Japan. They look refreshed after a dip in the onsen!

The start of my lifelong passion

As an avid reader and gamer, I have always been fascinated by the power of words to transport us elsewhere. I also loved learning languages at school, and from the age of 17 began teaching myself Japanese alongside my French lessons. What began as a quest to play my favourite video games in their original language turned into a lifelong passion, and after graduating from the University of Warwick, I went to Japan.

My time in Japan

I jetted off to sunny Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, to work as an assistant language teacher. I found myself on a small island with a population of 200 people, and I won’t lie, the first few months were tough. It’s here that I understood just how isolating it can be when cultures collide, trying to communicate but not quite having the right words.

Thankfully, through my role as a teacher, I soon became integrated into the local community. I would come to play in the inter-island sports tournaments and even take part in a “sumo dance” performance! I also got to know the local wildlife, swimming with sea turtles in summer and going whale watching in winter.

After a while, locals started to come for me asking me to translate short texts for them into English, whether it was local restaurant owners wanting menus for international tourists, or the village government needing to send out a warning about an incoming typhoon! These experiences are what made me realise just how much I enjoyed translation, and so, after two years of island life, I returned to the UK to complete an MA in Applied Translation Studies, specialised in both Japanese and French into English.

Work for the European Parliament and in-house experience

After graduating with Distinction, I was selected as part of one of the last cohorts of British trainee linguists at the European Parliament. At the Parliament’s Clear Language and Editing Unit in Luxembourg, I joined a team of experienced editors and translators and honed my writing craft, producing texts for politicians and citizens alike. During this time, I also achieved my goal of achieving JLPT N1, the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

After these experiences, I dove into the private sector of the translation industry, returning once more to the UK to take on an in-house role at the Quality department of an ISO-certified translation agency. It was here that I started completing translation and editing assignments in the wonderful world of tech, landing the role of lead British English linguist for a key player in the VR market – a role I continue to hold today. I also received extensive technical training in computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools and quality assurance (QA) practices, which I now apply to my work as a freelance translator and editor.

Board member, VR localisation expert and freelance translator and editor

I have been a full-time freelance translator and editor since May 2022. I am also an Associate member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), which means that I pledge to uphold the highest standards of quality and professionalism. I am heavily involved in the ITI’s Japanese network, J-Net, being a member of its Board since February 2023, and having been selected as the winner of its Japanese-into-English translation competition for three years in a row (2019–2021; Novice category). In June 2024, I was invited to give a talk at the ITI Conference on the topic Extending reality, localising space: Translation for the VR market.