Frequently asked questions

As an Associate member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), I pledge to adhere to the ITI Code of Professional Conduct, which guarantees the highest standards of honesty and integrity, professional competence, and client confidentiality and trust. Quality is integral to my process, and I believe it should be a given. By drawing on my training at the Quality department of an ISO-certified translation agency, and by using the latest computer-assisted translation technology,* I run manual and automated checks after the translation process to ensure that my work meets the most stringent quality standards.

*Note: Unless specifically requested, I do not refer to machine translation, and will never run your content through any tool that could gather your data.

Machine translation (MT) technology is improving rapidly, but in my experience, it still can’t be trusted to produce high-quality creative Japanese-to-English translations without human input. Why?

Japan has a high-context culture, and this is reflected in its language. In practice, this means that English sentences need to include more details than Japanese ones in order to make sense and read well. Part of my job as a translator is to “fill in the gaps” and create something that reads naturally in English. In AI writing engines, there is a well-known problem called hallucination. When an AI engine lacks information, it throws in its best guess. One benefit of working with a human translator is that if we don’t understand something, we’ll apply our industry knowledge and use our research skills to come up with a solution. And if anything is still unclear? We’ll just ask! That way, you can be sure that the translation says exactly what you want it to say.

What’s more, an MT engine will provide a direct, literal translation. This might be the best solution if you just want the gist, or for certain kinds of texts where a 1:1 representation of the original is key. However, marketing translation is a different kettle of fish altogether! When I work with marketing materials, I apply my knowledge of the English-speaking tech world to create a text that’s adapted to your target audience of choice – my goal is to create copy that will meet your audience where they are and connect with them.

MA (Distinction) Applied Translation Studies (Japanese-into-English and French-into-English), University of Leeds, 2019

Associate member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) – membership no. 00017752

Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N1, 2019

3 × winner of the ITI Japanese Network Translation Competition (J>E; Novice)

ITI J-Net board member, February 2023–Present

2 years living and working in Okinawa, Japan

2 years in-house experience at the Quality department of an ISO-certified translation agency

Main linguist (British English) for a key player in the virtual reality (VR) market

Yes! Although I’m a British native, many of my clients ask me to translate into American English. I am fully trained and experienced in delivering pitch-perfect translations for audiences in the USA and around the English-speaking world, and have been doing so for years.

Yes! Although I’m a British native, many of my clients ask me to translate into American English, and I also translate into Canadian English for companies based in Quebec. I am fully trained and experienced in delivering pitch-perfect translations for audiences in the USA, Canada and around the English-speaking world, and have been doing so for years.