Japanese Translation Agency Arc Communications – Blog

With technologies advancing and corporate activities globalizing on a daily basis, patents are becoming increasingly important in order to protect products and services from being copied and to ensure that they can be sold worldwide.

Filing in foreign countries may be confusing, as it requires not only procedures that differ from domestic filing but also translation into foreign languages. Here we will introduce some basic points for foreign filing and patent translation.

There are two major routes for filing. One is the Paris route, in which filings are made directly to respective countries in accordance with the Paris Convention. The other is the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) route, in which filings are made collectively in accordance with the PCT.

The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino (Tagalog) and English, and they are taught in schools so that people can be proficient in both languages. The Philippines has the third largest English-speaking population in the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom. It is possible to do business in English in the Philippines, but there are times when translation/localization into Filipino becomes necessary. This blog post discusses the needs for the Filipino language in developing your business in the Philippines.

The Philippines is comprised of over 7,000 islands with a total land area that is about 80 percent of that of Japan. The national language is Filipino, but the official languages are Filipino and English. In addition, there are different dialects spoken in different regions, which some counts say up to 80. Among them, the most well-known Tagalog is the representative language of the Philippines. It was originally used in and around the capital city of Manila, but has spread across the country through television, radio, and other mass media.

Nowadays, internationalization is rapidly moving forward both in the business world as well as in educational institutions. As a result, the need for education-related translations is particularly increasing in universities. Universities are that interval in a student's education when they are one short step away from becoming members of society. This step is an important one, as it trains global personnel which will be able to flourish in an international society.

In order to become international, universities need to acquire excellent foreign students, effectively provide their information to the public, and proactively submit great treatises. Apart from this, they need to provide their large volumes of textbooks and syllabuses in a translated format for classes given in English.

That which provides Japanese students with a good motivation, and supportively sets them off up the ladder toward a global perspective at an early stage is in fact the student lifestyle which comes with foreign exchange students. In order to gather excellent foreign students from all over the world, it is crucial to first set up a system for foreign exchange. Then, once this environment has been established it can be publicly used as university information on a website. A website, which would represent the university, will obviously include all policies regarding foreign student admission as well as the university's objectives. A translation which clearly conveys the university's character is needed. Not one which literally translates the Japanese text word for word, but one which shows consideration and sincerity in a direct appeal to the readers.

People often tend to think that interpreter training is a specialized training taken by those aiming to become professional interpreters, but in reality it is also a simple and suitable method for people who would like to improve their language proficiency in an effective manner. Using this method, one can quickly learn to understand a foreign language accurately, which makes it highly effective in professions where English is used as a business language in addition to being helpful in the general study of foreign languages. In this article, we will explain interpreter training with the English language from a Japanese point of view as an example.

"Shadowing", a technique that involves repeating the words of the English speaker in the same way one hears them, is the basis of interpreter training. It may appear to be a very simple task, but it is surprisingly difficult when you actually try it out, as it requires a very high level of concentration. You may get stuck at first when you come across some words in the speaker's conversation that you do not understand, but the essence is to continue listening and reproduce the words even if you do not understand them.

For example, while having a conversation in English at work with a colleague of another nationality, even if one has good concentration at first and pays full attention to the speaker, it may become exceedingly difficult to make sense of the ongoing conversation if concentration is lost midway. Likewise, haven't you ever faced a situation where you put so much focus in getting your English right, that you eventually lost track of what the speaker was trying to convey? This is because while conversing in Japanese may come naturally to you, speaking a foreign language is more complex, as it requires a great deal of concentration.

Japan beat out Spain and Turkey with its winning bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Omotenashi, which some see as a uniquely Japanese brand of hospitality, has been used during the bid, positioning this signature Japanese hospitality as a major selling point.

In today's entry we will consider some of the ways that this spirit of hospitality can manifest itself in terms of translation and interpretation in order to contribute to the success of the games.

Anyone who travels outside of their own country must rely on directions and signage to travel from one point to another in an unfamiliar place. When visitors from overseas visit Japan for the 2020 Olympics, they will necessarily have to use public transportation, and therefore directions and signage should be as clear and easy to understand as possible. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is currently working on creating a plan meant to mitigate various language barriers.

While much of Japan's existing signage might look like it includes English at first glance, it's often not English--most of these signs in fact only show Romanized spellings of Japanese place names. Changing these to actual English translations instead would serve to better accommodate English-speaking visitors.