English-to-Japanese Translation (下線部和訳)
Kyoto's English-to-Japanese translation is not a vocabulary test; it tests whether you can parse a long sentence and rebuild it in natural Japanese without adding or dropping meaning.
Parse before translating
- Find the main subject and finite verb; bracket every relative clause, participle phrase, and appositive.
- Identify the scope of negation, comparison, and quantifiers: not all, few, only.
- Preserve tense and aspect: present perfect versus past, would versus used to.
- Turn abstract nouns into clauses when Japanese prefers verbs: the recognition that ... → 「…という認識」.
Worked example
Sentence: "What is often taken as evidence of decline is, on closer inspection, a change in the unit of measurement." Reasoning: The subject is the nominal clause What is often taken as evidence of decline; on closer inspection is parenthetical; the complement is a change in the unit of measurement. Do not render What as 「何」. Draft: 「しばしば衰退の証拠と見なされるものは、よく見ると、測定単位の変化である。」 Check: no merely is in the English, so 「にすぎない」 would add meaning. On closer inspection becomes 「よく見ると」.
Traps
- Word-by-word Japanese that keeps English word order.
- Losing the antecedent of a relative clause.
- Translating it without finding its referent.
- Rendering every the as 「その」.
Mark-scheme habit
Translate your Japanese back into English; if a meaning appears that is absent from the source, cut it.