Wednesday, 8 April 2015

translation - How should I go about translating my company name in Japanese?


I'm trying to translate a company name ("puddle") in to Japanese. I put it into Google Translate, but when you translate words, you're translating their meaning rather than the word itself, which is usually what you're looking for. But when translating a company name, essentially you want to find the letter for letter equivalent of that name.


What's the best way to approach this?


Also, how can you check that you haven't accidentally translated your company name into an obscenity?



Answer




What's the best way to approach this?




Ask someone who is fluent in Japanese to help you out. Another problem people run into is when the name they want to use is already in use. A good example is the company Logitech (the computer accessory maker). In Japan they are known as Logicool because another company that was already in Japan had a similar name.



Also how can you check that you haven't accidentally translated your company name into an obscenity?



Same as above, to verify your name is okay, you need to ask someone who understands Japanese well. Another common problem is when you use Katakana, it can mean different things, for example, パドル could also be translated back into English as "paddle", so it might be best to leave the title in English, or think of a different name.


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