Comprehensive Japanese-to-English Translation — Common Test to University Entrance Examination Level

Integrate the skills learned in L1–L4 and take on Japanese-to-English translation at the level of actual entrance examinations.

Basic Rules

Five Steps for Japanese-to-English Translation:
1. Analyze the original: Organize the subject, predicate, and modifying relationships. Decide whether the sentence should be divided into two.
2. Determine the main clause: Make the important part of the Japanese sentence the main clause in English.
3. Select the verb: Choose the best English verb instead of being bound by the Japanese expression.
4. Construct the sentence grammatically: Determine tense, subject-verb agreement, and articles.
5. Revise: Reread the sentence to check whether the English is natural, and remove unnecessary modifiers.
20 Frequently Used Patterns:
- “Thanks to / Owing to” → “Thanks to your help, ...”
- “Because of / Due to” → “Because of the rain, ...”
- “Despite / In spite of” → “Despite the cold, ...”
- “As long as / As far as” → “As long as you study, ...”
- “The comparative ..., the comparative ...” → “The more you read, the more you learn.”
- “depend on / It depends on whether” → “It depends on the weather.”
- “make it a rule to” → “I make it a rule to read every day.”
- “It is said that / ~ is said to be” → “He is said to be honest.”
- “must / be bound to” → “She must be tired.”
- “It goes without saying that” → “It goes without saying that health is important.”

Points to Remember

① Translation scoring criteria: Grading considers grammatical accuracy, appropriate vocabulary, and preservation of meaning. Even if your answer is not perfect, you can earn partial credit if the meaning is conveyed accurately.
② Paraphrase unknown words: Even if you do not know “environmental issues,” you can write “problems about the environment.” When you cannot express something in one word, explain it.
③ Simple English is strongest: It is better to convey the meaning reliably with a simple sentence structure (SVO) than to try a complex construction and damage the grammar.
④ Abstract nouns vs. concrete expressions: “efficiency” (abstract) / “working faster and using less time” (concrete). Choose according to the context.
⑤ Final revision: After writing, check (a) whether the subject and verb agree (b) whether the tense is correct (c) whether the articles are appropriate (d) whether there are spelling mistakes.

Practice

1. Translate “The more you read, the more you see a new world.”
2. Translate “Without his help, I could not have completed this project” (use the subjunctive mood).
3. Translate “Nothing is more important than health” (use a paraphrase of the superlative).