Summarizing in Japanese — English→Japanese
The Common Test and university entrance examinations include questions that ask students to read English passages and summarize them in Japanese. This lesson teaches the standard structure of a Japanese summary.
Basic Rules
Steps for English→Japanese Summarization：
1. Skim the original text：Identify the topic of each paragraph
2. Express the main idea in one Japanese sentence：State the author's most important claim in one Japanese sentence
3. Condense the core of each paragraph into one sentence：For a five-paragraph passage, write a Japanese summary of about five sentences
4. Show logical relationships with Japanese conjunctions：「however」「therefore」「for example」
5. Remove unnecessary details：Keep specific examples, proper nouns, and numbers to a minimum
Tips for Japanese Summaries：
- Use Sino-Japanese words (they allow concise, condensed expression)：「important」→「important」/「highly important」
- Be concise by ending with a noun phrase：「What he emphasizes is the importance of education」
- Use either the ~de aru/~da style consistently (do not mix it with the desu/masu style)
- Do not make sentences too long (50 characters or fewer is a useful guideline)
Expressions to Avoid：
- Overly literal translation：「the man who came to the door」→ ×「the man who came to the door」、○「the man who appeared at the entrance」
- Wordiness：「there is a possibility that it is possible to 〜」→「there is a possibility of being able to 〜」
- Subjective comments：「interestingly」「surprisingly」← Comments not found in the original text are unnecessary
Length Guideline：15〜25% of the original text (500 English words → 200〜300 Japanese characters)
English Passage (80 words)：「AI is transforming industries worldwide. In manufacturing, robots assemble products faster than humans. In healthcare, AI diagnoses diseases with high accuracy. However, AI also raises concerns. Many fear job loss, especially in repetitive tasks. Furthermore, AI decisions can be biased if training data is flawed. Despite these concerns, AI's benefits are likely to outweigh its risks in the long run.」
Japanese Summary (90 characters)：AI is transforming many industries, including manufacturing and healthcare. Meanwhile, there are also concerns such as job losses and biased decisions. However, in the long term, AI's benefits are likely to outweigh its risks.
Points to Note
① Summarize rather than translate：Instead of translating each English sentence into Japanese, understand the content and reconstruct it in Japanese.
② Handling technical terms：English proper nouns (Amazon, NASA) may be used unchanged in Japanese, or an explanation may be added, such as 「Amazon (a major US e-commerce company)」.
③ Translating conjunctions：however→「however」「on the other hand」、therefore→「therefore」「thus」、for example→「for example」「as a specific example」── Choose according to the context.
④ Use consistent sentence endings：Use either the 「~de aru」 style or the 「~da」 style consistently. Mixing the two sounds unnatural.
⑤ Avoid matching the length of the original：If a summary has become as long as the original text, reconsider which parts should be removed.
- English→Japanese summarization reconstructs the content rather than translating it
- Use Sino-Japanese words and noun-ending phrases for concision
- Length：15〜25% of the original text
- Clearly show logical relationships with Japanese conjunctions
- Do not include subjective opinions or impressions
Practice
- Summarize the following English passage in Japanese using no more than 50 characters：「Smartphones have become an essential tool for daily life. People use them for communication, navigation, shopping, and entertainment. However, excessive use can harm sleep and concentration.」
- When expressing the English word 「however」 in Japanese, give the three most appropriate translations.
- Give two types of expression that should be avoided in a Japanese summary.