Japanese to English Translation
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All 198 language pairsAbout Japanese and English
Japanese (日本語) is a Japonic language, spoken in Japan. It is written in kanji, hiragana and katakana: kanji are Chinese characters for word stems, hiragana writes grammar endings, and katakana writes foreign words.
English is a Germanic language (Indo-European family), spoken in countries around the world; in India it is used alongside Hindi for the official work of the Union government, in courts and in higher education. It is written in the Latin alphabet: an alphabet in which vowels and consonants are separate letters.
How Japanese and English compare
- Japanese is written in kanji, hiragana and katakana and English in the Latin alphabet, so the translation changes the script as well as the words.
- Japanese and English come from different language families (Japonic and Germanic), so most words have no shared root.
- Japanese usually puts words in the order subject–object–verb, with the verb at the end; English uses subject–verb–object, so sentences are reordered in translation.
- Japanese is written without spaces between words and mixes three scripts in one sentence.
| Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Script | kanji, hiragana and katakana | Latin alphabet |
| Letters | あ い う ア イ ウ 日 本 | A B C D E F G H |
| Hello | こんにちは | Hello |
| Thank you | ありがとう | Thank you |
| Written | Left to right | Left to right |
Practise typing English
Free typing tests and step-by-step lessons on Typing Buddy, for government typing exams and everyday work.
How much Japanese text can I translate?
Up to 5,000 characters at a time, as many times as you like, free of charge.
Is my text private?
In Chrome and Edge on a computer, the Japanese text is translated on your own device and never leaves it.
What do I need to translate?
Chrome or Edge on a computer. The first Japanese to English translation downloads the language once; after that it is instant.
Do Japanese and English use the same script?
No. Japanese uses kanji, hiragana and katakana and English uses the Latin alphabet.
How do I type in English?
Use a English keyboard layout such as QWERTY. Typing Buddy has free step-by-step lessons and typing tests for it, linked on this page.