Zenko-ji Kaido Route – Japanese / English Translation

Welcome-Matsumoto is comprised of a team of local residents, both Japanese and foreigners, in partnership with many local and international partners, working for the same purpose. Our linguistic and professional knowledge gives us the ability to translate all kinds of documents from many different fields and transcribe them into many different languages. Read the first part of “Our multilingual and multi-domain translation solutions” file featuring our recent translation of “The Zenko-ji Kaido Route”.

About the Author

The original text is written by Shigeki Tamura, a climbing guide and practitioner of “Shugendo“, which is a form of devout mountain worship comprising of Shintoism, Buddhism, and traditional folk lore.

Shigeki is, along with others, an enthusiast and specialist of Nagano City’s Zenko-ji Buddhist Temple and its storied history.

• 

In his article, he relates the history of the temple through several more or less intricate aspects of the Buddhist religion. But the core of his text is centered around the Zenko-ji Kaido Route, a historical road taken by the successive lords of Matsumoto Castle to the famed Buddhist temple in Nagano City. This road still exists today and can be freely traveled. To learn more, follow the link below.

• 

Presentation of the article

The original article in Japanese can be viewed on the YamaHack website (Japan Mountaineering Web Media). Read the original article via the link below.

ORIGINAL TEXT

Our translated article in English is available on the Matsumoto-Experience website (Local Tours & Activities Booking Web Page). Read the translated article via the link below.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Is it easy to translate from Japanese to English?

It is never easy to translate Japanese, consequently the more complex the subject matter is, more involved its translation becomes. The challenge here is successfully transcribing all the information from the original text based on its cultural and sociological contexts. Indeed, some aspects of Japanese culture are completely alien to many foreigners. It is therefore necessary to add additional information to make the translation as easily to understand for the greatest number of people as possible.

Additionally, while many words in Japanese have direct translations, others do not and are therefore better left untranslated, but with added context. The translation of each word is dependent on its context and each translation strategy has been carefully researched so that the final product is made perfectly understood.

METHOD OF TRANSLATION

If you travel to the usual tourist places in Japan, you may notice that many of the signs are translated – at the very least – into English. But you may also notice a lot of information is missing in these translations, because many Japanese believe the extra information is not essential for non-Japanese. Of course no one consulted with foreign visitors on which information they think is essential.

• 

However, we disagree with this logic. We believe all information that is deemed useful for Japanese is also useful for foreign visitors.  Therefore we take special care that no information is “lost in translation.” Of course, sometimes terms have to be simplified to make them easier to understand, therefore external links are provided.

Learn more

We offer translation solutions in many different fields and languages. Our most recent translation work covers such subjects as market research, Japanese literature and much more. 

FIELD OF TRANSLATION

See our rates and contact information via the link below. We remain open to any translation requests you may have.

MULTILINGUAL TRANSLATION