Translation into English
A short Japanese passage into natural English, keeping every tense, negative and detail.
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Translation into English, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how the translation works
The translation is Section B of the reading paper: one short Japanese passage to put into English, at both tiers. The instructions are in English, and the marks reward carrying the meaning across accurately. In the sample paper it is worth 7 marks.
Read the whole passage first
Read it through for the overall sense before you write anything. Then go sentence by sentence, finding the verb at the end of each one first.
Rebuild the order in English
Japanese puts the verb last, and English puts it near the start: 私は まいにち こうえんで テニスを します。 becomes I play tennis in the park every day. Use the particles to see each word's job: を marks what is done, で where and と who with.
Keep every tense and negative
The ending tells you: ます is present or future, ました past, ません not and ませんでした did not. ています can mean is doing, or a state: しっています is I know, not I am knowing.
Put back the missing subject
Japanese often leaves out I, he, she or they, but English needs one. Work it out from the passage: if the writer is describing her own day, きのう 町へ 行きました is I went into town yesterday.
Translate into natural English
Aim for what an English speaker would say, not a word-for-word copy. あまり すきじゃありません is I don't really like it, and しゅくだいが あります is I've got homework.
Account for every word
Small words carry marks: よく (often), ときどき (sometimes), も (also), とても (very) and ぜんぜん (not at all). Check each one has made it into your English, and that you have added nothing.
Handle the Higher structuresHigher only
At Higher, look out for plain forms and describing clauses: きのう 買った 本 is the book I bought yesterday. と思います is I think that, and たことがあります is have done before.
Translation into English key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Translation
- Carrying the meaning of a text into another language, accurately and naturally.
- Particle
- A small word after a noun that shows its job, such as を for the object or で for the place.
- Missing subject
- Japanese leaves out I, you, he or she when it is clear. English needs it put back.
- Time frame
- Past, present or future, shown by the verb ending.
- Natural English
- English as a speaker would say it, not word for word.
- Omission
- A word or detail left out of a translation, which can cost marks.
- Describing clauseHigher only
- A phrase before a noun that describes it: 母が 作った ケーキ, the cake my mum made.
Common mistakes in Translation into English
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Leaving out small words like よく, も or とても.
Tick off each word as you translate it. Frequency words and も (also) are easy to drop, and they often carry a mark.
Guessing the tense from how the sentence feels rather than from its ending.
Look at the verb ending: ました is past, even if the sentence sounds like a habit.
Keeping the Japanese word order, so the English comes out as "In the park tennis I play".
Find the verb first, then build an English sentence around it: "I play tennis in the park".
Writing you or he when the writer means I.
Japanese leaves out the subject when it is clear. In a letter or a blog, it is usually the writer: I.
Translating あまり or ぜんぜん as very.
With a negative, あまり means not very or not much, and ぜんぜん means not at all: あまり 食べません is I don't eat it much.