Writing About Japanese Food for Tourists
and
People Interested in Japanese Culture
At ELS, we have a number of clients who ask us to check, rewrite, and proofread files about Japanese food. The files include menus, hotel information pamphlets, and web pages about Japan. We primarily work on documents from Japanese to English, or in English, that are practical. We also work in French, but French is generally for image to turn food into cuisine more than for communication. In this essay, we would like to discuss our experience, providing some basic guidelines that will help you to write and translate more clearly for your target audience.
Define your target audience
First you must decide who your audience is. You might be writing for native English speakers who live in Japan. Another possibility is English speaking people from different countries who live in Japan. Or, you may be writing for native English speakers with some knowledge of Japan. One other audience is English speaking people from different countries with some knowledge of Japan. You may be writing for native English speakers with little or no knowledge of Japan or English speaking people from different countries with little or no knowledge of Japan. You may be writing for a combination of audiences.
If you are writing for native English speakers who live in Japan, you would expect them to know what the miso in miso soup is, but if you are writing for an English speaking audience with little or no knowledge of Japan, you would probably not expect them to be familiar with miso.
A basic rule of writing is to write so anyone can understand what you write. This is further complicated when also writing for nonnative speakers. The writer then needs to simplify the writing to be easily understood. Many people reading in a foreign language need such extra assistance.
Some traditional Japanese foods such as sashimi, sushi, and tempura are generally known in the United States. Japanese restaurants across the United States have popularized traditional Japanese foods such as sashimi, sushi, and tempura. Unlike such popular foods, soba is generally unknown. As translators, we look at soba and think about how we might want to use the word depending on our target audience. The first question is whether or not soba is considered to be an English word in the same way that kimono and samurai are now recognizable words.
If we look at the fourth edition of the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language we see soba is a Japanese noodle made with buckwheat flour. We have now determined that we can use soba in English. If we are writing for an audience living in Japan, soba is fine. For an audience that knows about Japan, soba is probably fine. For an audience that knows little or nothing about Japanese food, soba is probably not fine to use without an explanation. If we want to make it easy to understand, then we can write soba (buckwheat noodles) or soba -- buckwheat noodles. We may also want to explain how soba is eaten because buckwheat noodles will mean nothing to people unfamiliar with soba.
These are the kinds of decisions we need to make when we write about Japanese foods. We need to write so our target audience can understand, based on what we think they know. We need to provide additional information when we think it is needed.
Words that are English and words that are not
Like soba, many Japanese words have become part of the English language. We can write sushi, sashimi, and tempura, but we cannot write natto. We know some Americans interested in health food may use the word natto and eat it too. Expecting to find natto in an English-English dictionary, we checked a number of dictionaries but could not find natto in any of them. Therefore, we cannot use natto in English without setting it apart, as it is not an English word. Italics identify words, and that is why natto is written in italics. Using italics is how foreign words are indicated in English.
English writing and quotation marks
The italics used for natto are the standard way to refer to foreign words in English. We normally do not use quotation marks and write “natto.” Quotation marks were used in the past before the computer era, but today they look old-fashioned. From our experience, quotation marks are greatly overused in Japanese to English translations and English written by Japanese speakers. Quotation marks do not add meaning or explain anything. In standard English quotation marks are not be used for foreign words or terms unless someone is being quoted or there is some indication being made that the word or phrase may not be what it says it is.
English versus Japanese words in italics
Another important question is when English words should be used and when Japanese words should be written in the Roman alphabet. At ELS we write natto and not fermented soybeans while we write soy sauce instead of shoyu. We do this because natto carries meaning that fermented soybeans do not. The word natto precisely defines the food while fermented soybeans does not. Soy sauce, however, is perfectly clear, making shoyu incorrect. Writers are constantly faced with such decisions. Some decisions are style decisions, while others are not. Fermented soybeans would be acceptable if the writer wanted to write fermented soybeans while natto would not be acceptable because it would not be understood.
Provide the appropriate explanation for your target audience
Italics, quotations, and defining your target audience are all important, but providing the explanation your target audience needs is the most important. Above, natto was not defined as our target audience is Japanese people reading in English. It is not necessary to explain what natto is. For English speaking people living in Japan, it is also not necessary. For English speaking people with knowledge of Japanese food, it is probably not necessary, but we would write natto (fermented soybeans) the first time we used it to just to be sure. Then, from the second time on we would simply write natto.
Writing for English speaking people without knowledge of Japanese food and unfamiliar with natto is the most difficult. Writing natto (fermented soybeans) the first time we use it and natto from the second time on would not be enough for understanding. There are a number of options for the writer. The writer can explain what natto is or provide a reference to a good explanation. Or the writer can balance these demands by providing a comment referring to the strong taste of natto and the feelings it creates. Wikipedia provides a helpful analogy between natto and Vegemite. A reference to that would indicate that natto is not your typical Japanese food. If there is not enough space, the writer has no choice but to simply write natto. Readers who want more information will need to look for it.
Writing about foods is a challenge. The writer is often faced by space limitations or beset by decisions about how much to explain. Such decisions become more complicated when thinking of the target audience. Still, if you remember to use italics, define what needs to be defined, and write or translate to match the expected knowledge of your target audience, doing so will markedly improve your writing.
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