Translation guide
How to express that things or people are gathered together, often passively or as a state. Covers physical collection, data gathering, and people assembling.
Expressing that items, objects, or materials are collected or accumulated, often passively or as a result of an action.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to gather' or 'to be collected'. Used for people or things coming together spontaneously or as a result of an action.
A lot of old stamps were collected.
Donations were collected.
Passive form of 集める (to collect). Emphasizes that something is collected by someone or something.
Data was collected.
Passive form of 収集する (to collect/gather). More formal, often used for systematic collection like data or artifacts.
Valuable materials were collected.
Expressing that people come together in one place, either spontaneously or as an organized event.
Expressing that data, information, or feedback is gathered, often for analysis or records.
Can be used for data or information gathering in a natural way.
Survey responses were collected.
Passive of 収集する, common in technical or formal contexts for data collection.
Specifically for data being aggregated or tallied, not just collected.
The voting results were tallied.
Expressing that money, donations, or payments are gathered.
集まる is intransitive and focuses on the state of being gathered. 集められる is passive and implies an agent doing the collecting. Use 集まる for natural, spontaneous gathering or when the agent is unimportant.
People gathered.
People were gathered (by someone).
English often uses passive 'be collected', but Japanese often prefers intransitive verbs like 集まる when the agent is not important. Using passive unnecessarily can sound unnatural.
Employees assembled for the meeting.
Participants assembled at 8 o'clock.
Personal information is collected.