Translation guide
The act of recognizing, proving, or establishing who or what someone or something is. This guide covers common ways to express identification in Japanese, from showing ID to identifying a person or problem.
To present official documents to prove who you are.
Standard term for identification documents like driver's license, passport, etc.
Please show me your identification.
Refers to the process of identity verification, often used in banking or online services.
Identity verification is required to open an account.
Commonly used in casual or spoken contexts, often referring to an ID card.
Do you have your ID?
To recognize or point out who or what something is.
Used for pinpointing or specifying a person, object, or cause. Often used in formal or technical contexts.
Identification of the culprit is urgent.
Focuses on distinguishing or discriminating between things, often used in technical or scientific contexts.
To tell apart or distinguish by looking. Common in everyday speech.
To feel a connection or understanding with someone or something.
To associate oneself with a particular group, identity, or belief.
The English noun 'identification' often becomes a verb phrase in Japanese. For example, 'the identification of the suspect' is naturally expressed as 容疑者を特定する (to identify the suspect). Using a direct noun like 特定化 is unnatural.
特定 (tokutei) is used for specifying or pinpointing something unknown, like a person or cause. 識別 (shikibetsu) is for distinguishing between known categories, like colors or species. Use 特定 when you need to find out what something is, and 識別 when you need to tell things apart.
Identify the cause of the problem.
色の識別が難しい。
It's difficult to identify colors.
双子を見分けるのは難しい。
It's hard to identify the twins.
I read it while identifying with the main character.