Translation guide
How to talk about machine translation in Japanese, from the technology itself to using it in conversation.
Referring to machine translation as a concept, technology, or field of study.
The standard term for machine translation. Used in technical, academic, and general contexts.
The accuracy of machine translation is improving year by year.
Literally 'automatic translation'. Often used interchangeably with 機械翻訳, but can emphasize the automated aspect.
If you use an automatic translation tool, you can read multilingual websites right away.
Referring to the result of machine translation, such as a translated sentence or document.
Describing the action of translating something using a machine translation tool.
Simply 'to use machine translation'. The most straightforward way to express the action.
I used machine translation to read the English email.
Literally 'to put through machine translation'. Implies running a text through a translation engine.
Means 'to translate using machine translation'. Emphasizes the method of translation.
Referring to a specific software, app, or online service that provides machine translation.
General term for 'translation tool'. Often implies machine translation in context.
There are many free translation tools these days.
Specifically 'translation engine', the core technology behind machine translation services.
Literally 'automatic translation machine'. Can refer to dedicated devices or older terminology.
While マシン is a loanword for 'machine', the established term is 機械翻訳. Using マシン翻訳 would sound unnatural and non-standard.
In very casual tech conversations, you might hear MT (エムティー) as an abbreviation, but it's not common in general speech.
Machine-translated text sometimes feels unnatural.
Let's run this text through machine translation.
It's risky to translate this contract using machine translation.
This translation engine uses neural networks.
I bought an automatic translation device for travel.