Translation guide
How to express 'turn around' in Japanese, covering physical rotation, changing direction, and metaphorical reversals.
The physical action of turning your body or head to look behind you or face the other way.
The most common way to say 'turn around' when you physically turn your head or body to look back. Often used when someone calls your name or you hear a noise behind you.
I turned around because I heard a noise behind me.
When I turned around after hearing my name called, my friend was there.
Similar to 振り返る, but often implies turning only the upper body or head to look behind, rather than fully turning around. Commonly used when someone calls you or you notice something.
He turned around when someone spoke to him.
Literally 'face behind'. Used when you turn to face the back, often in instructions or when describing posture.
Please turn around.
A casual, onomatopoeic way to say 'spin around' or 'turn around quickly'. Often used for a quick, playful turn.
The child spun around.
Making a vehicle, ship, or other moving thing go back the way it came.
A general term for changing direction, used for vehicles, plans, or strategies. For vehicles, it implies a U-turn or turning around.
The car turned around.
Specifically a U-turn, making a 180-degree turn to go back. Common in driving contexts.
Please turn around here.
To turn back or retrace one's path, often used when you decide to go back the way you came, not necessarily a sharp turn.
To cause a bad situation, business, or trend to become good again.
To rebuild, reform, or turn around a company, organization, or situation. Implies restoring to a good state.
He turned the company's performance around.
To make a situation take a turn for the better. Often used for economic or personal circumstances.
To reverse, often dramatically, like turning a losing game into a win. Can be used for situations, but has a stronger nuance of a complete flip.
They turned the game around.
To physically rotate an object so that its front becomes its back.
To turn something over or inside out. Often used for clothes, paper, or objects where you flip them to the other side.
Please turn the paper around.
To rotate or spin something. More technical, used for machinery or precise rotation.
Please turn the dial around.
振り返る (furikaeru) implies a more complete turn, often involving the whole body, while 振り向く (furimuku) is usually just turning the head or upper body. 振り返る can also be used metaphorically to mean 'look back on the past', while 振り向く cannot.
Look back on the past.
Avoid directly translating 'turn around' as 回る (mawaru) or 回す (mawasu) for body movement. 回る means to spin or revolve, and using it for a person turning around sounds unnatural unless you mean spinning in circles.
I took the wrong road, so I turned around.
Let's think of a way to turn the situation around.
To flip or turn something over, often with a sense of overturning. Can be used for objects or situations.
I turned the box around and emptied it.