Translations

Master Calligrapher, Mako, is a native speaker of Japanese and fluent speaker and writer of English. Along with the help of other reliable and independent sources, Sinsetsu Studio goes through great lengths to ensure accurate translations. We also provide documentation whenever possible.

There are several ways to translate a name to Kanji, however, the majority of our name translations are done phonetically, meaning, the name is translated on its pronunciation. There is a long tradition of translating names in this manner, as it preserves the original sound as much as is possible with Japanese. Based off of the pronunciation and the gender of the persons name, the corresponding Kanji is selected .  The gender is of importance because, there can be several different kanji characters that are pronounced the same but are written differently, based upon whether  it is used in a feminine or masculine tense. Another important aspect is the context in which the characters are used, which can determine the way the character is written.

The other way to translate your name to Japanese is the literal way. If you know what your name means, we can translate your name based on the known meaning.  For example, we will use the name Michael, which is the english version of the hebrew name, Mikha’el, which translates to “who is like God”. We could then translate “who is like God” into Kanji, although the pronunciation would be completely different.

So in short, a phonetic translation maintains the pronunciation of the name but assigns a new meaning to the name, whereas the literal translation changes the pronunciation of the name but keeps the meaning of the name.

We will walk you through this process so that you are completely comfortable with your purchase. If you have any questions prior to placing your order, please contact us and we will gladly answer any questions you may have.