Japanese Translator
Translate Any Text to Japanese
DeepL produces natural Japanese with correct particle usage and politeness levels — not the stiff literal translations you get from basic tools.
See the difference
Natural-sounding Japanese translations — not word-by-word output.
Translation tips
Politeness levels (keigo) matter
Japanese has three politeness registers: casual (普通体), polite (丁寧語/です・ます), and honorific/humble (敬語). Business emails require keigo. DeepL selects the right register based on your source text's formality — a casual message stays casual, a formal one gets proper keigo.
Kanji vs. hiragana balance
Natural Japanese mixes kanji, hiragana, and katakana in specific proportions. Over-using kanji makes text look stiff; too much hiragana looks childish. DeepL produces the natural mix that native speakers expect — not the all-kanji output some tools generate.
Subject dropping is normal
Japanese routinely omits subjects ('I', 'you', 'they') when context makes them obvious. Literally translating every pronoun creates unnatural output. DeepL correctly drops pronouns where a native speaker would, producing more natural sentences.
Katakana for foreign words
English loanwords in Japanese use katakana script: コンピューター (computer), マーケティング (marketing). Some terms have both katakana and native Japanese equivalents — DeepL picks the one more commonly used in context.
Did you know? Japanese uses three writing systems simultaneously: hiragana (native words), katakana (foreign words and emphasis), and kanji (Chinese characters) — often mixed within a single sentence.
How to use it
Paste your text above — any source language is auto-detected.
Target is pre-set to Japanese. Click Translate.
Copy the result — it includes proper kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
Frequently asked questions
Does the translator use correct keigo for business Japanese?
Yes. DeepL detects formality from your source text. A formal business email in English produces proper keigo in Japanese, including honorific prefixes (お/ご) and humble verb forms. Casual messages stay in です/ます or plain form.
Can it translate from Chinese or Korean to Japanese?
Absolutely. Auto-detection identifies the source language. Chinese→Japanese and Korean→Japanese are particularly strong because these languages share grammatical structures and kanji/hanja characters, which helps the neural model produce more natural output.
How does it handle names and proper nouns?
Foreign names are transliterated to katakana following standard conventions. Japanese names in source text are preserved in their original kanji. Company names follow their established katakana spellings when known.
Is this suitable for translating manga or anime subtitles?
The translator handles informal conversational Japanese well, but creative works with slang, dialect (方言), or character-specific speech patterns may need human review. It works best for standard written Japanese — articles, emails, product descriptions.
Want phrasing variants for Japanese and document translation?