I often wonder how social websites will translate their trendy Web 2.0 slang into foreign languages. Here’s a quick look at Facebook’s English (US) and Japanese versions, side by side. First, we’ve got what was formerly the status field. Now it’s a Twitter-like thought dump area. In English, it reads “What’s on your mind?” In Japanese, it says 「今なにをしていますか？」which still translates as “What are you doing (now)?”
In short, the question isn’t translated – it’s just different. I suppose they did focus groups for each audience to figure out what got the best reaction. That, or they simply asked their employees converting the UI into Japanese to choose the most appropriate way to phrase the prompt. Then again, it could just be that the changes haven’t been rolled out to the Japanese edition just yet. (Facebook used to have a status message that had your name followed by “is” and a blank, then “is” became optional, and now the field is totally within your control.) The button reads “Share” in both languages, though.
My comment is obviously written in Japanese. But the above image is taken from the English version of Facebook. You can see that the links underneath the message say “Comment” and “Like” respectively. And the timestamp is obviously in English, as well.
Here’s the message in the Japanese Facebook. Now it says 「コメントする」and 「いいね！」, which translate as “Comment” and “Good(, isn’t it?)!” I am not sure why they didn’t translate “Like” more straightforwardly, but the overall interaction is the same. You click that on stuff that you particularly enjoy or approve of, and hopefully boost the morale of the person who wrote the item in the first place. An interesting difference to me is that the English version leaves messages like “Deas likes this.” But in Japanese it says “Deas is saying ‘Good(, isn’t it?)!’” (Deasさんが「いいね！」と言っています。) Small change, but curious.
The Pokes area on the right side of the home page doesn’t exist in Japanese. In fact, “pokes” don’t exist in Japanese at all! I found that quite funny. (This poke is from my little sister, by the way. But I haven’t poked her back yet, because I realize I now have a choice to make.) I guess the playful concept would be pretty much lost in translation. Anyway, should I “poke” her, or…
Simply say “Hello!” with an exclamation point? Pokes have become 「ハロー！」in Japanese. It’s not hello literally in Japanese, it’s the English word pronounced using the Japanese syllabary. Fascinating (to me, anyway). Why is the Japanese version of Facebook so much more exclamatory than the English (US) version? Do you know of any other changes that I missed? If you are studying Japanese, do you use Facebook in Japanese? I do – you can hit my profile from my sidebar here on the blog and add me as a friend, by the way. 
That’s all for today!
Deas Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語
You’ve got until Tuesday, October 13th to apply for your stimulus money. I’ll do a quick summary first, and the application procedure second. Read more…
