Ideograms and the Art of Omission
Update : 2026/2/25
As I have introduced many times, Japanese frequently omits subjects and utilizes abbreviations through coined words. Omission is a daily occurrence in Japanese conversation and context, much more so than in other languages. When deciphering the differences between English and Japanese through a cultural lens, it almost always leads back to "High-Context Culture." This concept likely lies at the very root of the linguistic divide.
In the practical world of translation, when English is rendered into Japanese, the text length almost always becomes significantly shorter. Visually, Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji) are roughly twice as wide as a single alphabet letter. The same applies to punctuation and symbols. In Japan, these square characters are called "Zenkaku" (Full-width), while characters with half that width, like the standard alphabet, are called "Hankaku" (Half-width).
Japanese text is traditionally structured along a grid of these full-width characters, resulting in extremely high information density per character. But why does Japanese—despite using wider characters—end up being so much shorter than English? The reason lies not only in the omission of subjects but also in the extensive use of Kanji, which are ideograms (characters that represent meanings).
Kanji can condense what would be several English letters into just one or two characters.
Examples:
Weather → 天気 (2 characters)
South → 南 (1 character)
Information → 情報 (2 characters)
Consequently, Japanese text often becomes much shorter than its English counterpart, regardless of the original word count or pronunciation length.
In game development, translating English into a Kanji-heavy Japanese text often results in changes to the number of lines or creates excessive white space within UI frames. Managing these visual shifts effectively is where the true skill of a translator and localizer is put to the test.
Incidentally, another major difference between the two languages is the use of spaces. In Japan, children start by writing only in Hiragana because Kanji are difficult to read at a young age. However, since Japanese does not use spaces between words, a text written entirely in Hiragana is actually harder to read. Kanji, by representing specific meanings, also serve the functional role of acting as word delimiters.
Example:
Hiragana only: にわにはにわにわとりがいる
With Kanji: 庭には二羽鶏がいる (There are two chickens in the garden.)
One could say that in Japanese, Kanji fulfills the structural role that the "space" plays in English.
Author : Mikado Tashiro
I am dedicated to expanding the presence of indie games in Japan. Although I am in the early stages of building my official portfolio, I successfully completed my first full translation project within less than a month of launching my activities.
Beyond direct translation, I am committed to sharing insights gained through my work. I author in-depth articles focusing on linguistic nuances, cultural adaptation, and the technical aspects of localization to contribute to the growth of the game translation community.