Translate an Excel file into Japanese

What changes when a spreadsheet goes into Japanese

Japanese mixes kanji, hiragana and katakana. The character count usually drops sharply: Expected delivery date becomes 納品予定日, Quantity becomes 数量. However, each Japanese character takes up roughly the width of two Latin letters. A label with fewer characters is therefore not necessarily narrower on screen, and a column sized tightly for the source text may cut the Japanese off.

• Line wrapping: Japanese has no spaces between words. A wrapped cell breaks wherever the width requires, following the rules that forbid a line from starting with 。 or 、. Row heights may change as a result.
• Fonts: Calibri and Arial contain no kanji. Excel falls back on whatever Japanese font is installed on the machine, and that font has different widths and heights. For a stable result, apply a Japanese font (Yu Gothic, Meiryo, MS Gothic) to the translated cells, or check the file on a machine set up for Japanese.

Register, plurals and punctuation in Japanese cells

A Japanese spreadsheet is not written like a letter. Column headers stay terse noun phrases: Net amount becomes 税抜金額, with no honorifics. Cells that address the reader, such as instructions or notes under a table, need the polite register (keigo) expected in business: Please complete column C becomes C列にご記入ください。

• Plurals: Japanese has a single form, so constructions like order(s) disappear. Counters are used instead: 3件 for cases or orders, 5個 for items, 2名 for people.
• Punctuation: full-width comma and full stop (、 。), and a full-width colon ： in labels. Digits stay half-width, which is standard practice in tables.
• Loanwords: these are written in full-width katakana (エクスポート). Half-width katakana, still found in some legacy systems, should be avoided in a document meant to be read by people.

What Manuce returns, and what it leaves alone

Manuce translates the text cells on every sheet of the workbook and returns your original .xlsx. Column widths, colours, borders, number formats, filters and merged cells are all preserved. You also get a Word version, a PDF and the plain text, which are handy if a Japanese-speaking colleague without Excel is reviewing it.

Formulas are not touched: a calculated cell keeps its formula and goes on calculating. Numbers, dates and amounts stay exactly as they are. In practice:

• a date shown as 03/15/2025 or 15/03/2025 stays that way, whereas a Japanese reader expects 2025/03/15 or 2025年3月15日; you will need to change the number format yourself;
• amounts in pounds, dollars or euros are not converted to yen;
• text generated by a formula, such as ="Total: "&B5 or an IF returning "Paid", stays in the source language, because the formula is left unchanged.

Not translated: sheet tab names, cell comments, charts, and shapes or text boxes placed on the sheet. Narrow columns are not widened, so longer text may be cut off on screen, just as in the original. Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations. Japanese carries a ×1.6 coefficient on the per-word rate.

Preparing the workbook before you upload

• Move text out of formulas: put labels such as Paid or Pending in cells and have the formula reference them. They will then be translated, and the formula will keep working.
• Delete obsolete sheets: every sheet is translated, hidden ones included, and their words count towards the quote.
• Identify what should stay in Latin script: product references, SKUs and brand names are usually kept as they are in Japan, in half-width characters.
• Test the register: the free sample translates one paragraph at your chosen level before you pay. Pick it from an instructions sheet rather than a row of headers, since that is where politeness level shows.

Checking the Japanese file when it arrives

1. Open the .xlsx on a machine with a Japanese font and go through each sheet. Narrow columns and merged cells are the first to cut text off.
2. Adjust date formats to yyyy/mm/dd and, where needed, the currency displayed.
3. Rename the tabs in Japanese (for example Q1 Sales to 第1四半期売上), then translate chart titles and comments.
4. Check any sorting: without phonetic readings (furigana) attached to the cells, Excel will not order a kanji column the way a Japanese reader expects.
5. Run a print preview. The PDF supplied serves as a visual reference.

In practice

1. Remove unused sheets and move labels out of formulas.
2. Upload the .xlsx and choose Japanese: the quote appears immediately.
3. Check the free sample on an instruction cell, then start the translation.
4. Download the .xlsx, Word version, PDF and plain text.
5. Apply a Japanese font and adjust dates, tab names and column widths.