How do I write "Kindly translated by..."

[nopiro]

Dear community,

As part of a creative project backed by a production house, we’re trying to reach out to a Japanese animation artist. I know this person does not read English so I wrote a “contact letter” that was then kindly translated by a Japanese native.

I’m laying out the letter and wanted to add at the end a sentence like : “This letter was kindly translated from English by Hiro, an actor, musician and artist currently based in Paris, France”.

Anyone can help me on this ?

Also, should I lay out the whole thing vertically? I personally don’t think this person will be “picky” on this aspect (he seems to be a pretty “laid back” guy with previous experience working with westerners). That said, I have very limited knowledge of Japanese etiquette on these things.

[Uzuki]

ヒロさんに通訳なさいました? Or maybe 「ヒロさんにお通訳になさいました」? I don’t really know and am interested myself. Polite Japanese is hard.

But I have a feeling “kindly translated by someone” would use the honorific form なさる of the verb する, instead of an adverb creating the politeness like in English (“kindly”).

Anyone else knows better?

@nopiro

Also, should I lay out the whole thing vertically? I personally don’t think this person will be “picky” on this aspect (he seems to be a pretty “laid back” guy with previous experience working with westerners).

I think you answered your own question there. But then, why not impress him by going the extra mile and laying it out vertically?

[jneapan]

Maybe something like この手紙はヒロという方が翻訳してくださいました。ヒロさんはパリに住んでいる俳優、音楽家、そしてアーティストです。

[Belthazar]

@Uzuki

I think you answered your own question there. But then, why not impress him by going the extra mile and laying it out vertically?

Because noone actually writes letters vertically any more?

[Uzuki]

@jneapan

Maybe something like この手紙はヒロという方が翻訳してくださいました。ヒロさんはパリに住んでいる俳優、音楽家、そしてアーティストです。

This looks good. Please ignore what I wrote before.

@Belthazar

@Uzuki

I think you answered your own question there. But then, why not impress him by going the extra mile and laying it out vertically?

Because noone actually writes letters vertically any more?

But it’s a contact letter. Don’t all sorts of business letters follow more traditional patterns like Dogen points out here?

[nopiro]

@Uzuki

Don’t all sorts of business letters follow more traditional patterns like Dogen points out here?

Haha, this video is hilarious!

You guys are amazing, thank you! So I’ll go with:
この手紙はヒロという方が翻訳してくださいました。ヒロさんはパリに住んでいる俳優、音楽家、そしてアーティストです。

I’ll type it in smaller character after the main text.

[mtp5072]

Here’s another translation for you from a Japanese native.

この手紙は、現在フランス•パリに拠点を置き、俳優、ミュージシャン、そしてアーティストとして活躍しているヒロによって翻訳されたものです。

[jneapan]

It’s beautiful. @nopiro ignore my clumsy attempt, this is the real deal.

[mtp5072]

Don’t sell yourself short! Your translation is great! Yours is just a more casual approach.

[nopiro]

Thank you so much @mtp5072!

@jneapan I wish I could grasp why it’s better than your proposal but I’ll have to come back to this thread in a few months. ; )

[morteASD]

In Japanese アーティスト usually only refers to the musical kind so shouldn’t it be something like 芸術家? (depending on the craft). I assume ‘artist’ refers to something else here than music since wouldn’t it be a bit redundant to have ‘musician’ there then as well?

[nopiro]

So the letter is laid out (horizontally ) and has been shared to the executive producer. Next move is in her hands! (on a side note, I picked the font Source Han Sans JP which seemed very clean)

This letter is for a really exciting project but still highly hypothetical… If it’s getting solid I’ll make sure to share info here on WaniKani forums!

Thanks again for your help!