ServicesTestimonialsFAQArticlesContactFree Consultation

Doing business with Japan

Using an Interpreter to Train Japanese Staff and Partners Online

By the Hanabuddies team · · 3 min read

If you need to train Japanese staff, partners or distributors who don’t speak English well, a live English–Japanese interpreter on your video call lets you run the session yourself while everyone understands and can ask questions. For online training, interpreters usually work consecutively: you speak for a few sentences, then pause while they interpret. That roughly doubles the speaking time, so plan a shorter agenda or a longer session, send your slides and key terms in advance, and build in time for questions. Here’s how to set it up so the training actually sticks.

When an interpreter helps

  • Onboarding new staff or a newly acquired team in Japan.
  • Product and software training for Japanese distributors, resellers or customer teams.
  • Process rollouts, such as a new reporting system or company policy.
  • Workshops and Q&A sessions where discussion matters as much as the presentation.

Even when Japanese participants read English well, many find it hard to follow spoken English at full speed, and fewer will ask questions in English. An interpreter makes it easy for them to speak up.

Plan for consecutive interpreting

  • Halve your content, or double your time. A 60-minute presentation in English needs close to two hours with consecutive interpreting.
  • Speak in short chunks of two or three sentences, and pause clearly.
  • Break long sessions up. Several 60- to 90-minute sessions work better than one long one, for participants and the interpreter.
  • Schedule around time zones. Japan doesn’t use daylight saving, so a session’s local time may shift during the year. See time differences with Japan.

Prepare the interpreter

  • Send your slides, script or outline at least a few days before.
  • Share a glossary of product names, internal terms and acronyms, and say which ones stay in English.
  • Hold a short briefing call to explain the goal of the session and who the participants are.
  • Mention demos. If you’ll share your screen or show software, tell the interpreter which screens and menus you’ll use.

Our guide to working with a Japanese interpreter has more tips for speakers.

Make the materials Japanese too

Interpreting covers what is said; participants remember more when the slides, handouts and follow-up notes are in Japanese as well. At minimum, translate slide titles and key points. For training you repeat often, consider turning it into a Japanese e-learning course: see translating an e-learning course into Japanese.

Running the session

  • Introduce the interpreter at the start and explain how questions will work.
  • Check understanding regularly with a short quiz, a poll or a question to the group, rather than “Any questions?”, which often gets silence in Japanese settings.
  • Allow time for questions in Japanese, including in the chat, and leave a pause after you ask.
  • Agree on recording in advance, and tell participants if the session will be recorded.
  • Send a written summary afterwards, ideally in both languages.

How Hanabuddies can help

We provide live English–Japanese interpreting for training sessions, onboarding and workshops, online over video or in person in Japan or abroad (you cover travel expenses), and can translate your slides, handouts and summaries so everything matches. We usually interpret consecutively. Tell us the topic, the number of sessions, the length and the participants, and we’ll send a quote. See also online interpreting for video calls with Japan.