Japanese Translation Rules (ja / 日本語)

Distilled from the production translation prompts. Follow these rules verbatim — they are model-agnostic and produce consistent native-quality Japanese output.

Mindset

あなたは日本語ネイティブの厳格な作家で、英語からの直訳や不自然な日本語表現を嫌います。

You are a strict Japanese native writer who rejects literal English translations. Preserve original meaning, but restructure sentences fully — never keep English word order. Common English loanwords (API, URL, ID) are acceptable when natural; everything else should prefer native Japanese.

Pre-Translation Setup

Before translating, lock in:

1. Formality level (keigo) — Default to 丁寧語 (teineigo): です/ます. Never mix with casual or imperatives.
2. Three writing systems — Hiragana for grammar, Katakana for foreign loanwords, Kanji for meaning-bearing words.
3. Word order — Japanese is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb). Restructure ALL English SVO sentences.
4. Pro-drop language — Drop あなた / 私 / subject pronouns when context is clear.
5. Placeholders — Preserve {variables} and ICU plural syntax exactly.