Case Studies

Breaking Free from Sentence-by-Sentence Copy-and-Paste | How Welcoming International Students Prompted the University Administration to Reform Translation | Dramatic Time Savings with Full-File Translation

“No one in the university administration office speaks Chinese.” When Suzuka University of Medical Science began accepting international students from China, it faced a very real language barrier. With no choice but to rely on Chinese-speaking faculty members, translation had become a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. To address the issue, the university introduced Yaraku Translate. By enabling staff to translate entire files at once, the university made translation more efficient while reducing the burden on faculty. We spoke with Tomonori Hiroe from the University Administration Office about the background to the implementation and how the tool is being used.

Challenges
　• The university had decided to accept international students from China, but no one in the administration office could work in Chinese
　• Faculty members from China handled translations, but their primary duties made it difficult to respond quickly
　• Staff relied on free translation tools and inefficiently copied and pasted text one sentence at a time

Solutions
　• Introduced Yaraku Translate to translate entire files in one batch
　• Established a process for the International Exchange Center to prepare initial translations
　• Quickly translated Chinese documents, including MOUs (inter-university agreements) and meeting materials, into Japanese
　• Translated Japanese notices and emails into Chinese to support smoother communication with overseas universities

Results
　• File translation significantly reduced translation time and eliminated repetitive manual work
　• Administrative staff could prepare initial translations, leaving faculty members to perform only final checks and adjust nuances
　• A secure translation environment made it possible to handle confidential documents, including MOUs, with confidence

“No one in the university administration office speaks Chinese”: The language barrier we faced when we began welcoming international students

— First, could you tell us what led you to introduce Yaraku Translate and what challenges you were facing at the time?

Tomonori Hiroe (hereafter, Hiroe)
It began when a medical vocational school in China asked us to accept some of its graduates as transfer students. We had accepted graduate students before, but this was our first time accepting undergraduate transfer students, so we needed to prepare in earnest. However, no one in the university administration office spoke Chinese. We struggled because no one could read the documents sent from overseas.

Hiroe:
We had no choice but to ask several faculty members from China for help. However, they were already busy with their own research and teaching, and we felt bad about adding translation work to their workload. The administration office strongly felt that we needed a system that would allow us to manage translations independently, so we began looking for a suitable translation tool.

Hiroe:
We initially looked at packaged translation software and other paid services. We also tried free translation tools, but copying and pasting one sentence at a time was extremely time-consuming. Then another staff member told us about a translation tool that was apparently working well at other universities, and that was how we discovered Yaraku Translate. Knowing that other universities had already adopted it was reassuring.

“Being able to upload a PDF as is makes things much easier”: File translation and security were key to adoption

Hiroe:
The biggest factor was how easy it was to translate an entire file at once. Being able to simply upload a PDF as is was especially appealing to us. Before introducing Yaraku Translate, we translated a university brochure into multiple languages by translating each Japanese passage individually and placing it back into the layout. It was an overwhelming amount of work. I sincerely wish we had had Yaraku Translate then. Security was also important. Because we handle confidential documents such as MOUs between universities, knowing that our information would not be reused externally was a major reason we felt comfortable using the service.

Hiroe:
In addition to me, administrative staff at the International Exchange Center and relevant faculty members use it. We mainly translate meeting materials and draft MOUs from overseas universities into Japanese, as well as our emails and proposal documents into the recipient’s language. Being able to translate documents as they are has made the work much easier, and the time savings have been tremendous. To be honest, we are truly grateful to have it. We no longer spend hours repeatedly translating one sentence at a time and pasting the result back into the document, so we can use that time for other work. We also no longer need to ask faculty members to handle the translations, which has significantly reduced their workload.

Improving Translation Accuracy by Registering Proper Nouns

Hiroe:
When faculty members from overseas review the translations, they sometimes tell us that certain nuances sound slightly different to a native speaker. However, we now export the Yaraku Translate output as a Word file and ask faculty members to fine-tune specific expressions based on that draft. Their workload should be significantly lighter than when we asked them to translate from scratch. We also register proper nouns, such as the university name, in Phrases to improve translation accuracy, and I believe we are making effective use of the feature.

Expanding international student enrolment: A partner in advancing campus internationalisation

Hiroe:
We are currently discussing new MOUs with other overseas institutions, and the number of international students may continue to grow. If that happens, translation will become even more important. In the future, we are also considering making the university’s internal website for students and their parents multilingual. Ideally, parents of international students would be able to check their children’s academic progress from their home countries, but we are still evaluating the idea in light of the costs.

Hiroe:
Yes. As Japan’s birthrate declines, looking overseas is unavoidable. Welcoming international students also gives Japanese students a valuable opportunity to learn about the wider world. At the same time, as a university specialising in medical science, we have a major responsibility to help our students pass national licensing examinations. If we devote too many resources to Japanese-language education for international students, fewer resources will be available for exam preparation. This creates a dilemma, and there are a range of opinions across the university. Balancing internationalisation with strengthening the university’s domestic educational framework requires extremely difficult management decisions. In that context, tools such as Yaraku Translate help us keep moving forward even with limited resources.