Thank you for using YarakuTranslate.

At Yaraku, we regularly update our app to offer a more user-friendly and higher-quality translation experience. These updates include implementing the latest technology, improving translation accuracy and usability, responding to user feedback, and adding new features.

We are pleased to announce that Yaraku Translate will be updated to Version 5.5.0 on July 6, 2025 (Sunday).

Please note that the service will be temporarily unavailable during the following time:

Scheduled Downtime:
July 6, 2025 (Sunday) – from 5:00PM to 8:00PM JST

1. ChatGPT Upgrade to GPT-4.1

Since the introduction of GPT-4o to our app, many of our users have benefited from its translation capabilities. As you may know, AI is constantly evolving at an incredible pace, and this directly impacts translation quality.

On April 14, 2025 OpenAI released its latest model, GPT-4.1, offering improved performance and increased prompt-following capabilities. To further enhance translation quality, we are upgrading our engine from GPT-4o to GPT-4.1.

We believe this upgrade will significantly improve GPT-powered translations, providing results that exceed expectations.

Note: The same security and data protection policies that applied to GPT-4o will continue with GPT-4.1.

2. Upgrade to YarakuTranslate Engine v4

Our proprietary YarakuTranslate Engine is being upgraded to Version 4.

While the previous version processed translations sentence by sentence, the new version can now interpret and translate content at the document level, resulting in improved consistency and overall translation quality.

This update is especially beneficial for documents such as:

・Scientific papers
・Financial reports (i.e. Investor Relations documents)

Previous version: (depending on the segment, pronouns and family names are not unified)

  　

New Version (V.4) : (consistent translation of pronouns and family names)

　

3. PDF to PPTX Option

Previously, PDFs were converted into Word (.docx) format to allow editing and translation insertion. However, this sometimes led to layout distortions or misplaced text.

To address this, we’ve added the option to choose between .docx and .pptx formats when uploading PDF files.

For example, horizontally formatted presentation slides or files created using other page layout software applications can now be downloaded as PowerPoint files, preserving the layout.

Below is a comparison of translations using the two formats:

When “.docx” is selected:

→ Layout distortion and text misplacement may occur

　

When “.pptx” is selected:
→ Layout and font sizes are preserved using macro functions, minimizing translation gaps

4. Changes to Dictionary

Since its launch in 2015, YarakuTranslate has offered a built-in dictionary showing word meanings and example sentences on the side panel. However, over the years the system has grown outdated, with limitations in language coverage and update frequency.

We are currently developing a new AI-powered dictionary to provide easier and more contextually appropriate definitions. Features we hope to add include:

• Context-aware meanings for polysemous words
• Collocations and other related terms

As a preparatory step, the current dictionary feature will be removed after this update. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we introduce the new AI- powered dictionary soon.

5. Retranslate button always shown

The Retranslate (Update Machine Translation) button will now always appear on the editing page. This enhancement provides several benefits:

・Easily regenerate translations using recently saved Phrases with our adaptive Yaraku Translate engine

・Generate alternative translations repeatedly when using generative AI engines like Claude or GPT-4.1

・Instantly retranslate segments after editing the source text

Note: Clicking the button will overwrite the current translation unless added to Phrases. Please consider saving important edits first. 

6. Other updates

1. Quality Assistant functions will now be turned off by default (with exception of Word-to-Word Highlights and Smart Suggestions). Please select the QA options you wish to use.
   
2. Phrases page now supports Undo/CTRL+Z for any changes or edits made to a saved Phrase. 
3. Our password reset page will now show applicable password rules for that user. You can now confirm what criteria you must fulfill when setting a new password.