Language
6 min read
Writing briefs in Japanese is not translation
A good Japanese brief is shorter, more polite, and names people differently. Translating the English one gets all three wrong.
Written by
Ren Ishida
Our first Japanese briefs were translations of English ones, and teams in Tokyo told us politely that they read like a manual.
What the editors fixed most
We started again. Japanese briefs are now written directly from the source messages, with their own rules for length, register and names.
Two editors reviewed 4,000 briefs line by line. The most common fix was removing words, not adding them.
The same approach now applies to every language we support.
Keep reading
Quiet, in their words.
I used to start the day with 300 unread. Now I start it with six lines and a coffee.
The sources are the point. I can forward a line to my CEO and she can check it herself.
Quiet hours gave me my afternoons back. The two things that came through actually needed me.
Our Osaka and Lisbon teams finally overlap, even though they never meet on a call.
We turned it on for 40 people on a Thursday. By Monday nobody asked for the weekly status meeting.
It says “I couldn't find that” when it can't. That is why I trust the rest of it.
Try one quiet morning. Keep it if it gives you back an hour.
Tomorrow at 07:00, one quiet page.
Connect two sources in four minutes. Your first brief arrives tomorrow morning, before the first meeting.