Translate to Japanese Directly Inside Any Mac App

Japanese has three writing systems — hiragana, katakana, and kanji — each with distinct rules about when to use which. On top of that, formality matters: business Japanese requires keigo (honorific language) with specific verb conjugations and sentence endings that don't exist in English. Even word order flips, with verbs landing at the end of sentences instead of the middle.

Online translation tools handle casual phrases well enough, but professional correspondence needs more care. And bouncing between your document and a translation website interrupts your writing flow every single time. WunderType lets you translate to Japanese right where you're already working.

How to Translate to Japanese with WunderType

WunderType sits in your macOS menu bar and lets you build Custom Prompts — AI-powered text actions bound to keyboard shortcuts. For Japanese translation, you create a prompt with instructions that specify tone, formality level, and script preferences. Then highlight any English text in any app, press your shortcut, and the translation replaces your selection instantly.

The AI handles the heavy lifting: choosing between kanji and kana where appropriate, applying polite or formal register as instructed, and restructuring sentences to follow Japanese grammar naturally — not just swapping words one by one.

Before and After

Here's a standard business email paragraph translated using a Japanese translation prompt:

Before

Please find attached the preliminary report. Could you review the budget details and get back to us? This is important for the upcoming presentation.

Highlight the text, press ⌥⇧⌘T, and WunderType produces:

After

添付資料にプレリミナリーレポートをご用意いたしました。予算に関する詳細をご確認いただけますよう、お手数ですがご返信ください。プレゼンテーションに重要な内容ですので、早急にご対応いただけますと幸いです。

Notice the keigo forms: いたしました (humble), いただけますよう (respectful request), お手数ですが (polite softener). These aren't details a word-by-word translator gets right. The AI understands that a business email calls for formal register and applies it throughout.

Setting Up the Prompt

1. Click the WunderType icon in your menu bar and open Custom Prompts.
2. Create a new prompt named Translate to Japanese.
3. In the instruction field, write something like: "Translate the following English text into polite, professional Japanese (keigo). Use appropriate kanji with natural kana usage. Preserve the original meaning and tone while following standard Japanese sentence structure."
4. Assign a shortcut — ⌥⇧⌘T works well for translation.
5. Save the prompt.

You can create multiple variants: one for casual Japanese, one for business keigo, one that outputs in hiragana only for learners. Each gets its own shortcut.

Why This Beats Copy-Paste Translation

When you translate through a browser tool, you lose context every time you switch windows. You copy text, open a tab, paste, wait, copy the result, switch back, paste again. With WunderType, the entire round trip happens inside your current application in under a second. Your writing momentum stays intact.

This is especially useful for anyone drafting bilingual documents, responding to Japanese clients, or localizing content. The translation lives right in your workflow — Mail, Pages, Slack, Notes, or any other Mac app.

Handling Hiragana and Katakana Preferences

If you need translations in a specific script — say, hiragana-heavy output for language learners, or katakana for loanword-focused contexts — adjust your prompt instructions accordingly. WunderType's Custom Prompts let you be as specific as you need. You can even instruct the AI to add furigana readings in parentheses next to kanji.

Get Started

WunderType is available for macOS 15 and later. Download it, create your Japanese translation prompt, and start translating text anywhere on your Mac with a single keystroke.

Download WunderType on the Mac App Store