The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Ukrainian added to translation app to assist local govts
Kotobal, a tablet-based multilingual translation application created by Konica Minolta, Inc., has added Ukrainian to help government organizations and municipalities assisting displaced Ukrainians.
Administrative technical terms can be di cult to translate. By adding the language, the company can support the administrative processing of displaced Ukrainians who came because Russia invaded their country.
Kotobal o ers its machine translation services in a chat format. For more complicated conversations, it also o ers remote interpretation via a monitor and a live person.
The application provides translations in roughly 30 languages, including English, Chinese and French, which helps local government employees assist the public.
Konica Minolta added Ukrainian at the request of local governments that have accepted displaced Ukrainians.
It is already being used by the Nagoya municipal government and an organization a liated with the Hiroshima prefectural government.
“Now we can o er displaced Ukrainians the opportunity to have discussions in their own language,” said a Nagoya municipal government o cial, praising the service.
GOVT EASES REGULATIONS FOR PETS
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Monday it has eased the quarantine process for pets brought by Ukrainian people eeing from the Russian invasion.
In Japan, dogs and cats from overseas must be isolated at animal quarantine stations for up to 180 days under the Rabies Prevention Law.
Under the ministry’s special measure, however, pets from Ukraine can be kept outside the station as long as they are implanted with microchips for identi cation and are certi ed to have received two doses of rabies vaccine, the ministry said.
It decided to grant the special treatment to displaced Ukrainians on the grounds that they are not in a situation to be aware of the Japanese quarantine system in advance. Five dogs had arrived in Japan from Ukraine as of Monday. (April 20)