How IC Eight Works
We run the Japanese language layer — stepping in only where words affect trust, clarity, and adoption.
IC Eight operates the Japanese language layer of AI-driven and global products. We step in only where wording affects clarity, trust, or adoption. When that happens, we choose the most effective approach — sometimes that means translation, other times it means rewriting or restructuring. What matters is clarity and user confidence — not word-for-word equivalence.
In most cases, we don’t “translate” in the traditional sense. Rather than fixing machine-generated Japanese after the fact, we guide large language models to write directly in Japanese from the beginning, aligned with intent, tone, and user confidence. This avoids the MT post-editing loop entirely and produces UX-native Japanese in one step.
What the work typically looks like
- Identify where language creates hesitation or perceived risk
- Decide what is safe to leave as-is and what needs human judgment
- Set guardrails for AI-generated Japanese (criteria, examples, and escalation points)
- Support product teams with lean, practical review loops
If you want a structured way to internalize Japanese with AI while keeping trust intact, this is the layer we focus on.
How collaboration usually works
This approach works best when the Japanese layer is treated as an ongoing system rather than a one-off translation task.
Retainer support is available for ongoing language operations (lightweight reviews, guardrails, and quick decisions). If you prefer one-off work, that’s possible too.
What we don’t do
We don’t offer MT post-editing. That decision is intentional.
If your goal is to “fix” machine-translated Japanese sentence by sentence, there are many vendors who can help with that.
IC Eight’s work is different. We design the Japanese language layer so the product already feels clear, trusted, and usable, without relying on MTPE.
If MTPE is what you’re looking for, IC Eight probably isn’t the right fit. And that’s okay.
If your goal is to “fix” machine-translated Japanese, there are many vendors who can help with that.IC Eight’s work is different.
Rather than correcting MT output sentence by sentence, we design the Japanese language layer so the product feels clear, trusted, and usable in Japan. In many cases, that means generating the Japanese directly with LLMs, guided by tone, intent, and UX.
If MTPE is what you’re looking for, IC Eight probably isn’t the right fit. And that’s okay.
Why not just translate?
Many companies today are trying to streamline localization with AI — often by running source content through neural machine translation (NMT) with little or no review.
But unreviewed NMT carries real risk: critical mistranslations, tone mismatches, and poor UX. Post-editing is one way to fix it — but it brings back cost and workflow complexity.
IC Eight takes a different approach.
Instead of correcting flawed output, we guide AI to generate Japanese content that’s already aligned with clarity, tone, and user confidence — either by translating with intent or writing from scratch.
When translation is the best option, we do it. But in many cases, native generation produces results that are more natural and better aligned with Japanese market expectations.
Because sometimes, literal translation doesn’t lead to clarity or trust — and that’s what we optimize for.
Start with a Japanese UX Review
A clear, concise review of how your product feels to Japanese users. We identify friction: trust issues, confusing UI wording, missing help, broken onboarding, unclear feature discovery.
This is often useful when a team feels “something is off” with Japanese, but can’t tell where or why.
This review is diagnostic by design. You can implement the fixes internally, or ask IC Eight to handle specific intervention points.
Want to see what this looks like as a workflow?
Here’s the step-by-step way IC Eight works with product teams:
Not sure where to start?
Want a quick diagnostic and a practical next step?