The plain/polite feature is similar to the formality feature as it gives you the option to adjust the tone of your translation. It helps you to use a consistent tone throughout your translation.
The plain/polite feature is supported for translations into Japanese only.
About the plain and polite tone in Japanese
You can choose plain/polite tones depending on the relationship between the speaker (author) and the target audience, as well as text types:
- With the plain tone, 常体 (jōtai) in Japanese, sentences often finish with da or dearu. The plain tone is appropriate for casual conversations with friends but also for some formal written texts such as academic papers and news articles.
- With the polite tone, 敬体 (keitai) in Japanese, sentences often end with desu or masu, showing respect for the target audience. The polite tone is used, for example, in formal situations such as conversations with superiors, colleagues or people you are not close to, and in business emails.
For example, the phrase "DeepL's headquarters is located in Cologne." can be translated differently into Japanese.
With the polite tone set, the desu/masu form will be used:
DeepL社の本社はケルンにあります。
DeepLsha no honsha wa kerun ni arimasu.*
With the plain tone set, the translation of the example mentioned above would be as follows with the da/dearu form:
"DeepL社の本社はケルンにある。"
DeepLsha no honsha wa kerun ni aru.*
When setting the tone with the plain/polite feature, the following things might change to adjust the whole tone of your translation:
- The ending part of the verb (常体 or da/dearu form or 敬体 or desu/masu form)
- Pronouns
- Addition/deletion of honorifics
- Prefixes of nouns
The plain/polite feature is currently not available for translations from Korean to Japanese.
Plain/polite feature in the API
Use the plain/polite feature for text and document translations by defining the formality parameter. For more information, consult the API documentation.