ソフト面

English translation: Non-technical aspects

04:15 Feb 28, 2009
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Electronics / Elect Eng
Japanese term or phrase: ソフト面
I came across this term, I understand the meaning now but does anyone know what this would be in English!?

Thank you!
Shawn Burke
Local time: 22:27
English translation:Non-technical aspects
Explanation:
『ソフト面』 is a common expression in Japanese, used as a catch-all phrase to refer to "non-technical", "non-structural" and "non-physical" aspects of a particular product, service or project. In English, the closest you get to a similar phrase might be "fuzzy", but in this case, I would just go with "non-technical".

ソフト面:製品・商品・構造体などが、使用・利用者側の利便性・運営面について、好ましい「対人間性」面を考慮すること。

Non-technical aspects: Product and structural design incorporate proper "inter-human" elements that make them convenient and easy to manage for users.

...something along these lines.

Buona fortuna.
Selected response from:

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 06:27
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2Non-technical aspects
Troy Fowler
3 +2operational aspects
Yuki Okada
4intangible aspects (depends on the context)
Marcia Nishio
3Dual personality/Counter personality
JAPENG Technical Translator
1soft/human aspect
V N Ganesh
Summary of reference entries provided
OneTa

Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
対人間性
Dual personality/Counter personality


Explanation:
I think here they are talking about personality...
対 has various meanings...and one of them is "Twin" or "dual" another is "counter".


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Note added at 2 hrs (2009-02-28 07:14:27 GMT)
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Is it talking about human "Nature" or "characteristics"...

JAPENG Technical Translator
India
Local time: 18:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Well I don't think what it is 対 means that in this context. It believe it simply means for or to here.

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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Non-technical aspects


Explanation:
『ソフト面』 is a common expression in Japanese, used as a catch-all phrase to refer to "non-technical", "non-structural" and "non-physical" aspects of a particular product, service or project. In English, the closest you get to a similar phrase might be "fuzzy", but in this case, I would just go with "non-technical".

ソフト面:製品・商品・構造体などが、使用・利用者側の利便性・運営面について、好ましい「対人間性」面を考慮すること。

Non-technical aspects: Product and structural design incorporate proper "inter-human" elements that make them convenient and easy to manage for users.

...something along these lines.

Buona fortuna.

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 06:27
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  william taylor: 良いじゃない?
2 hrs

agree  Swimmy: I like this!
572 days
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
operational aspects


Explanation:
What about operational aspects?
ソフト面 tends to be used to mean a variety of things in a variety of situations, and often when the speaker or writer doesn't know what he/she wants to say. So its translation requires lots of reading between the lines and guessing.

But typically, people speak of ソフト面 as opposed to ハード面 (physical infrastructure, "things") as the operational aspects of the latter.

If it refers more specifically to 対人間性 in your text, you could also be more specific to say "human interface aspects," "human interaction aspects," 'human side," etc.

Yuki Okada
Canada
Local time: 06:27
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 369

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  sigmalanguage: I love "operational aspects" and "human interaction aspects."
12 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  Leochan
1 day 10 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
soft/human aspect


Explanation:
how to address the hard aspect of designing organizational systems, the soft or human aspect has received comparatively little attention. However, the lack ...
www2.truman.edu/~apresley/ais98.pdf -

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Note added at 9 hrs (2009-02-28 13:25:59 GMT)
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user-friendly aspect

V N Ganesh
Local time: 18:57
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 202
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
intangible aspects (depends on the context)


Explanation:
Here you will find an explanation on how "hard" and "soft" are used in Japanese :
http://www.jekai.org/entries/aa/00/nn/aa00nn46.htm

Here, it means "contents, structure"
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:VkeWAzp6h_wJ:www.amazon....


Marcia Nishio
France
Local time: 14:27
Native speaker of: French
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Reference comments


51 mins
Reference

Reference information:
"In terms of software", or "On the software aspect" may fit your text.

OneTa
Native speaker of: Chinese
PRO pts in category: 4
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