FC Tokyo of the J.League (Tokyo Football Co., Ltd.) has implemented our multilingual solution, Cistate Translation Proxy, and launched its English website. Through the English website, FC Tokyo provides real-time and efficient information to overseas visitors and foreign residents in Japan.
FC Tokyo:
https://www.fctokyo.co.jp/en/
Challenges in Providing Information in Foreign Languages
For FC Tokyo, delivering multilingual information to appeal to overseas travelers and foreign residents in Japan has long been an issue. However, considering the volume and frequency of information to be shared, manual operation was not a practical solution. Although the use of machine translation had been considered in the past, there were issues with translation accuracy. In particular, ensuring the correct representation of player names and stadium names was a non-negotiable requirement for a professional sports club. In addition, the costs and effort required for implementation and operation were also expected to be a burden.
However, the recovery of inbound tourism after COVID-19 has exceeded expectations, and the presence of foreign visitors at the stadium has become more noticeable. In addition, the previously launched English ticket purchase guide page was well received, which further increased expectations for timely information delivery in languages other than Japanese.
The Key: "Automation" and "High Translation Accuracy"
FC Tokyo addresses these challenges by implementing Cistate's Cistate Translation Proxy.
Cistate Translation Proxy is a solution that automates website translation and management. It automatically updates in sync with the original site, so there is no need to manually manage multilingual websites.
In addition, to achieve high translation accuracy,
- Utilization of the latest machine translation engines
- Development of a comprehensive list of proper nouns—including player names, stadium names, league names, and more—and applying it to translations
- Linguistic processing of text before and after translation
These are some of the initiatives we have implemented. The list of proper nouns prepared in advance by Cistate includes registered J.League player names, manager names, club names, stadium and facility names, sponsor names, and more, and is utilized in the translation process. With this system, FC Tokyo is now able to provide real-time information in English without significantly increasing their workload and at a practical cost.
FC Tokyo Public Relations and Promotion Department
As a club based in the capital city of Tokyo, FC Tokyo has always wanted to share the club’s appeal with foreign residents in Japan and international soccer fans visiting Japan through English-language content. As the COVID-19 pandemic began to subside, we saw an increase in inbound visitors not only throughout Tokyo but also at the stadium. This led us to consider creating translated pages as a way to encourage more people to visit the stadium. There are various ways to provide translated pages, but as we focused on delivering accurate information from our website with minimal time lag, we explored different services and ultimately decided on a machine translation system that met our needs.
There is also a feature that allows us to independently edit the translated pages, and I found it convenient that we can intuitively edit and update any sections we are concerned about. As we strive to provide accurate information, the ability to edit content in a timely manner has been extremely helpful. We are also considering adding more supported languages in the future so that even more people from overseas can discover the appeal of FC Tokyo.
All you need is a URL. Cistate Translation Proxy: Multilingual support for your website with minimal effort
Cistate Translation Proxy is a system that directly retrieves information from publicly available websites and automatically builds and manages multilingual sites. All you need is a URL. By combining machine translation with our proprietary natural language processing technology, we enable automatic multilingual support for your website.
Contact Us About This Matter
03-6878-5788
Contact: Tanaka
