Japanese Vocabulary list: computer science and software development terms

By | April 26, 2014

At popular request, I’ve decided to make a list for computer science and software development terms. If you know of any ones not listed here that you use frequently please let me know in the comments!

Many of these words can be used as both a noun and a verb with する. For details check your favorite dictionary.

(If you enjoyed this, please check out my other vocab lists)

  • 実装(じっそう)- implementation
  • 設計 (せっけい)- design/architecture
  • テスト – test
  • 体験版 (たいけんばん) – trial version (of software)
  • ベータ版 (ばん)- beta version (of software)
  • 技術 (ぎじゅつ) – technology
  • 機能 (きのう)-  function
  • ソフト (short for ソフトウェア) – software
  • 開発 (かいはつ)- development
  • 開発者 (かいはつしゃ) – developer
  • 開発環境(かいはつかんきょう) – development environment
  • 利用者 (りようしゃ) – user
  • データベース - database
  • 構造 (こうぞう) – structure
  • 管理(かんり) – manage (a system, etc.)
  • 納品 (のうひん)- delivery
  • 残業(ざんぎょう)- overtime
  • 入門(にゅうもん) – primer (when you begin learning something)
  • 設定(せってい) – setting(s)
  • コンピュータ – computer (more formal and used more frequently in software development than the word パソコン)
  • コンピューター言語 (げんご) – programming language (C,C++,Java, etc.)
  • 作成(さくせい) – compose/create (a list, an email, a game, etc.)
  • プログラミング – programming
  • 起動  (きどう)- startup (a computer,etc.)
  • 再起動 (さいきどう)- restart (a computer, etc.)
  • 画面 (がめん) – screen
  • 企画(きかく) – project, plan, planning
  • 企画書 (きかくしょ)- project plan document
  • プロジェクト – project
  • 出力(しゅつりょく) – output
  • ファイル – file
  • デバッグ – debug
  • 解説書 (かいせつしょ) – manual (a book or other document that describes how something works)
  • 依存性(いぞんせい) – dependency (a DLL, library, etc.)
  • 実行 (じっこう) – run/execute
  • コンパイル – compile
  • 関数 (かんすう) – function (i.e. void doStuff(int x))
  • 引数 (ひきすう)- argument, parameter (of a function)
  • 配列 (はいれつ)- array (like my_array[30])
  • 形式 (けいしき)- format (of a file, etc.)
  • 拡張子 (かくちょうし) – file extension
  • 担当者 (たんとうしゃ) – person in charge of something (a project, etc.)
  • 見積もり (みつもり) – an estimate (for a project’s cost, etc.)
  • 改善 (かいぜん)- improvement
  • 情報 (じょうほう) – information
  • 条件(じょうけん) – condition
  • 規模 (きぼ) – scale (of a project or plan)
  • 仕様書 (しようしょ)- specifications document
  • 保守(ほしゅ)- maintenance, maintain
  • 機器(きき)- equipment
  • ネットワーク - network
  • ハードウエア – hardware
  • 費用(ひよう) – expense
  • 処理(しょり) – process (like do a calculation, etc.)
  • 修正(しゅうせい) – edit
  • 要求(ようきゅう) – demand, request (from a customer, etc.)
  • 運用 (うんよう) – operations (of a data center, etc.)
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23 thoughts on “Japanese Vocabulary list: computer science and software development terms

  1. hopefullanguagelearner

    Thanks for this! Going to use this to help me write my comments in Japanese!

    If it isn’t too much trouble I was wondering if you knew what for loop and while loop would be in Japanese as well?

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      Since ‘for’ and ‘while’ are keywords I don’t think there is a special word for them. I’ve seen them written in Japanese as ‘for’ and ‘while’ and I assume the pronunciation is something like フォー and ワイル. For loop you can write ロープ. Here is a link with example of while loop explanation written in Japanese. You can probably pick up some more vocab words from reading this.

      http://www1.cts.ne.jp/~clab/hsample/Flow/Flow03.html

      Reply
  2. G

    Thanks so, so much for this! And for the resource, the “while loop” explained in japanese… I’m excited to pore over these and learn it all! 🙂

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      Sure, no problem. Glad it was of use to someone! If you have any requests for other vocabulary lists, let me know anytime.

      Reply
  3. Anil kumar

    very very fruitful information,thanks furigana of kanji ,its help to foreigner to understand.

    Reply
  4. Ian

    体験版 (ぎじゅつ) – trial version (of software)
    wrong reading
    I think its たんけんばん

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      Thanks. You were right I had made a mistake, but your suggested reading was wrong (:

      It’s たいけんばん not たんけんばん

      Reply
  5. Jared

    Should be ソフトウェア (ウェ)is a slightly contrived ‘sound’ thrown into the typical Japanese sound system, and it’s actually pronounced with a ‘w’ sound, so the above would sound like the “wei” in “weigh” but with a short/clipped vowel. Making ソフトウェア not sound terribly far from “software”

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      Thanks for that. I have seen a few people used my spelling but the spelling you mention is much more common. Will fix it.

      Reply
  6. Geoffrey Barnes

    Hey Locksleyu,

    ,Thanks for putting together this post on Self Taught Japanese .It is a great read. I particularly find your thoughts on Japanese Vocabulary list interesting.
    Keep up these insightful posts.

    Cheers!

    Reply
  7. Michele

    Thank you very much for the help!

    What about the word POST? Like, post in the facebook?
    And how do I say: put/publicsh in the development/acceptance/production environment?

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      Sure, glad this was helpful.

      Post would be 投稿 (toukou) as a noun or 投稿する (toukou suru) as a verb (with particle を).

      For “put/publish” you can probably use デプロイ(する) [from ‘deploy’] or maybe アップする (upload) is simpler. I haven’t actually discussed this specific topic in Japanese myself, so there might be a better term, however.

      Reply
      1. Michele

        Wow, thank you for the promptly reply haha And thanks for the help too 🙂

        Reply
  8. Eduardo

    Thank you very much for this! This is great!
    Just a little comment, 「修正」is translated as “edit” but I always use it as “correct” that I think is the correct meaning.
    I also did my own “japanese/english/spanish” programming vocabulary list, so please feel free to write me if you are interested in add some new words to your list.
    Thank you!!!

    Reply
  9. Snehal

    what is an ‘issue’ called in japanese…like resolving a issue.

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      There is a bunch of ways, it depends on the context: 問題、案件、課題、一件, バッグ etc.

      I would recommend 問題 (mondai, “problem”) as a general term if you aren’t sure which to use.

      Reply
  10. Yutaro Yoshii

    What I found difficult translating:
    operand, signed, unsigned etc
    Might as well use Katakana

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      For “operand”, I agree that katakana is appropriate.

      For signed/unsigned, I think that katakana can be used, however usually in programs you will see those words used as-is (in English), and they can be used in Japanese in the same way. See this as an example:

      https://www.symmetric.co.jp/blog/archives/92

      Reply
  11. Joshua Verano

    What’s the japanese term for object members or variables?

    class Object{
    Long thisMember; <—— This one.
    }

    is it same with 変数?

    Reply
    1. locksleyu Post author

      I believe “メンバー変数” is the most standard word for that.

      Reply
  12. Sosen

    Beta version should be ベータ版、not バータ版, I think (according to jisho_org).

    Reply

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