English-to-Japanese Translation Basic: Known

The translation of "known", which seems to be a very basic word, is not so simple. Although the mathematical term 既知 (kichi; already-know) is sometimes used, this is not a word that business people use every day and not appropriate even for a literal translation. If you have to explain that the word kichi is used because it is a composite of 既に (already) and 知っている (known), this translation is not working. Know's basic meaning of 知る (shiru; know) is the acquisition of knowledge and information by a subject, such as a person or animal. However, "known" is a past participle and refers to a state that the information is widely recognised. The reason why "known" is difficult to understand may be that the kanji character 知 for "knowledge" does not fit the context of the English "known".

Consider the situations in which "known" is used. For example, quality controls in the manufacturing industry have expressions like "known good". This refers to a good product that is not merely good, but is certain to be free from defects.

In internet marketing, there is a term to classify visitors to a website as "known visitors". They are visitors identified using some kind of association mechanisms like a login. In these cases, "known" can be specifically translated as 登録済みの (toroku-zumi; registered) because the visitor management often involves database . However, the word 判明している (hanmei-shiteiru; already clear) is also sufficient to simply express "known" in this case.

In business application systems, "known" is sometimes used for the state of a value. For example, "known" is used to indicate that a system attribute has some value, i.e. the value is not empty. The translation in this case can also be 分かっている (wakatte-iiru; known), 判明している, or more specifically 何らかの値がある (nanraka-no-atai-ga-aru; has some value) to enhance the usability in the target language.