Konica Minolta Offers Ukrainian-Japanese Translation Service on Its KOTOBAL Multilingual Translation System for Local Governments to Support Ukrainian Refugees in Saitama Prefecture
The First KOTOBAL Service Offered on a Royalty-Free Basis

Tokyo (June 3, 2022) – Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) has decided to provide a Ukrainian-Japanese translation service on its KOTOBAL multilingual translation system for local governments and public agencies to Saitama Prefectural Government and 18 municipal governments in Saitama Prefecture on a royalty-free basis.

In 2020, Konica Minolta launched KOTOBAL, an AI-based tablet-type multilingual translation system that incorporates a dictionary of government terms to help staff at public agencies and local governments in Japan communicate with foreigners. The KOTOBAL system has since been introduced by many government offices. Ukrainian was newly added to the system in April 2022 to support Ukrainian refugees.

To enhance the support for Ukrainian refugees, Konica Minolta decided to make the KOTOBAL-based Ukrainian-Japanese translation service available to organizations involved in accepting Ukrainian refugees on a royalty-free basis up to the end of March 2023. As the first step of this initiative, the company is providing a royalty-free license to use this service^* to Saitama Prefectural Government and 18 municipal governments in Saitama Prefecture.

Konica Minolta believes that this service will facilitate communications with Ukrainian refugees and better serve their needs for settling in public housing, procuring daily necessities, consulting with a doctor before vaccination, and discussing problems experienced in daily life, among others.

*The royalty-free service does not include a tablet device on which to install KOTOBAL.

The Konica Minolta Group expresses deep condolences to the people who have lost loved ones, friends and their homes in the conflicts in Ukraine. The Group will continue to support and respond to the people’s sufferings in the humanitarian crisis.