About Taste Translation

Hello! My name is Arline Lyons, and I’m a translator and localisation project manager with over 20 years’ experience with the Japanese language and culture. I worked as a project manager with large translation companies before setting up my own business to concentrate on using my language skills and developing my specialist areas – biology and sake.

Taste Translation offers specialised Japanese to English translation for fine food and drink, in particular for Japanese sake and wine.

After translating promotional material for breweries I decided to find out more about sake, and took the WSET Level 3 Award in Sake in March 2017, passing with distinction, followed by the SSI International Kikisake-shi certification in September 2018 and Certified Sake Professional with the Sake Education Council in January 2019. I continued with the Japan Sommelier Association Sake Diploma exam (October 2019), the Sake Education Council Advanced Sake Professional course (February 2020) and Sake Scholar course (April 2022). I also became a member of the Brewing Society of Japan in June 2022.

I’ve also looked in to the worlds of chocolate through the level 1 and level 2 courses offered by the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (2017), coffee with an SCAE Introduction to Coffee course held at Union Coffee in London (2017) and the London School of Coffee Cupping and Sensory course (2017), tea through the UK Tea Academy Tea Champion course (2017), and cheese with the Academy of Cheese Level 1 Associate qualification (2021).

I have a BSc in biology, which allows me to understand brewing processes right down to the microbiological and molecular levels. I also translate manufacturing, quality and safety documentation such as material safety data sheets, manufacturing audits and food safety inspections, so I can handle a wide variety of texts associated with sake production, handling, packaging, quality, analysis and shipping.

I’m based in Zürich, Switzerland, but can frequently be found in London, Dublin, Paris and other European cities (pandemics permitting). I also normally spend one month a year in Japan, visiting clients and keeping my language skills strong.