Units, chemical symbols, and abbreviations
Roman scripts are used.
Name of elements
(1) Names of materials imported from china are used as it is (i.e.,
translated): phosphorus, sulfur, iron, copper, zink, silver, tin, platinum,
gold, mercury, and lead (11 elements).
(2) Translation made during the 19th century are used: hydrogen, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, silicon, chlorine, arsenic, bromine, and iodine (11 elements)
(3) The other 87 elements are transliterated based either on English or German names.
Name of substances
(1) Inoroganic compounds are named based on the Japanese systematic nomenclature
rules, which is related to the IUPAC one. The rule is originally based on
the use of translated terms. Transliterated element names are incorporated
into the nomenclature, by adding, as necessary, an appropriate prefix and/or
surfix which are designated by the rules.
For instance, ("..." shows Japanese pronunciation. Read as if
they were German spelling.)
silver chloride "enka ghin"
sodium chrloride "enka natoriumu"
potassium selenide "seren-ka kariumu"
sulfurous acid "a-ryu-san"
sulfuric acid "ryu-san",
persulfuric acid "ka-ryu-san"
potassium permanganate "ka-mangan-san kariumu"
i.e., "-ide" -> "-ka", " acid" -> "-san", "-ous" -> "a-", "per-" -> "ka-", etc.
(2) Organic compounds are named based mainly on the IUPAC nomenclature
rule, with some common names translated (transliterated names are sometimes
incorporated), but almost all are transliterated.
For instance,
methane "metan"
acetic acid "saku-san"
propanoic acid "puropan-san"
sodium butanoate "butan-san natoriumu"
Technical terms
Most are translated but some terms difficult to translate are transliterated,
e.g., (chromatography, gas burner, amalgam, energy, graph, ion, pipette,
spin)->(kuromatogurafi, gasu bana, amarugamu, enerughi, gurafu, ion,
pipetto, supin).
Reference
Ministry of Eduction, Science and Culture, Japan and The Chemical Society
of Japan, "Japanese Scientific Terms, Chemistry, Revised and Enlarged
Edition", Nanko-do (1985).
The Chemcal Society of Japan, "Kagobutsu Meimei Ho" (Japanese)
4th Rev., (1993).