Translation guide
Ways to talk about one's personal background, life story, or past experiences in Japanese, depending on context and formality.
Referring to the overall narrative of one's life, including upbringing, education, career, etc.
Most common and neutral term for personal history, especially in professional or formal contexts like resumes or introductions. Refers to one's career, education, and life path.
彼の経歴はとても興味深いです。
His personal history is very interesting.
履歴書に経歴を詳しく書いてください。
Please write your personal history in detail on your resume.
Focuses on one's upbringing, childhood, and family background. Often used in personal narratives or interviews.
彼女の生い立ちは苦労の連続だった。
Her personal history was a series of hardships.
Refers to one's personal circumstances or life story, often with a nuance of fate or misfortune. Slightly literary or old-fashioned.
身の上話を聞かせてください。
Please tell me your life story.
Describing one's career, education, and qualifications, often in resumes, CVs, or formal introductions.
Specifically refers to work history or employment background. Used in resumes and job applications.
職歴を詳しく教えてください。
Please tell me about your work history in detail.
Refers to educational background. Often paired with 職歴 to give a full personal history.
Self-introduction, which often includes a brief personal history. Used in meetings, interviews, or social gatherings.
Talking about one's life story in a more literary, reflective, or storytelling manner.
Literally 'self-history', used for a personal memoir or autobiography, often written by ordinary people.
定年後に自分史を書く人が増えています。
More people are writing their personal histories after retirement.
Refers to half of one's life, often used when recounting one's life story up to the present.
Formal term for one's personal history or background, often used in official documents or investigations.
Referring to an individual's past experiences, especially in health, social work, or psychological settings.
Medical term for past medical history. Used in healthcare settings.
既往歴を教えてください。
Please tell me your medical history.
Social or lifestyle history, used in social work or psychological assessments.
生活歴について詳しく聞かせてください。
Please tell me about your personal history in detail.
Informally discussing one's background or past experiences in everyday conversation.
In casual settings, Japanese speakers often use phrases like 昔話 (old stories) or 過去の話 (stories of the past) instead of a direct translation of 'personal history'.
昔話をすると長くなるよ。
If I start talking about my past, it'll take a while.
彼は自分の過去の話をあまりしたがらない。
He doesn't like to talk about his personal history.
Can be used casually when talking about upbringing, but less common in very informal chat.
The English phrase 'personal history' is broad and context-dependent. Direct translations like 個人の歴史 are unnatural. Choose the term that matches the specific context (career, upbringing, medical, etc.).
経歴 focuses on professional and educational achievements, while 生い立ち emphasizes childhood and family environment. Use 経歴 for resumes and formal settings, 生い立ち for personal stories.
彼女はとても興味深い経歴の持ち主だ。
She has a fascinating personal history.
自分の過去の話はあまりしたくない。
I don't like to talk about my personal history.
学歴と職歴を書いてください。
Please write your educational background and work history.
自己紹介で簡単な経歴を話しました。
I talked about my brief personal history in my self-introduction.
彼は波乱万丈の半生を語った。
He recounted his eventful personal history.
彼の来歴を調査する必要がある。
We need to investigate his personal history.
生い立ちについて話そうか？
Shall we talk about my upbringing?