対策 Countermeasure or Measure

The Japanese word 対策 (taisaku) is often mistranslated as "countermeasure" even by the best translators in Japan. Furthermore, this word (countermeasure) is often misused by native English speakers.

Countermeasure is defined as "a measure or action taken to counter or offset another measure."
For example, in many Japanese contexts, the Japanese word "taisaku" should be more appropriately translated as "measure" or "policy in response to." The English word "countermeasure" has a negative connotation not conveyed by the Japanese original. For example, an expression such as "shou-enerugi (energy-saving) taisaku" is quite common in Japanese, and it would be awkward to translate it into "energy saving countermeasure," which would mean to take a measure against energy-saving actions.

The key point here lies in the prefix counter, which means opposite or opposing. Some quick examples here:

1. David made a proposal regarding the budget. Bob challenged David's proposal and made a counterproposal (a proposal against the first proposal).
2. The Elbonians developed missiles to attack the Okapis. The Okapis then developed armed satellites to counterattack (attack against the first attack) the Elbonian missiles.
3. Suzuki took a measure to fix the leak. However, this measure caused excessive corrosion. So, he developed a countermeasure (a measure against the first measure) to prevent corrosion when fixing leaks.

We can see that a measure is first taken against a problem, and then a countermeasure is taken against the first measure if the first measure didn't work or created a new problem.

If countermeasure is used incorrectly, most everyone would probably understand what you mean, but you really should be careful when dealing with technical documents.

The World Trade Organization felt such incorrect usage was worth noting to help avoid miscommunication regarding trade between Japan and the United States. You can see their comments in an "ANNEX ON TRANSLATION PROBLEMS" published by the WTO.

So, next time you get the urge to say or write countermeasure for 対策, think twice! Chances are that you should probably be using measure instead.

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