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Please look at the profile for any of these interpreters:
http://www.hicareer.jp/inter/
In the プロフィール section, underneath the photos, their names are written, and "さん" is added to the end of each name.

I don't get it. Isn't there a feeling that www.hicareer.jp and each interpreter have a connection? HiCareer is representing them; HiCareer is offering up their services (clearly the interpreters have consented to his arrangement).

  1. Would using no suffix, or , also have been ok (instead of さん)? How might it change the nuance?
  2. More generally, does writing さん and saying さん have a different feeling / meaning? Saying さん makes it feel more personal?

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These translators are probably freelancers who are not directly employed by this company. They do not represent this company because they are just guests who were invited to write an article to this site.

Moreover, this site is targeted at professional translators and people who want to be translators. (That's why there are even articles about income tax calculation.) The primary purpose of this site seems to be recruiting professional translators who can work with the company. Translators are treated as customers rather than workers in this site, so paying respect to them by adding さん to their names is a good idea.

Adding 氏 instead of さん would be OK, although it may look a bit less friendly.

On the other hand, this company has a separate business site for translation services, where adding さん to the names of translators is inappropriate.

EDIT: Wow, this page is introducing translators using 様, which is surprising to me, considering the fact that this page is intended to be read by those who need their services. So it seems to me that this company is very proud of these translators :-)

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  • Were there to have been no "さん" or "氏 " after the interpreters' names, would a native speaker have thought "I wonder what that says about the relationship between that interpreter and "HiCareer.jp"? Or, would you just think it is not very important? Or, maybe not even notice something so trivial?
    – konishiki
    Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 16:13

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