[Lingo] Terminology help

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull.stephen.fw@example.com>]

David J Iannucci writes:

 > * For visitors/users of a web site, how does 閲覧客 strike you?

閲覧 seems quite academic.  I've never seen 閲覧客.  My marketing
colleagues tend to use 客 or 顧客 when referring to potential
customers, 閲覧者 or ビューワー for generic surfers.

 > * If I want to refer to the "office" where I work, meaning sorta both
 >   the physical place and also the people and functions we perform, is
 >   オフィス normal for that, or....事務室？ Latter feels archaic to me.

事務室 isn't archaic, it just means something else ("the place where
organizational paperwork is processed").  職場 = "workplace" is almost
certainly what I would use.  オフィス is also usable, but at least in
academia strongly implies the architectural meaning (if you tell
somebody soliciting contributions for earthquake victims, "I gave at
the office", they'll look at you funny and reply "we didn't put any
contribution box there").  I don't know whether the people/function
connotations of 職場 are strong enough for your use case, though.

 > * The opposite of モバイル = ..... デスクトップ？

There's an opposite to モバイル?  }:^}

What's the use case?  I suspect this is a word where there are fine
gradations of meaning that Japanese distinguishes where English
doesn't.

 > * "Navigate", as in, to find your way around a web site to find what you
 >   want. ナビ？ Or is this word specific to geographical way-finding?

These days, anything you make decisions about (job-hunting, travel
route, wedding planners, lipstick, craft beer) has its ナビ, use cases
have sprung up like カビ (and I personally find them just about as
attractive, YMMV).  It has *very* strong connotations of being led
("by the nose"), rather than finding your own way around.  I don't
think I've ever heard it in connection with navigating a website.  But
then, the concept that websites should be navigable seems to be stuck
in Customs at Yokohama.  Most Japanese sites just find ways to cram
everything onto the front page. :-(

I very diffidently suggest spelling it out: ナビゲート、ナビゲーション.
(Pop quiz: Explain this ObRef: B'z rocks!)  There may be a better
Japanese equivalent, but the only one I know comes from One Piece:
航海(士) (oh, Nami-swa~n!)

 > * Our office has a "mission". ミッション？使命？任務？ There's
 >   gotta be a "normal" way to say this,

I don't think so.  They all sound OK to me, but there's only a small
amount of overlap.  Again, I think this is a place where you very well
might translate any of those *to* "mission", but much of the time only
one would be right if you're translating *from* "mission".