訳
わけ · wake · JLPT N4 · noun
reason
wake = split apart (分け): a reason is a matter split into clear parts
わけ shares its root with 分ける (wakeru, to divide). To explain something is to break it into parts, which is also why 分かる means to understand. The kanji 訳 has the speech radical 言, so it is words that sort a matter out.
やく · yaku · JLPT N3 · noun
translation
🗣️📖 訳 = 言 speech + 尺 measure: speech measured out into another tongue
The left side 言 is the speech radical, found in 話 and 語. The right side 尺 is a measuring rule, a simplified stand-in for the older 睪 in 譯. A translator weighs each word to fit the new language. Read yaku, as in 翻訳 honyaku.