Transcription into Japanese

In contemporary Japanese writing, foreign-language loanwords and foreign names are normally written in the katakana script, which is one component of the Japanese writing system. As far as possible, sounds in the source language are matched to the nearest sounds in the Japanese language, and the result is transcribed using standard katakana characters, each of which represents one syllable (strictly mora). For example, America is written アメリカ (A-me-ri-ka). To accommodate various foreign-language sounds not present in Japanese, a system of extended katakana has also developed to augment standard katakana.

Katakana, like the other Japanese kana, hiragana, has a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and characters. Therefore, once the sound of a word is established, there is no ambiguity in its katakana "spelling" (unlike spelling in English, for example).

A much less common form of transcription, not covered in this article, uses kanji characters for their phonetic values. For information on this method see Ateji.

Practicalities of transcription

Since Japanese has few closed syllables, and features only one final consonant (the nasal ン, n), syllable-final consonants in the source language are often represented using the -u (or sometimes -o or -i) kanas with implicitly silent vowels, or the syllable coda is not represented at all. For example, the name Jim is written ジム (Ji-mu). A similar principle applies to consonant clusters; for example spring would be transcribed as スプリング (su-pu-ri-n-gu).

Japanese has only five native vowel sounds (each with a long and short form), and some margin of error exists when mapping vowels in, for example, English, to these. However, the repertoire of vowel sounds can be extended through vowel combinations, such as occurs in ブラウン (Bu-ra-u-n, the surname Brown).

Japanese does not have separate l and r sounds, and l- is normally transcribed using the kana that are perceived as representing r-. For example, London becomes ロンドン (Ro-n-do-n). Other sounds not present in Japanese may be converted to the nearest Japanese equivalent; for example, the name Smith is written スミス (Su-mi-su). Foreign sounds can be difficult to express in Japanese, resulting in spellings such as フルシチョフ Furushichofu (Khrushchev), アリー・ハーメネイー Arī Hāmeneī (Ali Khamenei) and イツハク・パールマン Itsuhaku Pāruman or イツァーク・パールマン Itsāku Pāruman (Itzhak Perlman).

In modern times, an extended katakana system has developed to cater for foreign sounds not present in Japanese. Most of these novel katakana forms are digraphs, composed of standard katakana characters, but in digraph combinations not found in native words. For example, the word photo is transcribed as フォト (fo-to), where the novel digraph フォ (fo) is made up from フ (normally fu) plus a novel small combining form of オ (normally o). In other cases novel diacritics may be applied to create new sounds, such as ヴ for vu, which consists of ウ (u) combined with a dakuten to indicate a voiced pronunciation.

Japanese is written without spaces between words, and, to aid understanding, foreign phrases and names are sometimes transliterated with an interpunct separating the words, called a nakaguro (中黒, middle dot); for example, ビル・ゲイツ (Bill Gates). When it is assumed that the reader knows the separate gairaigo words in the phrase, the middle dot is omitted. For example, the phrase コンピューターゲーム konpyūtā gēmu ("computer game") contains two well-known gairaigo, and therefore is not written with a middle dot.

Katakana tables

The following tables give the Hepburn romanization and an approximate IPA transcription for katakana as used in contemporary Japanese. Their use in transcription is, of course, in the inverse direction.

Standard katakana

Notes

^ Prior to the e/ye merger in the mid-Heian period, a different character (𛀀) was used in position e.
^ ^a ^b Theoretical combinations yi and wu are unused . Some katakana were invented for them by linguists in the Edo and Meiji periods in order to fill out the table, but they were never actually used in normal writing.
^ The combination ye existed prior to the mid-Heian period and was represented in very early katakana, but has been extinct for over a thousand years, having merged with e in the 10th century. The ye katakana (エ) was adopted for e (displacing 𛀀, the character originally used for e); the alternate katakana 𛄡 was invented for ye in the Meiji period for use in representations of Old and Early Classical Japanese so as to avoid confusion with the modern use of エ for e.
^ ^a ^b ^c The characters in positions wi and we are obsolete in modern Japanese, and have been replaced by イ (i) and エ (e). The character wo, in practice normally pronounced o, is preserved in only one use: as a particle. This is normally written in hiragana (を), so katakana ヲ sees only limited use. See Gojūon and the articles on each character for details.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e The ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) kana (often romanised as ji and zu) are primarily used for etymological spelling , when the unvoiced equivalents チ (ti) and ツ (tu) (usually romanised as chi and tsu) undergo a sound change (rendaku) and become voiced when they occur in the middle of a compound word. In other cases, the identically-pronounced ジ (ji) and ズ (zu) are used instead. ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) can never begin a word, and they are not common in katakana, since the concept of rendaku does not apply to transcribed foreign words, one of the major uses of katakana.

Extended katakana

The following katakana have been developed or proposed specifically for the purposes of transcribing foreign words.

Colour key

Orange	General kana combinations used for loanwords or foreign place names or personal names, set forth by the Japanese government's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.^[1]
Blue	Combinations used for more accurate transliteration of foreign sounds, again set forth by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.^{[clarification needed]}
Beige	Suggestions by the American National Standards Institute^[2] and the British Standards Institution.^[3]
Purple	Combinations that appear on the 1974 version of the Hyōjun-shiki formatting.^[4]

Characters in gray are obsolete and rarely used for writing Japanese itself now.^{[clarification needed]}

References

^ "外来語の表記：文部科学省".
^ "■米国規格(ANSI Z39.11-1972)―要約". Retrieved 2011-01-24.
^ "■英国規格(BS 4812 : 1972)―要約". Retrieved 2011-01-24.
^ ローマ字文の手ほどき: 標準式ローマ字書き日本語の書き方

[oldE-1] Prior to the e/ye merger in the mid-Heian period, a different character (𛀀) was used in position e.

[unused-2] Theoretical combinations yi and wu are unused . Some katakana were invented for them by linguists in the Edo and Meiji periods in order to fill out the table, but they were never actually used in normal writing.

[extinct-3] The combination ye existed prior to the mid-Heian period and was represented in very early katakana, but has been extinct for over a thousand years, having merged with e in the 10th century. The ye katakana (エ) was adopted for e (displacing 𛀀, the character originally used for e); the alternate katakana 𛄡 was invented for ye in the Meiji period for use in representations of Old and Early Classical Japanese so as to avoid confusion with the modern use of エ for e.

[obsolete-4] The characters in positions wi and we are obsolete in modern Japanese, and have been replaced by イ (i) and エ (e). The character wo, in practice normally pronounced o, is preserved in only one use: as a particle. This is normally written in hiragana (を), so katakana ヲ sees only limited use. See Gojūon and the articles on each character for details.

[etymological-5] The ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) kana (often romanised as ji and zu) are primarily used for etymological spelling , when the unvoiced equivalents チ (ti) and ツ (tu) (usually romanised as chi and tsu) undergo a sound change (rendaku) and become voiced when they occur in the middle of a compound word. In other cases, the identically-pronounced ジ (ji) and ズ (zu) are used instead. ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) can never begin a word, and they are not common in katakana, since the concept of rendaku does not apply to transcribed foreign words, one of the major uses of katakana.

[6] "外来語の表記：文部科学省".

[7] "■米国規格(ANSI Z39.11-1972)―要約". Retrieved 2011-01-24.

[8] "■英国規格(BS 4812 : 1972)―要約". Retrieved 2011-01-24.

[9] ローマ字文の手ほどき: 標準式ローマ字書き日本語の書き方

[n 1]

[n 2]

[n 3]

[n 4]

[n 5]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

	Monographs (gojūon)					Digraphs (yōon)
	a	i	u	e	o	ya	yu	yo
∅	ア a [a]	イ i [i]	ウ u [ɯ]	エ e [e]^{[n 1]}	オ o [o]
K	カ ka [ka]	キ ki [ki]	ク ku [kɯ]	ケ ke [ke]	コ ko [ko]	キャ kya [kʲa]	キュ kyu [kʲɯ]	キョ kyo [kʲo]
S	サ sa [sa]	シ shi [ɕi]	ス su [sɯ]	セ se [se]	ソ so [so]	シャ sha [ɕa]	シュ shu [ɕɯ]	ショ sho [ɕo]
T	タ ta [ta]	チ chi [t͡ɕi]	ツ tsu [t͡sɯ]	テ te [te]	ト to [to]	チャ cha [t͡ɕa]	チュ chu [t͡ɕɯ]	チョ cho [t͡ɕo]
N	ナ na [na]	ニ ni [ɲi]	ヌ nu [nɯ]	ネ ne [ne]	ノ no [no]	ニャ nya [ɲa]	ニュ nyu [ɲɯ]	ニョ nyo [ɲo]
H	ハ ha [ha]	ヒ hi [çi]	フ fu [ɸɯ]	ヘ he [he]	ホ ho [ho]	ヒャ hya [ça]	ヒュ hyu [çɯ]	ヒョ hyo [ço]
M	マ ma [ma]	ミ mi [mi]	ム mu [mɯ]	メ me [me]	モ mo [mo]	ミャ mya [mʲa]	ミュ myu [mʲɯ]	ミョ myo [mʲo]
Y	ヤ ya [ja]	^{[n 2]}	ユ yu [jɯ]	エ ye [je] / [e]^{[n 3]}	ヨ yo [jo]
R	ラ ra [ɾa]	リ ri [ɾi]	ル ru [ɾɯ]	レ re [ɾe]	ロ ro [ɾo]	リャ rya [ɾʲa]	リュ ryu [ɾʲɯ]	リョ ryo [ɾʲo]
W	ワ wa [ɰa]	ヰ wi [ɰi] / [i]^{[n 4]}	^{[n 2]}	ヱ we [ɰe] / [e]^{[n 4]}	ヲ wo [ɰo] / [o]^{[n 4]}

	Monographs with diacritics: gojūon with (han)dakuten					Digraphs with diacritics: yōon with (han)dakuten
	a	i	u	e	o	ya	yu	yo
G	ガ ga [ɡa]	ギ gi [ɡi]	グ gu [ɡɯ]	ゲ ge [ɡe]	ゴ go [ɡo]	ギャ gya [ɡʲa]	ギュ gyu [ɡʲɯ]	ギョ gyo [ɡʲo]
Z	ザ za [za]	ジ ji [(d)ʑi]	ズ zu [(d)zɯ]	ゼ ze [ze]	ゾ zo [zo]	ジャ ja [(d)ʑa]	ジュ ju [(d)ʑɯ]	ジョ jo [(d)ʑo]
D	ダ da [da]	ヂ ji [(d)ʑi]^{[n 5]}	ヅ zu [(d)zɯ]^{[n 5]}	デ de [de]	ド do [do]	ヂャ ja [(d)ʑa]^{[n 5]}	ヂュ ju [(d)ʑɯ]^{[n 5]}	ヂョ jo [(d)ʑo]^{[n 5]}
B	バ ba [ba]	ビ bi [bi]	ブ bu [bɯ]	ベ be [be]	ボ bo [bo]	ビャ bya [bʲa]	ビュ byu [bʲɯ]	ビョ byo [bʲo]
P	パ pa [pa]	ピ pi [pi]	プ pu [pɯ]	ペ pe [pe]	ポ po [po]	ピャ pya [pʲa]	ピュ pyu [pʲɯ]	ピョ pyo [pʲo]

	Final nasal monograph	Polysyllabic monographs
	n	iu	koto	shite	toki	tomo	nari
*	ン n [m n ɲ ŋ ɴ ɰ̃]	iu [jɯː]	ヿ koto [koto]	shite [ɕite]	/ toki [toki]	tomo [tomo]	nari [naɾi]
*						゙ domo [domo]

	Functional graphemes
	sokuonfu	chōonpu	odoriji (monosyllable)	odoriji (polysyllable)
*	ッ (indicates a geminate consonant)	ー (indicates a long vowel)	ヽ (reduplicates and unvoices syllable)	〱 (reduplicates and unvoices syllable)
*			ヾ (reduplicates and voices syllable)	〱゙ (reduplicates and voices syllable)
*			ヽ゚ (reduplicates and voices syllable)	〱゚ (reduplicates and voices syllable)

	a	i	u	e	o	ya	yu	ye	yo
K								キェ kye†
Kw	クヮ kwa*	クィ kwi*		クェ kwe*	クォ kwo*
G								ギェ gye†
Gw	グヮ gwa*	グィ gwi†		グェ gwe†	グォ gwo†
S		スィ si‡						シェ she
Z J		ズィ zi‡						ジェ je
T		ティ ti	トゥ tu*				テュ tyu*	チェ che
Ts	ツァ tsa	ツィ tsi*		ツェ tse	ツォ tso
D		ディ di	ドゥ du*				デュ dyu
N								ニェ nye†
H			ホゥ hu‡					ヒェ hye†
F	ファ fa	フィ fi		フェ fe	フォ fo	フャ fya†	フュ fyu*	フィェ fye†	フョ fyo†
B								ビェ bye†
P								ピェ pye†
M								ミェ mye†
Y		イィ yi‡		イェ ye*
R								リェ rye†
W		ウィ wi*	ウゥ wu‡	ウェ we*	ウォ wo*		ウュ wyu†
V	(ヷ) ヴァ va*	(ヸ) ヴィ vi*	ヴ vu*	(ヹ) ヴェ ve*	(ヺ) ヴォ vo*	ヴャ vya†	ヴュ vyu*	ヴィェ vye†	ヴョ vyo†

Practicalities of transcription

Katakana tables

Standard katakana

Extended katakana

See also

References