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English to Japanese

In this barber's sign, the English "thank you cut" has been transformed into "3 (san) Q".

This article discusses how to transcribe an English word into Japanese script. Japanese usually writes words from English and other languages in katakana. English spelling is not phonetic, in other words the spelling may not represent the way the word is pronounced. Japanese katakana is phonetic, so the katakana transcription of an English word is usually based on its pronunciation rather than its spelling.

The first place to look for a Japanese version of an English word is a dictionary, to find the usual katakana equivalent. If the word is not in the dictionary, try to find a Japanese person to help you. If you can't find anyone, appendix 1 of the book A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar contains a list of rules for transcribing English into Japanese.

If that fails, transcribing an English word into Japanese is tricky. It depends on how the word is heard by native speakers. Some Japanese versions of English words, such as guzzu for goods, are not intuitive to English speakers who don't know Japanese. Some Japanese representations are based on spelling as well as pronunciation. For example the Japanese monkii for English "monkey" would be mankii if the Japanese was based on the pronunciation alone.

Rules for conversion

  • Plurals usually become singular, thus "pyjamas" becomes pajama, "slippers" becomes suripaa, etc.
  • Words with existing Japanese gairaigo forms sometimes keep that form. For example, "black coffee" becomes burakku koohii, even though the word koohii for coffee originally comes from Dutch. On the other hand, "beer garden" became bia gaaden, although the Japanese word for beer is biiru, from German.

    • Vowel conversions

    Japanese has fewer vowels than English, only five, and thus multiple English vowels may turn into the same Japanese vowels. For example, both the English vowel {{IPA|æ}} in "thank" and the vowel {{IPA|ʌ}} in "cut" become the Japanese a vowel. Similarly, long vowels {{IPA|ɑː}} and {{IPA|ɜː}} both become Japanese aa.
    English vowel Japanese Example word Japanese transcription
    Short vowels
    {{IPA|ɪ}} i pit pitto, ピット
    {{IPA|ɛ}} e pet petto, ペット
    {{IPA|æ}} a ham hamu, ハム
    {{IPA|æ}} after {{IPA|k}} kya (yōon) cap kyappu, キャップ
    {{IPA|ʌ}} a mug magu, マグ
    {{IPA|ʌ}} spelt with an "o" o (sometimes) m{{different|o}}nkey, fr{{different|o}}nt, L{{different|o}}ndon monkii, モンキー, furonto, フロント, rondon, ロンドン
    {{IPA|ɒ}} o socks sokkusu, ソックス
    {{IPA|ʊ}} u book bukku, ブック
    Schwa
    non-final {{IPA|ə}} not fixed, based on spelling. {{different|a}}bout, pil{{different|o}}t, Lond{{different|o}}n abauto, アバウト, pairotto, パイロト, rondon, ロンドン
    final position {{IPA|ə}} aa carri{{different|er}}, hamburg{{different|er}} kyariaa, キャリアー, hanbaagaa, ハンバーガ
    Long vowels
    {{IPA|ɑː}} aa, a car kaa, カー
    {{IPA|iː}} ii shield shiirudo, シールド
    {{IPA|ɔː}} oo horse hōsu
    oa door doa, ドア
    {{IPA|ɜː}} aa bird baado, バード
    {{IPA|uː}} ū shoe shū, シュー
    {{IPA|juː}} jū cube kyūbu, キューブ
    Diphthongs
    {{IPA|eɪ}} ei day dei, デイ
    {{IPA|aɪ}} ai my mai, マイ
    {{IPA|ɔɪ}} ōi boy bōi, ボーイ
    oi toy toi, トイ
    {{IPA|əʊ}} o phone fon, フォン
    ō no nō, ノー
    {{IPA|aʊ}} au now nau, ナウ
    {{IPA|ɪə}} ia pierce piasu, ピアス
    {{IPA|ɛə}} ea hair hea, ヘア
    {{IPA|ʊə}} uaa tour tsuaa, ツアー

    Consonant substitution

    English Japanese English example Japanese example
    {{IPA|θ}} s (sagyō) think shinku, シンク
    {{IPA|ð}} z (zagyō) the za, ザ
    r r right raito, ライト
    l r link rinku, リンク
    {{IPA|ŋ}} spelt "ng" ng singer shingaa, シンガー
    n (occasionally) Washington
    surfing    		 washinton, ワシントン
    saafin, サーフィン
    {{IPA|ŋ}} spelt "nk" or "nc" n sink shinku, シンク
    v b love rabu, ラブ
    consonants taking small vowel kana
    w u + small vowel kana win uin, ウィン
    f hu + small vowel kana fight faito, ファイト

    Special consonant and vowel combinations

    English Japanese English example Japanese example
    ti, di te or de + small i (newer method) Disney dizunii, ディズニー
    chi, ji (older method)
    tu to + small u (newer method)
    tsu two tsū, ツー

    Consonant clusters

    Cluster Japanese (romaji) English example Japanese example Notes
    {{IPA|dz}} zzu goods guzzu

    Conversions based on spelling

    Label from a children's toy called "funky monkey buggy"
    Although most of the conversion from an English word into Japanese is based on the pronunciation, in several cases the pronunciation is based on spelling. In particular the schwa sound, the "uh" at the end of "doctor", has no near equivalent in Japanese and so is usually transcribed depending on the spelling of the vowel. Other cases where spelling takes precedence include the {{IPA|ʌ}} vowel, the "u" in "cup" and "hut", which is usually a, but when spelt with an o becomes o. As seen in the image, the three words, "funky" "monkey" and "buggy" all have the same vowel sound, but in Japanese the word "monkey" is transcribed into monkii rather than mankii.

    In some cases, a mis-reading of a word survives into Japanese. For example, the woodworking tool "router", which should have become rautaa, is universally known as a ruutaa, based on the spelling.

    Transcription of names

    Names are a case where Japanese tend to transcribe into equivalent versions not based on the pronunciation. For example, the English name Sarah is often transcribed into Sara rather than seeraa. Naomi is transcribed into Naomi, a common Japanese female name, rather than neeomi, a much closer representation of the pronunciation. Similarly, Thomas is transcribed as Toomasu using a long first vowel, and even more extremely, Paul may be transcribed into Paoro.

    For people who want to transcribe their katakana names into kanji, for instance for the purpose of making a hanko (判子) (Japanese seal used in place of a signature), the book Write your name in kanji may be useful, or just use the index of any kanji dictionary to find things that fit your name. Note however that registered seals (the ones needed for house or car purchases) are required to show exactly the same name as is written on your alien registration card.

    Useful web links

  • {{breen|wwwjnames.html|WWWJNAMES}}
  • Eri Takase - How to write names in Japanese