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The transcription of English to Japanese has been done since the earliest cultural contacts between English speakers and Japanese. During the Edo period, kanji were used phonetically to write English and other foreign words, but in the modern period katakana have become the principal target script. Unlike the systems for romaji, there is no standard for transcribing into katakana, and methods vary. However, generally all methods attempt to preserve the pronunciation of English, not the spelling. That is, transcription not transliteration is done.
This article deals with transcription of English words into the nearest phonetic equivalent in Japanese. For the transcription of English words into Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) please see ateji.
Reasons for transcribing
The purpose of the transcription partly determines how it is done. There are reasons why one would want to transcribe an English word to Japanese: Many legal documents, such as company registrations, require that only Japanese script is used. A computer database may need entry in Japanese script for the purpose of sorting and collation. Educators want to explain the pronunciation of English words by transcribing. Loan words from English are usually written in a transcribed form. Or one may simply be interested in how one's name looks in Japanese.
Accordingly, there are different priorities for the transcriber. The educator might want to indicate many of the subtleties of English pronunciation whereas a person naming a new product might be more concerned with the ease of pronunciation for native speakers of Japanese.
Difficulties
Japanese distinguishes fewer sounds than English. For example, Japanese does not distinguish the vowel sound of "run" and "ran", or the consonant sound of "row" and "low". Moreover the rules by which sounds can be combined in Japanese are generally more restrictive than the English rules. As a result, the pronunciation of the transcribed word can differ quite considerably from the original word in English.
If writing for a Japanese audience, it is worth checking whether there is already an accepted transcription into Japanese, and whether the meaning of the new word has changed in Japanese. The word mishin illustrates both pitfalls: not only is this an unexpected rendering of the English word "machine", but the Japanese word's meaning is limited to sewing machines. It is also worth noting that some terms which may at first glance appear to be mangled English loanwords are, in fact, loans from other languages: koppu (drinking glass) is not a version of the English "cup" but a loan of Dutch kop, and tabako is from Portuguese tabaco, not from "tobacco".
Procedure for transcription
Most Japanese people do not use a systematic procedure for transcription; instead they transcribe according to their perception of the English pronunciation. However, the process can be represented formally as a set of transformations, which is presented in one possible order below. Proficient Japanese speakers internalize the transformations and perform them all simultaneously when inserting English words into written or spoken Japanese.
Step 1: Transcribe the English phonetically
The first step is to start with a phonetic representation of the English word, as distinct from the spelling. The phonetic transcription should reflect the careful pronunciation of the word. Spelling can often mislead as to what the pronunciation is. If there is any doubt, a dictionary will provide an accurate indication of what the sounds are. The letter x typically corresponds to two sounds (ks) and the digraphs sh, ch, and th correspond to a single sound. The English sounds in the examples below are in the International Phonetic Alphabet. (See International Phonetic Alphabet for English and IPA chart for English for explanation of these symbols used for transcribing English.)Step 2: Transform the vowels from English to Japanese
Japanese has a different and smaller sound set than English, so many sounds have to be changed to equivalent or similar sounds in Japanese. The Romanization system used here is a variation of the Hepburn system, where long vowels are represented by doubled letters (ii, ee, aa, oo, uu) and the moraic nasal is represented with capital N.Vowels need to be changed to correspond to use the five Japanese vowels. Typically, the vowels used in a British Received Pronunciation are used as the base English vowels for transcription, using the following system, where doubled vowels mean long (2-mora) vowels:
| English | Japanese | Example word | Japanese transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
| aa, a | father, arm | fazaa, aamu | |
| ii | she | shii | |
| i | pig | piggu | |
| e | bed | beddo | |
| aa, a | bird | baado | |
| a | hamburger | haNbaagaa | |
| after | kya (yōon) | cat | kyatto |
| a | country | kaNtorii | |
| spelt with an "o" | o | monkey, front, London | moNkii, furoNto, roNdoN |
| o | box | bokkusu | |
| oo | straw, port | sutoroo, pooto | |
| u | book | bukku | |
| uu | balloon | baruuN | |
| non-final | not fixed, based on spelling. | about, pilot, London | abauto, pairotto, roNdoN |
| final position | aa | winner, hamburger | uinaa, haNbaagaa |
| ei, ee, e | day, David | dei, debiddo | |
| ai | my | mai | |
| ooi, oi | boy, toy | booi, toi | |
| o, oo | phone, no | foN, noo | |
| au | now | nau | |
| ia, iaa | queer | kuia, kuiaa | |
| ea, eaa | hair | hea, heaa | |
| uaa | tour | tsuaa | |
| juu | cube | kyuubu |
In rhotic dialects of English, r sounds at the end of syllables, but for the purpose of transcription into Japanese, this sound transcribes into a vowel sequence ending in a, except for the sequence , which corresponds to Received Pronunciation , and is transcribed as oo. That is, car becomes kaa not karu, and pork becomes pooku not poruku.
Step 3: Transform consonants
Some consonants require changing during transcription into Japanese. This process has three substeps:Transform non-Japanese sounds to closest Japanese equivalents
First, English has a few consonant sounds that Japanese lacks, so they must be transcribed into sounds that Japanese has.| English | Japanese | example |
| s | thin → siN | |
| z | that → zatto | |
| l | r | left, milk → refuto, miruku |
| (when spelled "ng") | Ng, N | song → soNgu |
| (when spelled "nk" or "nc") | N | ink → iNku |
| w | u | wind → uiNdo |
| v | b | David → debiddo |
Palatalize coronal obstruents
Next, Japanese requires coronal obstruents "s", "z", "t", "d" to be palatalized when they occur before the vowel i, so if these consonants occur before "i", either they change to their palatalized form or the vowel "i" changes to "e":- "si" changes to "shi" (Remember "si" might come originally from "thi", as in thick).
- "ti" changes to "chi" or "te"
- "di" changes to "ji" or "de"
- "zi" changes to "ji"
Double voiceless obstruents after short vowels
In Japanese, the voiceless obstruents "p", "t", "k", "s", "ch", and "sh" have geminate (doubled) forms, written using a sokuon (small tsu) character, and in English transcription these geminates are used after short vowels. Short vowels are vowels which are transcribed using the vowel table above using a single vowel ("a", "e", "i", "o", or "u"). This transformation is usually but not always applied in the middle of a word. Also, sometimes syllable-final "t" is transformed to "ts" instead of "tt".| single | double | example |
| p | pp | pop → poppu |
| t | tt | cut → katto |
| k | kk | pack → pakku |
| s | ss | kiss → kissu |
| ch | tch | patch → patchi |
| sh | ssh | mesh → messhu |
Step 4: Add epenthetic vowels
Japanese has strict constraints on the structure of syllables, and any syllables that violate these constraints have vowels inserted until the constraints are met. These are called epenthetic vowels.- The only consonant clusters (sequences of consonants with no intervening vowels) allowed in Japanese are the geminate (doubled) consonants cch, mm, nn, ss, ssh, tch and tt. However, the sounds represented by the English digraphs ch, sh, and ts are considered single sounds for the purpose of transcribing into Japanese.
- Japanese syllables can only end in vowels and the sound n.
Any sequence of sounds that does not obey these rules must have epenthetic vowels inserted. The epenthetic vowel is usually "u", but there are a few exceptions:
- "t" and "d" take "o" as an epenthetic vowel, because they would otherwise become palatalized "tsu" and "zu" if followed by "u".
- "ch" takes "i" as an epenthetic vowel.
- "k" usually takes "u" as an epenthetic vowel, but sometimes it takes "i".
Step 5: Break into morae
Japanese is divided into morae, with each mora containing one of the following:- A consonant and a single vowel (CV)
- A consonant, "j" and a single vowel (CjV)
- A single vowel (V)
- Moraic (final) "n" (N) ン
- Doubled (geminate) consonant ッ
Step 6: Transcribe rōmaji into katakana
Each mora corresponds to one or sometimes two katakana characters. The second mora of a long vowel is uniformly transcribed as ー in katakana. Moraic "n" (transcribed here as "N") is ン in katakana.Examples
| English | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 | Step 6 |
| Amazon | amazon | amazon | amazoN | a.ma.zo.N | ||
| baht | baat | baats | baatsu | ba.a.tsu | ||
| boxing | boksing | bokshiNg | bokushiNgu | bo.ku.shi.N.gu | ||
| Brisbane | brizben | brisbeN | burisubeN | bu.ri.su.be.N | ||
| church | chaach | chaach | chaachi | cha.a.chi | ||
| Cornell | koonel | kooner | kooneru | ko.o.ne.ru | ||
| craft | kraft | kraft | kurafuto | ku.ra.fu.to | ||
| Crawford | kroofood | kroofood | kuroofoodo | ku.ro.o.fo.o.do | ||
| earthling | aaθling | aasriNg | aasuriNgu | a.a.su.ri.N.gu | ||
| elevator | eleveeta | erebeeta | erebeeta | e.re.be.e.ta | ||
| exit | ekzit | ekjitt | ekijitto | e.ki.ji.t.to | ||
| exotic | ekzotik | ekzochikk | ekizochikku | e.ki.zo.chi.k.ku | ||
| fox | foks | fokks | fokkusu | fo.k.ku.su | ||
| guugul | guugur | guuguru | gu.u.gu.ru | |||
| Harvard | haavaad | haabaad | haabaado | ha.a.ba.a.do | ||
| hotel | hotel | hoter | hoteru | ho.te.ru | ||
| Liverpool | livapuul | rivapuur | rivapuuru | ri.va.pu.u.ru | ||
| Massachusetts | masachuusets | masachuusetts | masachuusettsu | ma.sa.chu.u.se.t.tsu | ||
| McDonald | makdonald | makdonard | makudonarudo | ma.ku.do.na.ru.do | ||
| Mexico | meksiko | mekshiko | mekishiko | me.ki.shi.ko | ||
| Microsoft | maikrosoft | maikrosoft | maikurosofuto | ma.i.ku.ro.so.fu.to | ||
| nation | neishon | neishoN | neishoN | ne.i.sho.n | ||
| New Orleans | nyuuoolinz | nyuuooriNz | nyuuooriNzu | nyu.u.o.o.ri.N.zu | ||
| Pentium | pentiam | peNtiam | peNtiamu | pe.N.ti.a.mu | ||
| Phillip | filip | firipp | firippu | fi.ri.p.pu | ||
| robot | robot | robott | robotto | ro.bo.t.to | ||
| Sydney | sidnii | shidnii | shidonii | shi.do.ni.i | ||
| taxi | taksi | takshii | takushii | ta.ku.shi.i | ||
| Texas | teksas | teksas | tekisasu | te.ki.sa.su | ||
| Washington | wɑshington | washiNtoN | washiNtoN | wa.shi.N.to.N |
Transcribing multiple words
In some instances, such as language textbooks or song lyrics, phrases or entire sentences may be transcribed into Japanese.
Multiple word transcription is typically done on a word-by-word basis, with no account being taken of word linking. For example, "an engineer" would most naturally be transcribed into Japanese as "a.n.e.n.ji.ni.a" rather than the more natural "a.ne.n.ji.ni.a", with the linking between the "n" and "e" represented by the Japanese mora "ne". In some set phrases, such as "kaman" for "come on", this general trend is broken.
Example of transcribing a whole sentence
English: "My hovercraft is full of eels."
Step 1:
Step 2-3: "mai hobaakraft iz ful ob iirz"
Step 4: "mai hobaakurafuto izu furu obu iiruzu"
Step 5 "ma.i ho.ba.a.ku.ra.fu.to i.zu fu.ru o.bu i.i.ru.zu"
Step 6 「マイ ホバークラフト イズ フル オブ イールズ」
External links
Loan Words from English (section of A Logical Japanese Grammar) Japanese phonology
"Transcribing English to Japanese"