How To Convert English Phrases to Japanese

Japanese phrases that even essentially the most proficient learners of the language discover the toughest to pronounce will be, sarcastically, those borrowed from their very own native tongue.

My spouse, who’s initially from america and now’s a fluent speaker of Japanese after residing in Japan for 15 years, nonetheless struggles to pronounce one in all her house nation’s most well-known manufacturers — “McDonald’s,” which in Japanese is マクドナルド (makudonarudo).

Understanding how katakanization works is a vital sensible ability for native English audio system who examine Japanese.

Phrases of English origin, once they get transformed to katakana, typically throw off native audio system of English. It is because it is arduous to unlearn their native tongue’s phonology — the sound system with a algorithm that they subconsciously comply with since their early childhood — after which modify the unique sound to match the Japanese phonology. I name this course of katakanization as a result of international phrases tailored into Japanese are usually spelled with katakana characters and are generally known as katakana-go (katakana phrases).

In my view as a local speaker of Japanese and a language lover, realizing how katakanization works is a vital sensible ability for native English audio system who examine Japanese. Not solely can the power to pronounce these phrases aid you to be extra simply understood by Japanese audio system, it additionally has the additional benefit of increasing your vocabulary, and nearly instantaneously, with out as a lot effort as you may suppose. And as you may already know, we use a number of katakanized loanwords of English origin. Like, so much.

So I’m writing this text with the hope of serving to native-English-speaking Japanese learners who battle with one of many largest quirks of the Japanese language — katakana phrases. Later on this article, you’ll study three primary guidelines for methods to katakanize English phrases. I’m hoping they are going to aid you to have the ability to katakanize phrases by yourself so as to pronounce phrases of English origin in a approach that Japanese audio system can simply perceive.

Conditions: To get essentially the most out of this text, it is best to already know katakana (particularly methods to pronounce them). If you’ll want to brush up, take a look at our Final Katakana Information.

Why Katakanize?

Earlier than moving into the essential katakanization guidelines, first, let me clarify a bit extra about why I believe it is best to study them.

No person Desires That “Oh-No-This-Individual-Is-Speaking-to-Me-in-English Look,” Proper?

Probably the most widespread causes I hear some learners (even when their Japanese is fairly superior) keep away from katakanizing English phrases is, “Why cannot I simply pronounce English phrases accurately?”

The reply is fairly easy. Many Japanese audio system would not have the ability to perceive it until they know the unique English pronunciation of the phrase. Is not “having the ability to talk with Japanese folks” the entire level of finding out Japanese (at the very least, for a lot of of you), anyway?

Code-switching to your native tongue compromises intelligibility.

Whereas code-switching to your native tongue might provide you with some authenticity because the speaker of the unique language, it compromises intelligibility. You can attempt asking “McDonald’s-tte doko desu ka?” (The place is McDonald’s?) with perfectly-pronounced McDonald’s on the road in Japan. You can additionally attempt asking the place “Seven-Eleven” is with out katakanizing it to sebun irebun (セブンイレブン). In both case, you’ll probably get that horrified, oh-no-this-person-is-talking-to-me-in-English look.

Observe that for katakanized phrases which are notably lengthy and could be a little bit trippy, you’ll be able to normally shorten them — in truth, many Japanese folks do! Take the earlier instance of マクドナルド; this may be shortened to マック or マクド. Equally, セブンイレブン turns into セブン. So don’t fret if you do not have full confidence of pronunciation simply at the beginning.

Japanese Audio system Use English Loanwords, Like A Lot

Japanese folks use 3,000 – 5,000 loanwords in every day conversations, and 94% of them are of English origin.

Names of restaurant and retailer chains aren’t the one English phrases borrowed into the Japanese language. English-derived loanwords have been deeply woven into Japanese, each written and spoken. A examine from the Nineties ^{confirmed that over 35% of all vocabulary printed in 70 Japanese magazines had been international loanwords, most of them being of English origin. A 2010 ebook about wasei eigo (Japan-made English) additionally indicated that Japanese folks use 3,000 – 5,000 loanwords in every day conversations, and 94% of them are of English origin. In fact, these research are from years in the past, so we in all probability use much more katakana phrases in Japanese at this time. The purpose is, it is so arduous to hold on conversations in Japanese with out Western loanwords that Japan even has a consuming recreation the place it’s a must to take a shot each time you utilize one!}

The portion of English loanwords in Japanese is rising with the inflow of recent applied sciences and ideas are evident in software program manuals like: アイコンをダブルクリックしてアプリケーションをインストールします icon-o doubleclick-shite application-o install-shimasu “Doubleclick the icon to put in the applying.” With this, it is turning into all of the extra helpful to understand how katakanization works. Whereas having to Japanize your native tongue could be a problem, it might aid you turn out to be extra approachable for individuals who grew up talking Japanese.

Unpronounceable English Sounds

You might also need to ask why Japanese audio system katakanize English phrases within the first place. It is just because many sound patterns in English aren’t permitted within the Japanese phonology, identical to the French guttural /r/ is not in English. One of many (many) the explanation why English pronunciation is a pure nightmare for Japanese highschool youngsters is that Japanese doesn’t enable any syllables ending with a consonant excluding /n/ (ン). English has 1000’s of phrases ending with consonants like cat, look and ship however they’re merely unpronounceable within the Japanese phonological universe.

There is no such thing as a alternative aside from to katakanize loanwords to make them pronounceable throughout the Japanese phonology.

Complicated syllables like energy, sixth and garments are much more unpronounceable for Japanese audio system as a result of the Japanese phonology does not allow two or extra consonants to be squeezed collectively. The English /th/ sound is completely impermissible in Japanese — in truth, in most human languages ^{— and subsequently must be changed with the closest Japanese sound /s/ as in surī (スリー) “three.” Merely put, there isn’t any alternative aside from to katakanize them to make them pronounceable throughout the Japanese phonology.}

So katakanization does not precisely occur due to the writing system. It is exactly due to the Japanese phonology that governs how phrases are pronounced within the language.

Primary Conversion Guidelines

So how precisely does katakanization work? Though we’ve some exceptions, there are three primary conversion guidelines that native Japanese audio system subconsciously apply.

Observe: IPA symbols we use on this article are primarily based on American English pronunciations.

Rule #1: Add Vowels

When a consonant isn’t instantly adopted by a vowel, you add a vowel.

It is because every sound normally includes a vowel in Japanese. The ン (/n/, or /m/) sound is an exception, however apart from that, a unit of Japanese sounds is both a single vowel like ア /a/ – イ /i/ – ウ /u/ – エ /e/ – オ /o/, or a set of consonant and a vowel like カ /ka/ – キ /ki/ – ク /ku/ – ケ /ke/ – コ /ko/. If you know the way katakana works, this in all probability is sensible to you.

Now, what vowel ought to I be including, proper? That’s:

• /o/ after /t/ or /d/
• /i/ after /ch/ or /j/
• Nothing after /n/ and /r/
• /u/ elsewhere.

Let’s use the phrase “threat” for instance. First, r is adopted by a vowel i, so that you simply depart it alone. However the remaining, s and ok aren’t adopted by a vowel. For s, you add u. For ok, add u. And you will get ri-su-ku — リスク.

Check out one other instance — the phrase “dimension.” While you attempt to parse it, you see two pairs of a consonant and a vowel — si and ze. So it could be… シゼ…? No, not that. Watch out to not get confused with the spelling and the sound. The phrase “dimension” feels like “saiz,” proper? In case you’ll be able to’t consider the phonetic spelling off the highest of your head, there are converters like this which may come useful for katakanization. Now, going again to the “dimension (saiz)”, z is the one sound that is not adopted by a vowel. So that you add a u there, and now you’ve got obtained sa-i-zu — サイズ. That is the way you write and say “dimension” in Japanese.

Rule #2: Change Sounds

Change illegitimate sounds with related legit Japanese sounds.

You may already know this, however the Japanese language has fewer sounds than the sounds English has. Like I discussed earlier, the th /θ/ sound does not actually exist in Japanese, and the closest sound is the s sound. For this reason “three” turns into surii (スリー) and “thanks” turns into sankyū (サンキュー) in Japanese. Identical to that, for sounds that the Japanese language does not have, you may be changing sounds with the Japanese equivalents. Now let’s take a deeper look.

Vowels

As you might know, Japanese has solely 5 vowel sounds ア, イ, ウ, エ, and オ. That is clearly extra restricted in comparison with English — for instance, English has three “a” sounds (/æ/, /ʌ/, /ə/), however ア replaces all of them.

All examples above begin with vowels for the sake of instance, however in fact, this substitute rule applies to a mixture of vowels and consonants.

Phrases “hat” and “hut” — they’ve the totally different “a” sounds, however in Japanese, they each get transformed to ハット as a result of the /æ/ and /ʌ/ sounds each substitute to ア. This implies “cowboy hat” (カウボーイハット) and “Pizza Hut” (ピザハット) — they each use ハット regardless of the distinction within the English sounds.

Additionally, with regards to vowels, take note of the size of the vowel in query. Lengthy, prolonged vowel sounds are represented as “ー,” the hyphen-looking image in Japanese. For instance, “pull” is プル (puru), however “pool” is プール (pūru). An /r/ after a vowel as in automobile, 4 and earth turns into the extension of the vowel as effectively. So, very like in British English, automobile is カー (kā), 4 is フォー (fō) and earth is アース (āsu).

Consonants

Now, onto consonants! Identical to a number of the vowels, there are a number of English consonant sounds that do not actually exist in Japanese, and thus get changed with the closest sound as an alternative. Listed here are some examples.

Now, taking a look at this record, are you able to guess what the phrase “stomach” would appear like in katakana?

Stomach can be ベリー, identical to “berry” and “very.” That is as a result of there is not any distinction in sound between “b” and “v” nor “r” and “l” in Japanese. ベリー attention-grabbing (…and probably ベリー complicated), proper?

There are additionally a number of consonant + vowel pairs that we pronounce in a different way in English but get represented with the identical katakana character in Japanese. These variations may be extra delicate than those proven above, however for instance, si and shi each turn out to be シ. So “sea” and “she” each turn out to be シー in katakana. Equally, the voiced variations of those sounds, “zi” and “ji” each turn out to be ジ.

Rule #3: Duplicate Consonants

Duplicate the “cease” consonant on the finish of the phrase if it happens after a brief vowel.

Bit, dip, look… What makes these phrases sound so skippy? It’s the fast “pause” between sounds. In romaji to signify this sort of sound, we use duplicated consonants like bitto, proper? In katakana, we use ッ (the small tsu) as in ビット to signify these fast pauses. You may be duplicating the “cease” consonants, that are /p/, /b/, /ch/, /j/, /t/, /d/, /ok/ and /g/ — sounds you make by blocking the air circulate.

Now, let’s follow katakanizing “dip” and “look” — “dip” turns into ディップ (dippu) and “look” turns into ルック(rukku). Are you getting the gist?

Keep in mind this rule usually applies to the final syllable solely. For instance, picnic turns into pikunikku (ピクニック) as an alternative of pikkunikku (ピックニック). Additionally do not forget this solely occurs to the consonant after a quick vowel versus lengthy vowels, like beat, deep, or Luke.

Congrats, you’ve got simply discovered the three primary guidelines of katakanization! Though these three guidelines account for many katakanization processes, they will not merely make you a grasp of katakanization. You may nonetheless encounter curve balls and a few tough ones — for these, you continue to must make small changes right here and there.

Mixture Katakana

When you’re hoping to take your katakanization to the subsequent stage, it could be a good suggestion to overview mixture katakana. Mixture katakana are katakana characters product of a mixture with a small character like フォ, ティ, or ジュ.

For instance, you may count on “cat” to turn out to be katto (カット), however it really must be kyatto (キャット) as a result of the vowel of cat makes the c sound extra just like the Japanese /kya/ sound than the /ka/ sound. Equally, “hole” turns into gyappu (ギャップ) as an alternative of gappu (ガップ). That is too simple? These may be comparatively widespread katakana combos, however there are some curveballs you won’t be so aware of — like トゥ as in トゥモロー (tomorrow), or デュ as in デュエット (duet).

These mixture katakana are the unsung heroes of katakana. They permit us to signify sounds that we did not have in Japanese — the sounds are even nearer to the unique English pronunciations.

Immediately, loanwords generally tend to use mixture katakana to higher signify the unique sounds.

Nevertheless, mixture katakana will be much less acquainted and not-so-easy-to-pronounce for Japanese audio system, particularly older people. Immediately, loanwords generally tend to use mixture katakana to higher signify the unique sounds, however this wasn’t at all times the case. For instance, “thought” was once generally written as アイデア in katakana, however lately, アイディア is way extra widespread. And, this results in the subsequent word: be careful for older loanwords!

Watch Out for Older Loanwords

A few of you will have already observed widespread English loanwords do not actually comply with the essential guidelines. Like, kēki (ケーキ) “cake” not being kēku (ケーク), rajio (ラジオ) “radio” not being reidio (レイディオ) and kariforunia (カリフォルニア) “California” nor being kyarifōnia (キャリフォーニア). That’s as a result of these phrases are comparatively outdated borrowings that got here to Japan earlier than the conversion guidelines grew to become constant.

Older loanwords are sometimes the best way they’re for customary causes — you may want to recollect methods to spell them in katakana.

As you may’ve observed, part of this motive is the no-use of mixture katakana. Sounds that we historically did not have or unusual sounds in Japanese had been changed with ones simpler to pronounce and acknowledge for Japanese audio system. So in the event that they had been borrowed at this time, they’d be katakanized in a different way — like レイディオ. Nevertheless, a lot of them stay the identical regardless of the change as we’re already used to the best way they’re! Which means, older loanwords are sometimes the best way they’re for customary causes — you may want to recollect methods to spell them in katakana.

Katakanize Like a Professional

Katakanization could be a problem for native-English-speaking learners, even those that are already fluent in Japanese. Nevertheless, do not forget studying methods to katakanize won’t solely aid you higher acclimate to Japanese phonology and enhance your general pronunciation, but in addition make your spoken Japanese extra understandable and approachable. And in the event you take a look at it from a unique perspective — being an English speaker will also be a bonus in Japanese studying if you know the way katakanization works. While you begin having the ability to convert English phrases to katakana easily, and acknowledge extra katakana phrases that Japanese audio system use, you’ll be stunned what number of phrases you recognize already!

I hope the three primary guidelines and additional suggestions aid you construct basis for katakana conversion. It’s a extremely sensible ability and probably a recreation changer to carry your Japanese to the subsequent stage. So, preserve katakanizing and continue to learn — Guddo rakku!