How To Convert English Phrases to Japanese

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

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

Realizing how katakanization works is a crucial sensible talent for native English audio system who examine Japanese.

Phrases of English origin, once they get transformed to katakana, usually throw off native audio system of English. It is because it is onerous 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 sometimes 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, understanding how katakanization works is a crucial sensible talent for native English audio system who examine Japanese. Not solely can the flexibility 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 virtually instantaneously, with out as a lot effort as you would possibly assume. And as you would possibly already know, we use numerous katakanized loanwords of English origin. Like, lots.

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 be taught three fundamental guidelines for easy methods to katakanize English phrases. I’m hoping they are going to aid you to have the ability to katakanize phrases by yourself so to pronounce phrases of English origin in a approach that Japanese audio system can simply perceive.

Conditions: To get probably the most out of this text, you must already know katakana (particularly easy methods to pronounce them). If it’s essential 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 slightly extra about why I feel you must be taught them.

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

One of the frequent 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 appropriately?”

The reply is fairly easy. Many Japanese audio system would not be capable of perceive it except they know the unique English pronunciation of the phrase. Is not “with the ability to talk with Japanese folks” the entire level of learning Japanese (a minimum of, for a lot of of you), anyway?

Code-switching to your native tongue compromises intelligibility.

Whereas code-switching to your native tongue could provide you with some authenticity because the speaker of the unique language, it compromises intelligibility. You can strive 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 strive asking the place “Seven-Eleven” is with out katakanizing it to sebun irebun (セブンイレブン). In both case, you’d more than likely get that horrified, oh-no-this-person-is-talking-to-me-in-English look.

Word that for katakanized phrases which can be notably lengthy and could be a little bit trippy, you may normally shorten them — in reality, 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 day by 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 have been international loanwords, most of them being of English origin. A 2010 e book about wasei eigo (Japan-made English) additionally indicated that Japanese folks use 3,000 – 5,000 loanwords in day by day conversations, and 94% of them are of English origin. After all, these research are from years in the past, so we in all probability use much more katakana phrases in Japanese at present. The purpose is, it is so onerous to hold on conversations in Japanese with out Western loanwords that Japan even has a ingesting sport the place you must take a shot each time you employ one!}

The portion of English loanwords in Japanese is growing with the inflow of latest 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 appliance.” With this, it is turning into all of the extra useful to know the way katakanization works. Whereas having to Japanize your native tongue could be a problem, it could aid you turn into extra approachable for individuals who grew up talking Japanese.

Unpronounceable English Sounds

You might also wish 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, similar to the French guttural /r/ is not in English. One of many (many) the reason why English pronunciation is a pure nightmare for Japanese highschool youngsters is that Japanese doesn’t enable any syllables ending with a consonant except for /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 isn’t a selection aside from to katakanize loanwords to make them pronounceable throughout the Japanese phonology.

Advanced syllables like power, sixth and garments are much more unpronounceable for Japanese audio system as a result of the Japanese phonology would not allow two or extra consonants to be squeezed collectively. The English /th/ sound is completely impermissible in Japanese — in reality, 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 a selection aside from to katakanize them to make them pronounceable throughout the Japanese phonology.}

So katakanization would 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 now have some exceptions, there are three fundamental conversion guidelines that native Japanese audio system subconsciously apply.

Word: IPA symbols we use on this article are based mostly on American English pronunciations.

Rule #1: Add Vowels

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

It is because every sound normally entails a vowel in Japanese. The ン (/n/, or /m/) sound is an exception, however moreover 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 smart 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 “danger” for instance. First, r is adopted by a vowel i, so that you simply depart it alone. However the remainder, 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 “measurement.” Once 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 “measurement” seems like “saiz,” proper? In case you may’t consider the phonetic spelling off the highest of your head, there are converters like this which may come helpful for katakanization. Now, going again to the “measurement (saiz)”, z is the one sound that is not adopted by a vowel. So that you add a u there, and now you have obtained sa-i-zu — サイズ. That is the way you write and say “measurement” in Japanese.

Rule #2: Change Sounds

Change illegitimate sounds with comparable reliable Japanese sounds.

You would possibly already know this, however the Japanese language has fewer sounds than the sounds English has. Like I discussed earlier, the th /θ/ sound would not actually exist in Japanese, and the closest sound is the s sound. Because of this “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 would not have, you will be changing sounds with the Japanese equivalents. Now let’s take a deeper look.

Vowels

As you could 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 after all, this alternative rule applies to a mix of vowels and consonants.

Phrases “hat” and “hut” — they’ve the completely 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, on the subject of 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 properly. So, very similar to 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 among 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 checklist, are you able to guess what the phrase “stomach” would seem like in katakana?

Stomach could be ベリー, similar to “berry” and “very.” That is as a result of there is no distinction in sound between “b” and “v” nor “r” and “l” in Japanese. ベリー fascinating (…and doubtlessly ベリー complicated), proper?

There are additionally a number of consonant + vowel pairs that we pronounce in another way in English but get represented with the identical katakana character in Japanese. These variations is perhaps extra delicate than those proven above, however for instance, si and shi each turn into シ. So “sea” and “she” each turn into シー in katakana. Equally, the voiced variations of those sounds, “zi” and “ji” each turn into 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 symbolize this type of sound, we use duplicated consonants like bitto, proper? In katakana, we use ッ (the small tsu) as in ビット to symbolize these fast pauses. You will be duplicating the “cease” consonants, that are /p/, /b/, /ch/, /j/, /t/, /d/, /ok/ and /g/ — sounds you make by blocking the air circulation.

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

Mixture Katakana

If you happen to’re hoping to take your katakanization to the following stage, it could be a good suggestion to evaluate mixture katakana. Mixture katakana are katakana characters fabricated from a mix with a small character like フォ, ティ, or ジュ.

For instance, you would possibly count on “cat” to turn into katto (カット), but it surely truly needs to 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 straightforward? These is perhaps comparatively frequent katakana mixtures, however there are some curveballs you may not be so conversant in — 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 symbolize sounds that we did not have in Japanese — the sounds are even nearer to the unique English pronunciations.

At present, loanwords generally tend to use mixture katakana to higher symbolize the unique sounds.

Nevertheless, mixture katakana could be much less acquainted and not-so-easy-to-pronounce for Japanese audio system, particularly older of us. At present, loanwords generally tend to use mixture katakana to higher symbolize the unique sounds, however this wasn’t all the time the case. For instance, “thought” was generally written as アイデア in katakana, however as of late, アイディア is much extra frequent. And, this results in the following notice: be careful for older loanwords!

Watch Out for Older Loanwords

A few of you will have already observed frequent 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 previous 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 will want to recollect easy methods to spell them in katakana.

As you would possibly’ve observed, part of this purpose is the no-use of mixture katakana. Sounds that we historically did not have or unusual sounds in Japanese have been changed with ones simpler to pronounce and acknowledge for Japanese audio system. So in the event that they have been borrowed at present, they’d be katakanized in another 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 will want to recollect easy 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 easy methods to katakanize is not going to solely aid you higher acclimate to Japanese phonology and enhance your total pronunciation, but additionally make your spoken Japanese extra understandable and approachable. And in the event you have a look at it from a special perspective — being an English speaker will also be a bonus in Japanese studying if you know the way katakanization works. Once you begin with the ability to convert English phrases to katakana easily, and acknowledge extra katakana phrases that Japanese audio system use, you’d be shocked what number of phrases you already know already!

I hope the three fundamental guidelines and further ideas aid you construct a great basis for katakana conversion. It’s a extremely sensible talent and doubtlessly a sport changer to carry your Japanese to the following stage. So, preserve katakanizing and continue learning — Guddo rakku!