Esperanza
エスペランサ
Esuperansa
How It Is Said
- エe
- スsu
- ペpe
- ラra
- ンn
- サsa
Esuperansa: six beats, each about the same length. Japanese has no strong stress, so the name is said evenly, beat by beat.
What Happens to the Sounds
- In Spanish, z and c before e or i are said s in Latin America (th in much of Spain); Japanese writes them with the s row: エスペランサ.
- The Japanese r is a light tap of the tongue, like the quick t in an American "water": ラ (ra).
- ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
Esperanza means hope in Spanish.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type esuperannsa (nn gives ン), then press F7 on Windows or Control+K on a Mac to turn it into katakana. On a phone, type the same letters with the Japanese keyboard and choose エスペランサ among the suggestions.
Why Katakana
In Japan, names from abroad are written in katakana, the script for words from other languages. Kanji versions of Western names are mostly invented, and a Japanese reader often sees odd meanings in them; the katakana is what a Japanese person would really write. More on katakana and names
