Esther
エスター
Esutā
How It Is Said
- エe
- スsu
- タta
- ーa
Esutā: four 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
- The th of Esther is said t: タ (ta).
- The English ending -er is written ター (tā): Japanese follows the British way of saying it, with no r.
The Book of Esther is エステル記 in Japanese: Esther is エステル (Esuteru) there.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type esuta- (the - key gives the bar ー), 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 エスター 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
