Heidi
ハイディ
Haidi
How It Is Said
- ハha
- イi
- ディdi
Haidi: three beats, each about the same length. Japanese has no strong stress, so the name is said evenly, beat by beat.
By Language
| Language | Katakana | Rōmaji | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | ハイディ | Haidi | |
| German | ハイジ | Haiji |
What Happens to the Sounds
- The English long i, as in Heidi, is two beats in Japanese: アイ (ai).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ディ (di).
- German ei is said like the English word eye: two beats, アイ (ai); so in German, Heidi is ハイジ (Haiji).
Heidi of the Alps is アルプスの少女ハイジ in Japan, where an animated series of 1974 made the German form, ハイジ, familiar.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type haidhi, 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 ハイディ 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
