Isabella
イザベラ
Izabera
How It Is Said
- イi
- ザza
- ベbe
- ラra
Izabera: four 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 | イザベラ | Izabera | |
| Italian | イザベッラ | Izaberra | the usual form |
| イザベラ | Izabera | also in use |
What Happens to the Sounds
- The double ll is one sound in English, so katakana writes it once: イザベラ.
- Japanese has no l. It uses its one sound between l and r, a light tap of the tongue, written ラ リ ル レ ロ: ラ (ra).
- Italian double consonants are held a moment longer; Japanese writes this with a small ッ: ッラ (rra); so in Italian, Isabella is イザベッラ (Izaberra).
Isabella Bird, who travelled through northern Japan in 1878, is イザベラ・バード in Japanese.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type izabera, 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 イザベラ among the suggestions.
The Same Name in Other Languages
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
