Julien
ジュリアン
Jurian
How It Is Said
- ジュju
- リri
- アa
- ンn
Jurian: 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
- French nasal vowels are written with ン (n): ジュリアン.
- French j, and g before e or i, are soft, like the s of pleasure: ジ (ji).
- French u is said with rounded lips, between i and u; Japanese writes it with a small ュ: ジュリアン.
- 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: リ (ri).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ジュ (ju).
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type juriann (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 ジュリアン 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
