Mercedes
メルセデス
Merusedesu
How It Is Said
- メme
- ルru
- セse
- デde
- スsu
Merusedesu: five 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: メルセデス.
- In Spanish, an r before a consonant is said, so it is written ル (ru): メルセデス.
- Japanese syllables end in a vowel or in ン, so the final s takes a light vowel: ス (su).
Mercedes means mercies in Spanish, from Our Lady of Mercy.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type merusedesu, 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 メルセデス 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
