Richard
リチャード
Richādo
How It Is Said
- リri
- チャcha
- ーa
- ドdo
Richādo: 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
- An r after a vowel is not said in British English, and Japanese writes the vowel long instead: チャー (chā).
- The Japanese r is a light tap of the tongue, like the quick t in an American "water": リ (ri).
- Japanese syllables end in a vowel or in ン, so the final d takes a light vowel: ド (do).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: チャ (cha).
Richard the Lionheart is リチャード1世 in Japanese, or 獅子心王, the lion-hearted king.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type richa-do (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 リチャード 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
