Victoria
ヴィクトリア
Vikutoria
Also written ビクトリア.
How It Is Said
- ヴィvi
- クku
- トto
- リri
- アa
Vikutoria: five 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 | ヴィクトリア | Vikutoria | the usual form |
| ビクトリア | Bikutoria | also in use | |
| Spanish | ビクトリア | Bikutoria |
What Happens to the Sounds
- Japanese has no v. It is written ヴ (vu) and its row, ヴァ ヴィ ヴェ ヴォ, or more simply with the b row, バ ビ ブ ベ ボ: you will see both, ヴィクトリア and ビクトリア.
- The Japanese r is a light tap of the tongue, like the quick t in an American "water": リ (ri).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ヴィ (vi).
- In Spanish, v is said like b, so it is written with the b row: ビ (bi); so in Spanish, Victoria is ビクトリア (Bikutoria).
Queen Victoria is ヴィクトリア女王 in Japanese.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type vikutoria, 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 ヴィクトリア 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
