Violet
ヴァイオレット
Vaioretto
Also written バイオレット.
How It Is Said
- ヴァva
- イi
- オo
- レre
- ッt
- トto
Vaioretto: six 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 | ヴァイオレット | Vaioretto | the usual form |
| バイオレット | Baioretto | also in use |
What Happens to the Sounds
- The English long i, as in Violet, is two beats in Japanese: アイ (ai).
- 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, ヴァイオレット and バイオレット.
- 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: レ (re).
- Japanese syllables end in a vowel or in ン, so the final t takes a light vowel: ト (to).
- The small ッ is a short pause that doubles the next sound: ット (tto).
The violet is すみれ (sumire) in Japanese, and Sumire is a Japanese girl's name.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type vaioretto, 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 ヴァイオレット 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
