Wolfgang
ヴォルフガング
Vorufugangu
How It Is Said
- ヴォvo
- ルru
- フfu
- ガga
- ンn
- グgu
Vorufugangu: six 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 German, w is said like an English v, so it is written ヴ (v): ヴォルフガング.
- 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: ル (ru).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ヴォ (vo).
- ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト in Japanese.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type vorufuganngu (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 ヴォルフガング 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
