For example there is a video game series called LocoRoco, and in katakana it
is spelt (ロコロコ) but the "ロ" character is supposed to be pronounced as "ro" so
it sounds like "rokoroko". When translating something to English, when do you
replace the "R" sound with a "L" sound?
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2021-01-27T05:35:09.597
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2021-01-27T07:03:43.847
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question
japanese-to-english
When translating something to English, what letters are supposed to be translated as an "L" or an "R"?
R is the default consonant to represent the sounds of ラリルレロ using the English
alphabet. All the [common romanization
systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Japanese#Modern_systems)
use only R.

The use of L is somewhat exceptional. The most common reason for using L
instead of R is that the sound derived from, or is associated with, some
Western word containing L. For example, リリアン in [this
franchise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria-sama_ga_Miteru) is translated
as _Lilian_ , not _Ririan_ , because this リリ is clearly from English _lily_
and it is an important motif in the story.

I could not find the etymology of ロコロコ on the net, but I guess either the
original creator or someone from the translation team came up with the idea
that ロコ can be associated with _locomotion_ in English. This also explains why
C is used instead of K to represent the コ sound. Please don't ask why they
used L only for the first ロ. It is up to the translator. Especially in game
localization, anything can happen at the discretion of translators, and it is
even common to ignore Japanese names altogether (see this [list of Pokémon
names](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Japanese_Pok%C3%A9mon_names)).

See also: [Why do Japanese speakers have difficulty pronouncing
"L"?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/8324/5010)
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answer