This article explains the transcription of the Japanese language in the Esperanto alphabet. Esperantists often use non-Esperanto transcriptions, such as Hepburn and Kunrei. However, the need for a transcription in the Esperanto alphabet is essential for non-Japanese speaking Esperantists to be able to pronounce words.

Summary

There are two well-known transcription systems of Japanese in Latin alphabet: Hepburn and Kunrei. However, there is no official Esperanto transcription for Japanese. This page presents one of the unofficial methods of transcription.

Transcription

Most books on Esperanto published in Japan provide tables for transcription. In 2012, a book by Kenichi Fujimaki, called Marugoto-esuperanto-bunpō-kaichōban まるごとエスペラント文法 改訂版 (lit. Revised Esperanto Grammar). explains one way of transcription, however, as far as 1923, Yoshimi Ishiguro writes his Shotō esuperanto kyōkasho 初等エスペラント教科書 (lit. Beginning Esperanto Textbook), explaining a transcription, however the remaining digital copies of his works are barely readable, so they are not included in this article.

Double consonant

The symbol "っ" / "ッ" (small "つ" [tsu]) is not actually transcribed, but instead, indicated by doubling the following consonant. Example: Sapporo (さっぽろ).

According to Hepburn:

According to Kunrei:

Long vowels

These are various methods of transcribing the word とうきょう (Tokyo)

Diphthongs

The Japanese vowel i is changed to j and the vowel u is changed to ŭ for Esperanto transcription.

Consonants

If there is a じ (ji) before an ん (n) in a word, you must write it as ĝi. Otherwise, you can use either ĵi or ĝi.

When the syllable ず/づ is used at the beginning of a word, it is mostly transcribed as dzu, directly from Hepburn; but if the syllable is anywhere else in the word, it is mostly transcribed as zu.

Voiceless vowels

Generally, some vowels may not be said at all. This is very common in everyday speech in Japanese

Red letters indicate Kana no longer used in modern Japanese.