Romanization convention
From ShashiWiki
| あ | い | う | え | お | （拗音） | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ | a(あ) | i(い) | u(う) | e(え) | o(お) | |||
| か | ka(か) | ki(き) | ku(く) | ke(け) | ko(こ) | kya(きゃ) | kyu(きゅ) | kyo(きょ) |
| さ | sa(さ) | shi(し) | su(す) | se(せ) | so(そ) | sha(しゃ) | shu(しゅ) | sho(しょ) |
| た | ta(た) | chi(ち) | tsu(つ) | te(て) | to(と) | cha(ちゃ) | chu(ちゅ) | cho(ちょ) |
| な | na(な) | ni(に) | nu(ぬ) | ne(ね) | no(の) | nya(にゃ) | nyu(にゅ) | nyo(にょ) |
| は | ha(は) | hi(ひ) | fu(ふ) | he(へ) | ho(ほ) | hya(ひゃ) | hyu(ひゅ) | hyo(ひょ) |
| ま | ma(ま) | mi(み) | mu(む) | me(め) | mo(も) | mya(みゃ) | myu(みゅ) | myo(みょ) |
| や | ya(や) | yu(ゆ) | yo(よ) | |||||
| ら | ra(ら) | ri(り) | ru(る) | re(れ) | ro(ろ) | rya(りゃ) | ryu(りゅ) | ryo(りょ) |
| わ | wa(わ) | (wi)(うぃ) | (we)(うぇ) | o(を) | ||||
| ん | n(ん) | |||||||
| が | ga(が) | gi(ぎ) | gu(ぐ) | ge(げ) | go(ご) | gya(ぎゃ) | gyu(ぎゅ) | gyo(ぎょ) |
| ざ | za(ざ) | ji(じ) | zu(ず) | ze(ぜ) | zo(ぞ) | ja(じゃ) | ju(じゅ) | jo(じょ) |
| だ | da(だ) | (ji)(ぢ) | (zu)(づ) | de(で) | do(ど) | (ja)(ぢゃ) | (ju)(ぢゅ) | (jo)(ぢょ) |
| ば | ba(ば) | bi(び) | bu(ぶ) | be(べ) | bo(ぼ) | bya(びゃ) | byu(びゅ) | byo(びょ) |
| ぱ | pa(ぱ) | pi(ぴ) | pu(ぷ) | pe(ぺ) | po(ぽ) | pya(ぴゃ) | pyu(ぴゅ) | pyo(ぴょ) |
- Avoiding confusions
- 信金（しんきん）→ Shinkin
- 信用（しんよう）→ Shin'yo
- Non-Japanese pronunciations
- ディー → di
- ティ → ti
- トゥー → tu
- ファ → fa
- フェ → fe
- フォ → fo
- ヴィ → vi
- Lengthened vowels
- Although a diacritic (Macron) is used for lengthened vowels in Hepburn romanization system (e.g., ā (あー), ē (えー）, ī（いー）, ō（おー）, ū（うー）), Shashi Wiki omits the macrons for the convenience of searching.
- Double vowels
- Some Japanese names use double/same vowels (e.g., 大阪(おおさか)), and usually a macron is used (Ōsaka) rather than writing two vowels (Oosaka*). Macrons are, however, omitted in Shashi Wiki (Osaka).
- Sokuon (促音, See Moraic obstruent)is written as "っ", not the larger "つ" (tsu), and written by doubling the following consonant. (e.g., 鉄鋼(てっこう)→ tekko; 学校(がっこう)→ gakko)
- Contradiction between what is pronounced and what is written
- Some Japanese words are written differently from what is said. For example, the final vowel う(u) in 学校(がっこう）is merged with the previous vowel お (o) (i.e., こ = k+o), and がっこう is written as "gakko," not "gakkou." Other examples are 東京(とうきょう)→ Tokyo; 協会(きょうかい)→ kyokai; 理工(りこう)→ riko; 神宮(じんぐう)→ jingu, etc.
- However, be careful not to apply this rule to everything. For example, 明治(めいじ)is written "Meiji", not "Meeji" or "Meji"; 大成(たいせい)→ Taisei, etc.
