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Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 12:51
My name is Nick. Sounding it out/writing it in kana would be "Ni-Ku (Nikku)". Yet the multiple translators I use end up with ニック

I'm extremely new to Japanese. Why is the character for tsu (ッ) crammed in the middle?


by Nick Lauer (guest)  

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 20:14
It doubles the "ku" sound. So "niku" would be ニク while "nikku" is ニック.

You definitely want to go with ニック since ニク is how you say "meat" in Japanese!
by scarreddragon rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 21:03
Hmmm...

But why, or better yet, HOW does it double the sound?

ニック to my limited knowledge should spell out Ni-tsu-ku, which is different than Nikku?

Or does ッ also work as a universal "sound-doubler" of sorts, instead of strictly meaning "tsu"?

by Nick Lauer (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 22:09
If you want to post to the Roman alphabet, it is expressed by overlapping the next pseudonym of consonants (only the first character even if the consonants are multiple continuous). However, in the previous ch- be "tch-".
(Example)ソックス-Socks-sokkusu
イット-it-itto
by haro1210 rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 22:22

by wikipedia, it is a small っ and ッ of description.
by haro1210 rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/13 23:29
Ah, I see where the confusion lies. A regular sized ツ is indeed "tsu", but when it's small sized like that it doubles the sound instead. So ニツク would be "nitsuku", ニック is "nikku".

There's a couple of other times you'll hit small katakana letters, so look out for the size difference!
by scarreddragon rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 02:50
Why ニック? The short answer is because Nick sounds more like ニック than ニク and is typically written that way.

Now, Here is the long answer.

The small ッ is a staccato meaning that the next letter is going to be a sort of a plucking sound.

You can compare the sounds by typing Nick and Niku on Google Translate, then E to J translate them respectively, and then playing the Japanese through the speaker.
https://www.google.co.jp/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=google+trans...

The ク sound might bother you, because it sounds like Nikoo, but there are no alternatives. That said, when saying the name in a normal-speed Japanese conversation, the ク in ニック tends to be shortened than that of ニク

Hope it helps.
by Uco rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 03:29
I do not know a celebrity named Nick, but, Nicki Minaj is I write and ニッキー・ミナージュ.
by haro1210 rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 08:35
Thank you guys for all your helpful responses! I had no clue that you could use small kana for things like that! I understand now :)

What other small kana characters do things like this, and what do they individually do?
by Nick Lauer (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 12:11
Small っ can not be used alone.
You used to when the sound is clogged with between characters.
Geminate (sokuon,促音)
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BF%83%E9%9F%B3-89839
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BF%83%E9%9F%B3
Pronunciation that corresponds to smallっ, seem not to English.
http://print-kids.net/print/kokugo/hiragana-rensyuu-tyouon-sokuon/page...
http://print-kids.net/print/kokugo/hiragana-rensyuu-tyouon-sokuon/page...

















by haro1210 rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 12:14
English translation of Sokuon was a double [long] consonant.
by haro1210 rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/14 20:57
Nick Nolte and Nick Cave are other famous Nicks that I can think of and they're both written as ニック

Other similar and common names are リック Rick, ミック Mick, ディック Dick, チック Chick, ジャック Jack and ザック Zach.

As for other small kana, there are just ゃ ゅ and ょ, but these are slightly different from っ, because they simply emphasize each sound. Here are examples;
しゃしん shashin (photo)
りゅう ryuu (dragon)
とうきょう Tokyo

In a more slangish manner, you may also encounter ぁ ぃ ぅ ぇ and ぉ in things like manga where a character may say
うわぁぁぁ Uwaaaa (Whoaaaaaa!)

Hope it helps.
by Uco rate this post as useful

Re: Question about my name translation 2014/12/17 03:34
Small kana are used to make new syllables like:
し + ゃ = しゃ
shi + small ya = sha

しや is "shiya"
しゃ is "sha"

There is also...
* small yu ゅ (ex. ryuu りゅう)
* small yo ょ (ex. kyou きょう)
* small tsu っ (ex. nippon にっぽん)

Small tsu is a little hard for foreigners; it took me awhile to figure out the sound...

Also, small ya yu yo and tsu have the same rules in katakana too
* small ya ャ
* small yu ュ
* small yo ョ
* small tsu ッ

If you read manga you will see this a lot, bc katakana is used also for sfx
("kyaaaa!" = "キャアアアア!")

I hope this helps you ^^
by souleater8 rate this post as useful

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