Instantly convert English words, foreign loanwords (gairaigo), Japanese Romaji, or Hiragana into Japanese Katakana (カタカナ) with real-time audio pronunciation, syllable breakdown, and Romaji readings.
Unlike Japanese Romaji, English spelling does not map letter-by-letter to Japanese sounds. In Japanese, foreign words and loanwords (外来語, gairaigo) are written in Katakana according to how they are pronounced in Japanese syllables (morae), where almost every consonant is followed by a vowel.
Our Katakana Converter combines a curated dictionary of over 1,500 English words and Japanese loanwords with an English phonetic rule engine. When you type an everyday word like “computer”, “coffee”, or “ice cream”, it outputs the authentic Japanese loanword (コンピューター, コーヒー, アイスクリーム) rather than a literal letter-by-letter spelling.
| Input | Katakana | Romaji | Conversion Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| computer | コンピューター | konpyuutaa | Uses long vowel mark (ー) for English '-er' and '-u-' sounds |
| coffee | コーヒー | koohii | Standard Japanese gairaigo spelling for coffee |
| ice cream | アイスクリーム | aisukuriimu | Silent 'e' is dropped and consonant clusters receive helper vowels |
| dragon | ドラゴン | doragon | 'dr-' cluster becomes 'do-ra' (ドラ) in Japanese phonetics |
| smartphone | スマートフォン | sumaatofon | Uses extended katakana 'フォ' (fo) for the English 'pho' sound |
If you are typing Japanese words in Romaji or pasting Japanese text written in Hiragana, the converter automatically detects the script—or you can lock the mode using the tabs at the top.
In Romaji mode, doubled consonants like kk, tt, pp, or ss automatically produce the small sokuon ッ (e.g., gakkou → ガッコウ). Extended katakana combinations for foreign sounds—such as fa (ファ), thi (ティ), dhi (ディ), wi (ウィ), we (ウェ), and va (ヴァ)—are also supported out of the box. Plain ti and di follow Kunrei-shiki and give チ and ヂ.
Want to master Katakana characters and common foreign loanwords without needing a converter? Explore our interactive study guides:
In the Japanese writing system, Katakana (カタカナ) is used for foreign loanwords (gairaigo), foreign names, loan concepts, onomatopoeia, and emphasis. When an English word is adopted into Japanese, its pronunciation is adapted to fit Japanese syllable structure and written in Katakana.
Romaji-to-Katakana expects Japanese phonetic spelling (for example, typing 'konpyuutaa' or 'koohii'). English-to-Katakana accepts normal English spelling (like 'computer' or 'coffee') and converts the English pronunciation into the matching Japanese Katakana syllables.
In English mode, long vowels and double consonants are added automatically based on pronunciation rules. In Romaji mode, type a hyphen '-' or double vowel for long sounds, and double the consonant (such as 'kk', 'tt', or 'pp') to create the small ッ.
Yes. Pasting half-width Katakana (半角カタカナ, such as ｶﾀｶﾅ or ｶﾞｷﾞｸﾞ) automatically normalizes it into standard full-width Katakana (全角カタカナ: カタカナ, ガギグ), including voiced dakuten and handakuten marks. You can also switch the output to half-width under Options.
While this Katakana Converter handles common names well, our dedicated Japanese Name Converter includes curated first and last name dictionaries across 13 languages plus downloadable Kakejiku and Kakemono scroll artwork.
