Question
of the Week
Vol. 19
Q. What is the katakana "u" character with two dashes?
A. This katakana character represents the English "v" sound.
It didn't exist until relatively recently.
Nowadays the Japanese
use many borrowed words from English and other foreign languages (please refer
the previous article "Borrowed Words").
Since it is hard to express all sounds by the basic 46
characters or their regular combinations, the Japanese have developed new
combinations that are formed by adding a small "a, i, u, e, o" for
several foreign syllables.
However, they are still not widely used and not included in the katakana chart most
of the time. Many Japanese just write the "v" sound as "b"
(katakana "ba, bi, bu, be, bo").
Click here for "expanded katakana syllables".
