How to write Bradford in katakana
Japanese writes foreign names in katakana, one of its two alphabets, by sound rather than by spelling. Bradford becomes ブラッドフォード, made of these parts:
| Katakana | Sound | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ブ | bu | |
| ラ | ra | |
| ッ | – | small tsu: a short pause that doubles the next sound |
| ド | do | |
| フォ | fo | two characters read as one sound |
| ー | – | long vowel mark: hold the sound before it a little longer |
| ド | do |
When you write a full name, Japanese puts a middle dot between the first and last name, for example ブラッドフォード・スミス for Bradford Smith.