How to write Charlene in katakana
Japanese writes foreign names in katakana, one of its two alphabets, by sound rather than by spelling. Charlene becomes シャーリーン, made of these parts:
| Katakana | Sound | Note |
|---|---|---|
| シャ | sha | two characters read as one sound |
| ー | – | long vowel mark: hold the sound before it a little longer |
| リ | ri | |
| ー | – | long vowel mark: hold the sound before it a little longer |
| ン | n | n on its own |
When you write a full name, Japanese puts a middle dot between the first and last name, for example シャーリーン・スミス for Charlene Smith.