How to write Ferdinand in katakana
Japanese writes foreign names in katakana, one of its two alphabets, by sound rather than by spelling. Ferdinand becomes フェルディナンド, made of these parts:
| Katakana | Sound | Note |
|---|---|---|
| フェ | fe | two characters read as one sound |
| ル | ru | |
| ディ | di | two characters read as one sound |
| ナ | na | |
| ン | n | n on its own |
| ド | do |
When you write a full name, Japanese puts a middle dot between the first and last name, for example フェルディナンド・スミス for Ferdinand Smith.