How to write Nikolai in katakana
Japanese writes foreign names in katakana, one of its two alphabets, by sound rather than by spelling. Nikolai becomes ニコライ, made of these parts:
| Katakana | Sound | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ニ | ni | |
| コ | ko | |
| ラ | ra | |
| イ | i |
When you write a full name, Japanese puts a middle dot between the first and last name, for example ニコライ・スミス for Nikolai Smith.