How to write Rafael in katakana
Japanese writes foreign names in katakana, one of its two alphabets, by sound rather than by spelling. Rafael becomes ラファエル, made of these parts:
| Katakana | Sound | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ラ | ra | |
| ファ | fa | two characters read as one sound |
| エ | e | |
| ル | ru |
When you write a full name, Japanese puts a middle dot between the first and last name, for example ラファエル・スミス for Rafael Smith.