Are there standards for transliteration into Japanese?


There seem to be some inconsistencies, for example, "t" becomes "tsu" in
スーツケース, but "to" in メトロ. "eer" becomes "iiru" in ビール, but it seems like in
most words it's "ia", for example business names with "peer" are
transliterated as ピア. Are some of these non-srandard? What are the standars
and are they generally followed?




There are several factors.

  * Not all words have been directly transliterated from English words in the first place. In particular, personal names like Michael are transliterated in various ways depending on their nationality.
  * In many cases, this is simply a matter of old habits. According to [current practices](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/71902/5010), _suit_ would be transliterated as スート, but we say スーツ when referring to a type of clothing because vowel-less _t_ was often transliterated as ツ in the past (cutlet = カツレツ, etc). But in newer fields like card games, _suit_ is called スート. See this question for similar examples: [Words that have been borrowed twice, with different pronunciations?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17501/5010)
  * Words that were borrowed to Japanese many years ago tended to be based on British pronunciations. For example, "audio" is オーディオ rather than アーディオ. While British influence is still seen in the transliteration of new words, this may be slowly changing.
  * Today, we have a large number of [extended katakana](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/19226/5010) to approximate foreign sounds, but old Japanese speakers had a smaller number of phonemes. So "studio" had to be スタジオ rather than ステュディオ.
  * The transliteration of voiceless _k_ is still not very consistent, but I think there is a tendency for キ to become ク. For example, _text_ is usually テキスト since it's been around for many years, but _context_ is transliterated as both コンテキスト and コンテクスト.
  * There is still inconsistency in whether to use the elongation mark or not: [ブラウザ or ブラウザー? Words borrowed from English which end with -er](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15807/5010)

For entirely new words that are unrelated to these factors, I think the
transliteration from English to Japanese is relatively standardized today.

Related:

  * [General rules for final kana in names ending with consonant?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/21177/5010)
  * [Why is Austin spelled with an オ?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/19268/5010)




There are several factors.

  * Not all words have been directly transliterated from English words in the first place. In particular, personal names like Michael are transliterated in various ways depending on their nationality.
  * In many cases, this is simply a matter of old habits. According to [current practices](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/71902/5010), _suit_ would be transliterated as スート, but we say スーツ when referring to a type of clothing because vowel-less _t_ was often transliterated as ツ in the past (cutlet = カツレツ, etc). But in newer fields like card games, _suit_ is called スート. See this question for similar examples: [Words that have been borrowed twice, with different pronunciations?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17501/5010)
  * Words that were borrowed to Japanese many years ago tended to be based on British pronunciations. For example, "audio" is オーディオ rather than アーディオ. While British influence is still seen in the transliteration of new words, this may be slowly changing.
  * Today, we have a large number of [extended katakana](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/19226/5010) to approximate foreign sounds, but old Japanese speakers had a smaller number of phonemes. So "studio" had to be スタジオ rather than ステュディオ.
  * The transliteration of voiceless _k_ is still not very consistent, but I think there is a tendency for キ to become ク. For example, _text_ is usually テキスト since it's been around for many years, but _context_ is transliterated as both コンテキスト and コンテクスト.
  * There is still inconsistency in whether to use the elongation mark or not: [ブラウザ or ブラウザー? Words borrowed from English which end with -er](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15807/5010)

For entirely new words that are unrelated to these factors, I think the
transliteration from English to Japanese is relatively standardized today.

Related:

  * [General rules for final kana in names ending with consonant?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/21177/5010)
  * [Why is Austin spelled with an オ?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/19268/5010)

