Is that how I write my name?


SO my name is Janosch (a German name).  
I'm not really sure how to write it. Is "ヤノシ" right?




Completely up to you exactly how you write it. It’s your name and your choice.
It is good to bear in mind exactly how Japanese people will read it. It will
always be a rough approximation of your actual name (limited by the sounds in
Japanese) but you can try to make it close to how it sounds in your language.

It’s best to introduce yourself formally (with business cards or email) to
Japanese and give your spelling, especially if you have a non-English name.
This custom of showing your name written is common in Japanese culture anyway
so it won’t be intrusive. Since their names written in Kanji have many
possible readings and Japanese words have many homophones, they often show the
meaning of their name or their preferred reading of the kanji (they also write
katakana on documents to make this clear).

It’s not unheard of for Japanese administrators to take your name in Roman
letters and transliterate it for you. They’re more accustomed to reading
English so they often get French and German names wrong, even in official
documents such as HR or immigration visa. Unless you make it clear, “Janosch”
could be written as ジャノスチ instead of ヤーノシュ. As such some foreign residents are
stuck with an incorrect Japanese spelling of their name because the documents
need to match and it’s a very strict system so it’s difficult to change their
“official name”. If you can avoid this, it’s best to make sure they know how
you wish for it to be written (i.e., how you want it read aloud) before any
documents are filled in if you are visiting or living in Japan.




_Janosch_ , given the pronunciation is [[ˈjaːnɔʃ]], would normally become
ヤーノシュ{HLLLL} (shown with accent).

There are four points:

  * Long vowels long, short vowels short. It matters a lot in Japanese.
  * Closing consonant [[ʃ]] in many European languages renders into シュ (shu). Japanese シ is highly palatalized as much as slavic _soft s_. You don't want it for German unless in sequence _schi_.
  * Put the accent peak on the beginning of the syllable with primary stress (for stress-accent language).
  * Use katakana.

Of course, you can make your own tweak at your will/risk.

