Why is Beach ビーチ and not ビーチュ, why is Cake ケーキ and not ケーク?


The latter sounds better, in my opinion. But is that just my opinion?




ビーチ for _beach_ is regular, but ケーキ for _cake_ needs some explanation.

English //tʃ// and //dʒ// stand as closing consonant are always transcribed as
チ and ジ, contrary to //ʃ// in the same position as シュ (with a handful of
exception, such as サッシ "sash"). This is perhaps related to rare presence of チュ
and ジュ as short syllables in Japanese words. Note that, however, similar
consonants in German and French are usually transcribed as チュ and ジュ.

English //-ɪk// ending first had been transcribed -キ, reflecting the fact that
the consonant is slightly palatalized because of preceding vowel value. After
systematic transcription system was established, all //-k// have been
automatically replaced with ク, but old words that have already taken root
never changed. As a result:

  * ケーキ "cake" ←→ no counterpart
  * ストライキ "labor strike" ←→ ストライク "(other) strike"
  * ステーキ "steak" ←→ ステイク "stake(-holder)"
  * ブレーキ "brake" ←→ ブレーク/ブレイク "break"
  * レーキ "rake", "[lake pigment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_pigment)" ←→ レイク "lake"
  * ミルクセーキ "(traditional) milk shake" ←→ シェーキ ([Lotteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotteria)) ←→ シェイク (McDonald's)

cf. "makeup":
[メーキャップ](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%22%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%22)
(1M hits) vs
[メイクアップ](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%22%E3%83%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A2%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%22)
(14M hits) vs
[メークアップ](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%22%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A2%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%22)
(463k hits)

