Katakana English: one English syllable often takes two morae

Japanese allows neither consonant clusters (str-) nor final consonants (-bus), so English words are broken up and vowels are inserted: strike becomes ス・ト・ラ・イ・ク, five morae.

Eight words

Click a cell: Japanese reads the katakana.

or use the + on each cell

In a sentence

How the word sounds in a sentence. Tap the line to hear it all, tap the highlighted word to hear just that part.

Eight pairs

Morae = kana count (a contracted sound is one mora); per mora = span duration ÷ morae.

EnglishKatakanaMoraePer moraSplit
energyエネルギー5158 msエ · ネ · ル · ギ · ー
teamチーム3170 msチ · ー · ム
strikeストライク5158 msス · ト · ラ · イ · ク
busバス2210 msバ · ス
digitalデジタル4175 msデ · ジ · タ · ル
hotelホテル3160 msホ · テ · ル
violinヴァイオリン5154 msヴァ · イ · オ · リ · ン
windowウィンドウ4155 msウィ · ン · ド · ウ

How to practise

Where these numbers come from

Morae from ja_mora.n_mora(); per mora = span duration ÷ morae. The eight words land at 154–210 ms per mora, matching the 195 ms median on the mora page — an independent sign that timing is counted in morae.

Compare per-mora values, never total duration: longer words sit near 160 ms, while the two-mora バス reads high (210 ms) because each mora is a larger share of a short word. Japanese reads the katakana, so this page does not compare the original English pronunciation.