Name in Japanese I Israel

Israel in Japanese

イスラエル
Katakana
イスラエル
Hiragana
いすらえる
Romaji (Hepburn)
Isuraeru

This is the established spelling used for Israel in Japanese dictionaries, books and media.

How Israel sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

I
Su
Ra
E
Ru

Full reading: Isuraeru

Do more with Israel in Japanese

Why Israel is written in katakana

In Japanese, foreign names are written in katakana — the angular script reserved for words borrowed from other languages. So on a form, a name tag, a delivery slip or a news article in Japan, Israel appears as イスラエル. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees イスラエル and immediately reads it by its sound, Isuraeru.

Katakana is a syllabary, so English sounds are fitted to the nearest Japanese syllables and every consonant (except ん) is followed by a vowel. That is why Israel becomes イスラエル rather than a letter-for-letter copy. More than one katakana spelling can be reasonable for the same name, which is why we flag whether a spelling is a long-established one or a natural default.