In Japanese katakana, where does the V come from?

[Razahia]

I saw a U symbol and a smaller A symbol create a V translation. And I don't understand that.

 

[Toritoribe]

Are you talking about ヴァ, ヴィ, ヴ, ヴェ and ヴォ? It's not just "U", but "U with dakuten(voicing mark)" These katakana are used especially when there is necessity to distinguish "V" from "B". Japanese has no "V" consonant, so this romaji is only used to transliterate foreign words.

 

[FinancialWar]

I think the general rule is always use B over V in katakana except in geography.

バケーション ＞ ヴァケーション
バイオリン ＞ ヴァイオリン
ビクトリー ＞ ヴィクトリー

 

[nahadef]

I think the general rule is always use B over V in katakana except in geography.

バケーション ＞ ヴァケーション
バイオリン ＞ バイオリン
ビクトリー ＞ ヴィクトリー

My understanding is that is generally used only in recent times (10 years? 20 years? 30 years?). A majority of English Vs are B in katakana. But in newer advertising and casual translation, I see ヴ used. I think it's still used a minority of the time.

It's similar to ファ、フィ、フェ、フォ, which also isn't used in old words, like say, コーヒー.

I've been told that some older people have trouble pronouncing those little vowels, even in a word like パーティ.

 

[FinancialWar]

My understanding is that is generally used only in recent times (10 years? 20 years? 30 years?). A majority of English Vs are B in katakana. But in newer advertising and casual translation, I see ヴ used. I think it's still used a minority of the time.

Probably due to the fact that the younger generations have a higher competency in English. However, all major 国語 dictionary still use B over V for most of the words.

 

[Toritoribe]

ヴ was invented by 福沢諭吉 in the late Edo period , so it has been used for over 150 years. However, in 1954, it was recomended to use "B" instead of "V" on a report by the Japanese Language Council, furthermore, it's allowed to use "V" by the Council in 1991. So, the two different translitarations are intermingled now. For instance, インタビュー・ウィズ・ヴァンパイア is the Japanese title of an American movie Interview with the Vampire, and ボルヴィック is the transliteration of a mineral water brand Volvic, but interestingly, they are neither インタヴュー・ウィズ・ヴァンパイア nor ヴォルヴィック. It's confusing indeed...