Definition. This function extracts the phonetic (Furigana) characters from a string.
Arguments
reference (required). A string, or a reference to a cell or cell range containing a phonetic string. If a cell range is referenced, the phonetic string is returned in the upper-left cell of the range. If the range contains noncontiguous cells, the #NV error is returned.
Background. The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:
Kanji. Ideographs from Chinese characters
Kana. A pair of syllabaries, consisting of:
Hiragana, used for native Japanese words
Katakana, used for foreign words and names, loan words, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes to replace kanji or hiragana for emphasis
These fonts are used together in everyday text. The phonetic furigana spelling consists of small hiragana characters, which are used with kanji to indicate the pronunciation. This function extracts the furigana characters from Japanese strings. To use the PHONETIC() function, you must install Asian languages on your computer. The typical Excel user might not have a need for this function.