FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

[Jessi]

The following links give an excellent step-by-step overview of how to setup a non-Japanese Windows system to be able to display Japanese text and how you can enter it yourself.

WINDOWS:
Installing Japanese support
Writing in Japanese
Installing Japanese support on Windows Vista

MAC:
Using KOTOERI to input Japanese

[visisl124984]

Thanks! Been searching for something like this!

[Tannenbaum]

I have written a little how-to for windows 7 a while ago. It's far from perfect, but it might be a little extra hint for the ones who are looking for a way to change input modes by keyboard or use their native layout for Japanese input.

http://nejtj.blogspot.com/2011/09/howto ... anese.html

[jamesbrad911707]

Is there an on-screen keyboard that I can install for typing in Japanese? It would be easier to see the characters when practicing my typing rather than looking at an English keyboard to type in Japanese.

Thank you very much! (arigatou gozaimasu)
Brad

[wesleejr1893]

Is there an on-screen keyboard that I can install for typing in Japanese? It would be easier to see the characters when practicing my typing rather than looking at an English keyboard to type in Japanese.

Thank you very much! (arigatou gozaimasu)
Brad

Brad-san,
Not entirely sure of what you are asking. Are you using a touch-screen computer or device? Is it Windows or Mac based? A Google search on "on-screen keyboard for typing Japanese" brought up this relevant site: branah.com. It might be useful to you. Usually, the links provided in the first post is enough to accommodate most people wanting to type in Japanese. Hope I was able to point you in the right direction.

[Jessi]

Hi Brad,
To follow up on your question, can I ask how you are inputting Japanese using your regular keyboard? The most common method is romaji input, so for example to type おはよう you would just type o-h-a-y-o-u, which makes it very easy. Please let me know if you are trying it another way!
Jessi

[jassianmail6180]

Hi guys,

Does anyone else have this problem?
I'd be using the hiragana input but if refuses to convert ん at the end of a word.
the example on top of my head is
てんかｎ　
（tenkan）
I typed it it romaji in hiragana mode, but the last n just got stuck and wouldn't convert.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!


Jessie

[Jessi]

Hi Jessie,
You just have to type "n" twice if you want to type ん. It stops at "n" because there is a possibility thst it could be な、に、ね、 and so on.
Hope that helps!

[jassianmail6180]

ん twice. It works

Makes a lot of sense!

Thaaanks!

[mmmason8967]

It's good to type 'nn' not just at the end of words but every time you want a ん. That way you can be sure you won't get こんいちは when you wanted こんにちは.

In fact, apart from the vowels, all the kana characters can be entered with two keystrokes. You just specify the column (i.e. consonant) you want followed by the row (i.e. vowel) that you want. So the 't' column, for example, is ta, ti, tu, te and to rather than ta, chi, tsu, te and to. It feels a bit odd at first (for example, the two-key version of fujitsu is huzitu), but in the end you're trying to type kana, not romaji.

As far as I know, the two-keystroke version of romaji is what the Japanese use. One advantage is that if you're used to entering ちand つ by typing ti and tu, it's pretty obvious how to get ぢ and づ; it's not at all obvious if you're used to typing chi and tsu.

マイケル

[jassianmail6180]

thanks very much, マイケル-さん

[Sandman77]

Whoa, thanks for the ぢ and づ hint.

For the life of me I couldn't figure those out. I ended up cutting and pasting from some old document I had anytime I needed them.

[community.japanese]

> マイケルさん、
Thank you very much for nice adivice!!

> Sandman77-san,
I know; I do the same very often, with many other letters (when I'm lazy...)

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com