Start Learning Japanese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Moderators: Moderator Team, Admin Team

Jessi
JapanesePod101.com Team Member
Posts: 822
Joined: November 25th, 2007 9:58 am

FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby Jessi » February 17th, 2010 3:44 am

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
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 15
Joined: March 31st, 2011 1:53 pm

Postby visisl124984 » March 31st, 2011 2:15 pm

Thanks! Been searching for something like this!

Get 55% OFF + 2 FREE Months
Tannenbaum
New in Town
Posts: 4
Joined: July 3rd, 2008 6:34 pm

Postby Tannenbaum » December 8th, 2011 10:17 pm

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
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: December 2nd, 2012 7:10 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby jamesbrad911707 » December 2nd, 2012 8:33 am

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
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 18
Joined: November 19th, 2012 5:14 am

Virtual Keyboards?

Postby wesleejr1893 » December 3rd, 2012 8:48 am

jamesbrad911707 wrote: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.
ウェズ

Jessi
JapanesePod101.com Team Member
Posts: 822
Joined: November 25th, 2007 9:58 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby Jessi » December 4th, 2012 3:57 am

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
♪ JapanesePod101.com ♪ 好評配信中!
Leave us a message in the forum if you have any comments, questions, or feedback!

jassianmail6180
New in Town
Posts: 7
Joined: January 23rd, 2013 1:53 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby jassianmail6180 » January 30th, 2013 3:34 am

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
JapanesePod101.com Team Member
Posts: 822
Joined: November 25th, 2007 9:58 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby Jessi » January 30th, 2013 7:58 am

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!
♪ JapanesePod101.com ♪ 好評配信中!
Leave us a message in the forum if you have any comments, questions, or feedback!

jassianmail6180
New in Town
Posts: 7
Joined: January 23rd, 2013 1:53 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby jassianmail6180 » January 30th, 2013 9:07 am

ん twice. It works :)

Makes a lot of sense!

Thaaanks! :D

mmmason8967
Expert on Something
Posts: 758
Joined: January 7th, 2012 12:24 pm

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby mmmason8967 » January 30th, 2013 11:55 pm

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
New in Town
Posts: 7
Joined: January 23rd, 2013 1:53 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby jassianmail6180 » February 10th, 2013 12:35 am

thanks very much, マイケル-さん :)

Sandman77
New in Town
Posts: 4
Joined: February 3rd, 2013 11:04 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby Sandman77 » February 10th, 2013 4:38 am

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
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby community.japanese » February 10th, 2013 7:43 am

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

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

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

ngocnv9113105
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: May 18th, 2013 11:47 pm

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby ngocnv9113105 » May 20th, 2013 3:23 pm

hello. My name is Ngoc. I come from vietnam. Nice to meet you too.

team.relationships
Expert on Something
Posts: 222
Joined: June 18th, 2012 11:00 am

Re: FAQ: How do I type in Japanese?

Postby team.relationships » May 21st, 2013 7:19 am

Hello Ngoc,

Great to have you here!
Please stay tuned since every week we have new lessons for you! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask us.

Cheers,

Gergo
Team JapanesePod101.com

Return to “Learn All About Japanese”