L02-28-typng-in-Japanese-1

Typing Japanese (1)

Now that you have learned to read and write hiragana and katakana characters, let's learn to type these characters using the standard English keyboard. In order to type Japanese on the English keyboard, we need to use ローマじ (romaji, or romanized characters) first and then convert it to hiragana and/or to katakana. All Japanese are taught at school to recognize romaji. Some proper nouns such as company acronyms, product names may also be written in English alphabet (e.g., JR, NTT, NEC, CD, USB, etc.).

Most modern computer systems like Windows and Mac OS come preinstalled with software to display Japanese. If the Japanese can be displayed on your computer, but you cannot input in Japanese, you need to install the Japanese Language Input Method. If you have correctly installed the input method, the following will start to work. (For example, if you have installed Japanese input mode successfully on Windows XP, you will have the following Language Bar. The bar may be minimized to an icon on the task bar at the bottom of the screen.)

To activate the Japanese Input Method, you need to place your cursor within a text input field (e.g., document window). First, click within the field to place your blinking cursor inside there and switch to the Japanese-input mode as follows.

1. Selecting the input mode.

Windows

Hold down and hit Left .
This will switch between the Japanese-input mode () and the English-input mode ().
For example, the Language Bar will change to the following on Windows XP.
If the input mode is not ひらがな (), switch to it by -. (The initial input mode is the direct mode (). Practically, the English-input mode () and the direct mode () are the same.) On Windows XP, this will look like:

Mac

Hold down and hit .
This will switch between the Japanese-input mode () and the English-input mode ().

2. Enter romaji. Initially, the part you type in the Japanese input mode is underlined and NOT finalized. (The

key below is the same as the

key on Mac.)

hiragana

To keep it as is (all hiragana), hit .

ohayou → おはよう → → おはよう

katakana

To force everything into katakana, hit F7 and .

sumisu/buraun → じょん・ぶらうん → F7 → ジョン・ブラウン → → ジョン・ブラウン

The function key F7 may be assigned with a certain command by the program you are using and may not work for your computer. For example, F7 will work with MS Office, but it may activate the spell checker with Open Office program.

single-byte
katakana

F8 key will convert the input into single-byte katakana characters (ｼﾞｮﾝ･ﾌﾞﾗｳﾝ). These katakana characters are not the normal (double-byte) katakana (ジョン・ブラウン) shown above. Single-byte katakana characters are more slim than normal characters and may not appear correctly in all computers. Avoid using them.

Font issues

If a text file is written in one computer system and copied to a second computer running a different computer system, the appearance of the document may change. This is because not all computer systems have the same fonts and font substitution occurs. Some programs allow document files to be saved by embedding the original font information in which the text is written. This makes the resulting file larger in size but consistent in appearance. Basically, Mincho and Gothic Fonts or their variations are available in most computers. The Japanese fonts used in this textbook includes these standard fonts plus Kyokashotai which is a textbook-style font with the most true-to-form appearance. The learners of Japanese should be copying Kyokashotai font shapes in handwriting, but be prepared to be able to recognize text written in other font shapes.

Mincho	あいうえお	アイウエオ	日本語
Gothic	あいうえお	アイウエオ	日本語
Kyokashotai	あいうえお	アイウエオ	日本語

Based on what has been presented so far, it should be easy to predict what combination of key strokes generate which hiragana or katakana characters. The following chart shows the summary of romaji chart. There are some variations in typing Japanese this way, and these are shown in green cells below.

The romaji characters written in blue cells below are the combinations that are not introduced previously.

Romaji Chart

nn
ん
ン

wa
わ
ワ

ra
ら
ラ

ya
や
ヤ

ma
ま
マ

pa
ぱ
パ

ba
ば
バ

ha
は
ハ

na
な
ナ

da
だ
ダ

ta
た
タ

za
ざ
ザ

sa
さ
サ

ga
が
ガ

ka
か
カ

a
あ
ア

wi
うぃ
ウィ

ri
り
リ

yi
い
イ

mi
み
ミ

pi
ぴ
ピ

bi
び
ビ

hi
ひ
ヒ

ni
に
ニ

di
ぢ
ヂ

ti/chi
ち
チ

zi/ji
じ
ジ

si/shi
し
シ

gi
ぎ
ギ

ki
き
キ

i
い
イ

wu
う
ウ

ru
る
ル

yu
ゆ
ユ

mu
む
ム

pu
ぷ
プ

bu
ぶ
ブ

hu/fu
ふ
フ

nu
ぬ
ヌ

du
づ
ヅ

tu/tsu
つ
ツ

zu
ず
ズ

su
す
ス

gu
ぐ
グ

ku
く
ク

u
う
ウ

we
うぇ
ウェ

re
れ
レ

ye
いぇ
イェ

me
め
メ

pe
ぺ
ペ

be
べ
ベ

he
へ
ヘ

ne
ね
ネ

de
で
デ

te
て
テ

ze
ぜ
ゼ

se
せ
セ

ge
げ
ゲ

ke
け
ケ

e
え
エ

wo
を
ヲ

ro
ろ
ロ

yo
よ
ヨ

mo
も
モ

po
ぽ
ポ

bo
ぼ
ボ

ho
ほ
ホ

no
の
ノ

do
ど
ド

to
と
ト

zo
ぞ
ゾ

so
そ
ソ

go
ご
ゴ

ko
こ
コ

o
お
オ

Japanese does not have an "L" sound. Do not use the letter "L" to type らりるれろ or ラリルレロ. The results are unpredictable depending on the computer systems. On Windows, typing "la", "li", "lu", "le" on "lo" will result in ぁぃぅぇぉ (= the small-size あいうえお).

Glides

mya みゃミャ	rya りゃリャ	pya ぴゃピャ	bya びゃビャ	hya ひゃヒャ	nya にゃニャ	tya/cha ちゃチャ	zya/ja じゃジャ	sya/sha しゃシャ	gya ぎゃギャ	kya きゃキャ
myu みゅミュ	ryu りゅリュ	pyu ぴゅピュ	byu びゅビュ	hyu ひゅヒュ	nyu にゅニュ	tyu/chu ちゅチュ	zyu/ju じゅジュ	syu/shu しゅシュ	gyu ぎゅギュ	kyu きゅキュ
myo みょミョ	ryo りょリョ	pyo ぴょピョ	byo びょビョ	hyo ひょヒョ	nyo にょニョ	tyo/cho ちょチョ	zyo/jo じょジョ	syo/sho しょショ	gyo ぎょギョ	kyo きょキョ

Double Vowels in hiragana

To get a double vowel for /aa/, /ii/ and /uu/, just type double vowel characters as in aa → ああ, kaa → かあ, kii → きい, kuu → くう, etc.
Double vowel /ee/ is written either as /ei/ or /ee/: ei → えい, ee → ええ, nei → ねい, nee → ねえ, etc.
Double vowel /oo/ is written either as /ou/ or /oo/: ou → おう, oo → おお, kou → こう, koo → こお, etc.

Double Vowels in katakana

The vowel extender symbol ー is written by a hyphen (-): ko-hi- → コーヒー.

Double Consonants

To get a small character っ or ッ, type double consonants (e.g., "tt", "ss", "kk", "pp", etc.) followed by some vowel (one of "aiueo"): gakki → がっき.
Alternatively, you can type a letter "x" in front of "tu" or "tsu". So, typing "xtu" or "xtsu" will give you っ or ッ: gaxtuki → がっき or gaxtsuki → がっき. This method is more cumbersome than typing double consonants.

Small Characters

To transcribe some foreign words in katakana, you need small katakana vowel characters ァィゥェォ. See the examples at the bottom of this page. There is also hiragana equivalent of these: ぁぃぅぇぉ. To get these small characters, type an "x" in front of "aiueo": xa → ァ/ぁ, xi → ィ/ぃ, xu → ゥ/ぅ, xe → ェ/ぇ, xo → ォ/ぉ. Although it is more cumbersome, you can also use this method to type a small っ: xtu → ッ/っ or glides: kixya → きゃ/キャ, kixyu → きゅ/キュ, kixyo → きょ/キョ, etc.

Punctuation Marks

A comma generates a Japanese comma (、), and a period generates a Japanese period (。).
Do not type a space anywhere in the middle of the Japanese-input mode. (A spacebar is reserved for converting ひらがな into kanji. We will learn kanji in Elementary Japanese II.) If spaces are needed, hit the key to finalize text in Japanese first and then type spaces.

To get this...	type this	or this.
ペーパー	pe-pa-
ハッピー	happi-	haxtupi-
おはよう	ohayou
どうも、ありがとう。	doumo,arigatou.
「ああ！」	[aa!]

Innovative Katakana Usage

To transcribe some foreign words in katakana, you may optionally use the following more innovative romaji sequences. The innovative usage may vary and be used somewhat inconsistently.
Although /v/ sounds do not exist in Japanese, there is a way to represent it using katakana ウ with a diacritic mark:
ヴ: ヴァ, ヴィ, ヴ, ヴェ, ヴォ (va, vi, vu, ve, vo, respectively)
Since ヴァヴィヴヴェヴォ and バビブベボ are pronounced the same way, most people simply use バビブベボ instead of more cumbersome ヴァヴィヴヴェヴォ.

	sh/j/ch	t/d	f/v	y	w
a			ファーム (farm) fa-mu, fuxa-mu, huxa-mu ヴァン (van) vann, vuxann
i		ティー (tea) thi-, texi- ディール (deal) dhi-ru, dexi-ru	フィールド (field) fi-rudo, fuxi-rudo ヴィーナス (venus) vi-nasu, vuxi-nasu デイヴィッド (David) deividdo		ウィーク (week) wi-ku, uxi-ku
u		トゥー (two) toxu- ドゥーム (doom) doxu-mu テューン (tune) thu-nn, texyu-nn デューン (dune) dhu-nn, dexyu-nn	デイヴ (Dave) deivu
e	シェル (shell) sheru, syeru ジェット (jet) jetto, zixetto チェック (check) chekku, tixekku		フェイス (face) feisu, fuxeisu, huxeisu ヴェール (vale) ve-ru, vuxe-ru	イェール (Yale) ye-ru, ixe-ru	ウェン (when) wenn, uxenn
o			フォーム (form) fo-mu, fuxo-mu, huxo-mu ヴォイス (voice) voisu, vuxoisu		ウォーク (walk) uxo-ku

Type the following katakana words on your computer. What romaji combination do you use to type in the shortest possible way?

コンピュータ (computer)
インターネット (Internet)
ジョージアテック (Georgia Tech)
ニューヨーク (New York)
フェイスブック (Facebook)
セキュリティーチェック (security check)
ツイッター (Twitter)
Your full name