Let's learn to type hiragana and katakana using the standard English keyboard. Hiragana and katakana together are called "kana." In order to type kana on the English keyboard, we need to use ローマ字(じ) (romaji, or romanized characters) first and then convert it to kana. The following is the Windows-based romaji spelling). Mac and other computers also use similar spelling rules.

Most popular 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 activate the Japanese Language Input Method (sometimes referred to "keyboard") through the language options of your computer. If you have correctly set up the input method, the following will start to work. (For example, if you have installed Japanese input mode on Windows, you will have the following Language Bar. This 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 the text field and switch to the Japanese-input mode as follows.

1. Selecting the input mode.
Windows:   1. Hold down and hit Left .   This will switch between the direct mode of the Japanese-input mode () and the English-input mode (). The Language Bar will change to the following on Windows 7.     2. If the input mode is not ひらがな (), switch to it by -.   (The initial input mode is the direct mode (). The English-input mode () and the direct mode () are the same.) The Language Bar may 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 romaji ("ohayou") appears in underlined hiragana (おはよう). This means the input is NOT finalized. (The key below is the same as the key on Mac.)
hiragana	To keep the input as is (all hiragana), hit .   　　ohayou ⇒ おはよう ⇒ ⇒ おはよう
katakana	To force everything into katakana, hit F7 and .   　　jonn/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 slimmer than the 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. The learners of Japanese should be copying Kyokashotai font shapes in handwriting.

The following chart shows the summary of romaji chart. There are some variations in typing Japanese as shown in green letters below. Those in red letters are new combinations.

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.

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

• 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.
    
    
• For katakana, the vowel extender symbol ー is written by a hyphen (-):
  
  
  • ko-hi- ⇒ コーヒー (coffee)
  • kukki- ⇒ クッキー (cookie)

• 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"):
  
  
  • gakkou ⇒ がっこう
  • isutte iimasu ⇒ いすっていいます
  • ippun ⇒ いっぷん
    
    
• 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
    
    
• Typing "x" or "l" to get small-size characters works for typing glides as well. For example, instead of typing "sha-pen", you can type "shixya-pen" to get シャーペン. This last method is less efficient and prone to misspelling, but you can use it as a last resort.

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" (or "l") 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
• kixya ⇒ きゃ/キャ
• kixyu ⇒ きゅ/キュ
• kixyo ⇒ きょ/キョ, etc.

• 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 space bar 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.
  
  
• Quotation marks: Type [ and ] to get 「 and 」.

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.
「ああっ！」	[aa!]

• 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	q/y	w	Try them.
a			ファーム 　(farm) fa-mu   ヴァン 　(van) vann	スクァッシュ 　(squash) sqasshu
i		ティー 　(tea) thi-   ディ　ール 　(deal) dhi-ru	フィールド 　(field) fi-rudo   ヴィーナス 　(venus) vi-nasu   デイヴィッド 　(David) deividdo	クィーン 　(queen) qi-nn	ウィーク 　(week) wi-ku
u		トゥー 　(two) twu-   ドゥーム 　(doom) dwu-mu   テューン 　(tune) thu-nn   デューン 　(dune) dhu-nn	デイヴ 　(Dave) deivu
e	シェル 　(shell) sheru   ジェット 　(jet) jetto   チェック 　(check) chekku		フェイス 　(face) feisu   ヴェール 　(veil) ve-ru	スクェア 　(square) suqea   イェール 　(Yale) ye-ru	ウェン 　(when) wenn
o			フォーム 　(form) fo-mu   ヴォイス 　(voice) voisu	クォーター 　(quarter) qo-ta-	ウォーク 　(walk) who-ku

A.	Type the following words in kana (hiragana or katakana) on your computer. What romaji combination do you use to type in the shortest possible way? Click to reveal the answer.

1.	かざり decoration		kazari
2.	ざいこ inventory		zaiko
3.	がいこくじん foreigner		gaikokujinn
4.	コンピュータ computer		konpyu-ta
5.	インターネット Internet		inta-netto
6.	ジョージアテック Georgia Tech		jo-jiatekku
7.	ニューヨーク New York		nyu-yo-ku
8.	フェイスブック Facebook		feisubukku
9.	ツイッター Twitter		tuitta-
10.	セキュリティーチェック security check		sekyuritexi-chekku
11.	Your first and last name