TextFugu » Topic: Typing method.

Typing method.

BrassBanana — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:37:25 +0000

When you type in Japanese what method do use?
There are there multiple diffrent settings and options and I dont know which to use.
At the moment i have only typed in Kana, so I have it set to each key being one of 46 symbols.
For example I type の and then I manually change a setting and type ノ by pressing the same key(the k key).This means I type worse in English because I have stuck pieces of paper on my keyboard so i can see what keys represent what Kana. I have heard that apparently hardly any Japanese people type like this, but I didn’t want to use the method where you type the kana in romaji and it comes up in kana.This will get the romaji stuck in my head which I really don’t want.
I figured that this will probably be clearer when I start using kanji but for now anyway it is a problem.

Reply To: Typing method.

マーク・ウェーバー — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:34:16 +0000

I type in romaji and then convert to kana. If I wanted to use the kana keyboard, then I would probably just buy a Japanese keyboard(using stickers sound really hard :p) :)

Reply To: Typing method.

KiaiFighter — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:08:37 +0000

I bought a Japanese laptop 2 years ago (which has the kana on the keys for those who wish to use it that way) but I have talked to some of my Japanese friends and not one of them use it that way. (not typing romaji style)

The one exception (and I mentioned in a previous article) is when Japanese people type on their cell phone. As I mentioned, each key corresponds to a consonant sound + the 5 vowel sounds.. Hard to explain.. If I find the other thread, I’ll link it..

tl:dr – just type in romaji, but if you really want to practice, you should be writing with a pen and paper. period.

Reply To: Typing method.

winterpromise31 — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:13:39 +0000

I use the romaji method and it hasn’t interfered with learning kana at all. Just make sure you practice kana by more than one study method and you should be fine: Anki, http://www.realkana.com/, or http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html are all good resources.

Good luck!

Reply To: Typing method.

BrassBanana — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:39:29 +0000

@Mark Weber. I can’t see any reason why using stickers would be any harder then using a Japanese keyboard. It’s just little bits of paper with the kana written on them stuck on to my keyboard with white tack.

@KiaiFighter. I think I get what you mean about the mobiles, sounds like the Japanese equivalent of how people text in English.

I thought everyone would say that they type romaji style. I guess if everyone one does it there’s no reason I shouldn’t. I still think id prefer doing it the other way though, buy that does mean it takes me ages to type anything.

Reply To: Typing method.

KiaiFighter — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:20:53 +0000

But you said you type worse in English too.
Japanese keyboards have the kana as well as the English characters on the keys! So your little bits of paper should include that information if you are not confident in your English typing.

Reply To: Typing method.

thisiskyle — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:25:33 +0000

Yeah, in line with what Kiaifighter said; every Japanese person I’ve asked types using romaji. Although they tend to do things a bit differently. If your used to Hepburn style you would do the following:
つ=tsu
し=shi
ふ=fu
ち=chi

A lot of Japanese people type them this way (not that it makes a difference but it is few key strokes):
つ=tu
し=si
ふ=hu
ち=ti

Also, if you’re not already using it, I suggest Google IME for typing in Japanese. It’s much better than the native windows IME (I can’t speak for mac).

Reply To: Typing method.

RavenTwoFive — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:42:53 +0000

@thisiskyle I use the Microsoft IME and it works perfectly fine.

つ＝tsu
く＝ku
ちょ＝cho

And only having to hit spacebar to change it over to kanji/katakana is pretty convenient.

So far though, in terms of IME’s, the one I downloaded for my Android phone is pretty annoying. (Which is understandable, it’s hard to put 46 characters plus the buttons to alter/space things on a halfscreen keyboard)