1: Installing Japanese Language Pack and Enabling Japanese Input

Since OS menus change, the most reliable installation steps come from official documentation:

  • Windows (Microsoft Support) -- Search for: “Install a language pack Windows Japanese” “Japanese IME Microsoft instructions” Official site: Microsoft support.
  • macOS (Apple Support) -- Search for: “Add Japanese input source macOS” “Use Japanese IME on Mac” Official site: Apple support.

Most modern computers—including Windows and macOS—can display Japanese by default. If you can read Japanese text but cannot type in Japanese, you need to add the Japanese language and activate the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME)

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.

1-1. Selecting the input mode.

Windows:

1. Hold down Alt Key and hit Left Shift Key

This will switch between the direct mode of the Japanese-input mode and the English-input mode.

2. If the input mode is not ひらがな, switch to it by Alt KeyTilda Key

The initial input mode is the direct mode. The English-input mode and the direct mode are the same.

Mac:

Hold down Command/Apple Key and hit Spacebar

This will switch between the Japanese-input mode and the English-input mode.

1-2. Enter romaji.
Initially, the part you type in romaji (e.g., "ohayou") appears in underlined hiragana (おはよう) This means the input is NOT finalized. (The Enter key below is the same as the Return key on Mac.)
hiragana To keep the input as is (all hiragana), hit Enter Key

o h a y o u → おはよう Enter Key → おはよう
katakana To force everything into katakana, hit F7 and Enter Key

j o n n / b u r a u n → じょん・ぶらうん F7 → ジョン・ブラウン Enter Key → 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 other function on your computer.
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 another computer running a different computer system, the appearance of the document may change slightly. This is because not all computer systems have the same fonts. 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.

Comparison of texts in Mincho, Gothic and Kyokashotai fonts

2: Romaji Chart

The following chart shows the summary of romaji chart.

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.

3: Glides

4: Double Vowels

To get double vowels ああ, いい and うう, etc., type vowel characters as shown below without spaces in between:

1: "a a" to get ああ 2: "k a a" to get かあ 3: "k i i" to get きい

4: "k u u" to get くう, etc.

To get double vowels えい, ええ, ねい, ねえ, etc., type vowell characters as shown below without spaces in between:

1: "e i" to get えい

2: "e e" to get ええ

3: "n e i" to get ねい

4: "n e e" to get ねえ, etc.

To get double vowels おう, おお, etc., type vowell characters as shown below without spaces in between:

1: "o u" to get おう

2: "o o" to get おお

3: "k o u" to get こう

4: "k o o" to get こお, etc.

For katakana, the vowel extender symbol ー is written by a hyphen (-) without spaces in between:
1: "k o - h i -" to get コーヒー (coffee)

2: "k u k k i -" to get クッキー (cookie)

5: Double Consonants (Pause in air flow)

To get a small character っ or ッ, type double consonants (e.g., "t t", "s s", "k k", "p p", etc.) followed by some vowel (one of "a i u e o"):

1: "g a k k o u" to get がっこう

2: "i s u t t e i i m a s u" to get いすっていいます

3: "i p p u n" to get いっぷん

Alternatively, you can type a letter "x" in front of "t u" or "t s u" without spaces. So, typing "x t u" or "x t s u" will give you small っ or ッ. The shortest possible way to get がっき is "g a k k i."

1: "g a x t u k i" to get がっき

2: "g a x t s u k i" to get がっき

3: "g a k k i" to get 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 "s h i x y a - p e n" without spaces 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.

6: 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" (or "l") in front of "aiueo":

1: "x a" to get small ァ/ぁ

2: "x i" to get small ィ/ぃ

3: "x u" to get small ゥ/ぅ

4: "x e" to get small ェ/ぇ

5: "x o" to get small ォ/ぉ

7. Punctuation Marks

● A comma generates a Japanese comma (、), and a period generates a Japanese period (。).
● While you are in the ひらがな input mode, typing spaces will not put spaces into the text. (A space bar is reserved for converting ひらがな into kanji. We will learn more about kanji later.) If spaces are needed, hit the Enter Key to finalize the Japanese text first and then type spaces.　Or, you can switch to the English input mode to type spaces.
● Quotation marks: Type [ and ] to get 「 and 」.

8. Innovative Katakana Spelling

  • 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.

9. Exercises

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 Show answer to reveal the answer.
1. かざり decoration Show answer
2. ざいこ inventory Show answer
3. がいこくじん foreigner Show answer
4. コンピュータ computer Show answer
5. インターネット Internet Show answer
6. ジョージアテック Georgia Tech Show answer
7. ニューヨーク New York Show answer
8. フェイスブック Facebook Show answer
9. ツイッター Twitter Show answer
10. セキュリティーチェック security check Show answer
11. Your first and last name
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