Type to Learn Hiragana and Katakana
If you are really not a fan of writing then try typing in Japanese. No, you don’t need to buy a Japanese keyboard or even download one. If you want to be able to type in Japanese on your phone, simply go into settings and change the language on the keyboard. For android users click the settings icon, then scroll down to General Management and click on it. Then click on Language Input. Under Keyboards, click on the On-screen keyboard. Then click Samsung Keyboard, then hit Languages and types. Press Manage input languages. You should now see a list of languages that you can download. Click Japanese and then you are all set.
If you are using your iphone, go into settings and select General. Then select keyboard. Afterward hit keyboards. Now select Japanese and then click on Romaji to add a Japanese keyboard. Now you can switch between typing in English and typing in Japanese.
If you are using your laptop go into settings and change the language on your keyboard. The exact instructions for adding the keyboard on your laptop may vary from system to system, so read this article on how to install a japanese keyboard. However, if you have already added a language to your keyboard, then you may be wondering how to more easily switch between hiragana, katakana, and English. Typing in Japanese can be inconvenient and time-consuming at times, because of the constant switching from hiragana to katakana. But have no fear, I’m here to make typing in Japanese a little easier.
To type in Japanese turn on your Japanese keyboard. Type each character using romaji. Seems simple enough. あ is now a and ga is が. The only exceptions are は and ん. は is typed as ha, regardless if it is being used as a particle or not. ん is typed using two n’s: nn. This is because of the n hiragana line, which has five different vowels after n. So just type a double n to indicate ん. But what about typing small characters like small tsu. For compound hiragana, type in the romaji, for the character and the computer will take care of the rest. Therefore, kya is きゃ and ryo is りょ. Typing small tsu is a bit different. Small tsu in hiragana only appears in a word and is sandwiched between two hiragana characters. However, when typing you drop the first vowel of the hiragana character next to small tsu, do not type tsu, and instead type the full romaji of the character after tsu. So the romaji for cafe is kissaten. We have a double consonant. The computer reads this as a small tsu between the two s. Therefore, kissaten is きっさてん .
So that covers hiragana, but what about katakana? Well, since katakana is used together with hiragana, you may fill the need to switch from hiragana to katakana using the IME options. But you do not need to do this. Simply type in the romaji for the katakana word and hit the spacebar. The computer will automatically put the word in katakana for you if it is spelled correctly. For example, beer is spelled biru in romaji. If I type that into the computer and hit the spacebar afterward I get ビル. Easy. If you want to know more about typing in Japanese, check out this article How to Type in Japanese and Fun Characters Too.
