Let's write words in Japanese

Hello everybody, こんにちは。

I've made how to type and write Hiragana on the computer before, based on Hiragana chart.

Lets talk about Katakana for a little bit today.

all the sounds are the same as hiragana.

Katakana look boxy and has edgy shapes compares to Hiragana.

Japanese Alphabet (Katakana) Poster
by falkdesigns

By the way, This chart is sold at zazzle.com Please visit the the link at the bottom for more info.

Katakana is used to express foreign words like,

McDonald = マクドナルド　
Ski = スキー　
America = アメリカ
cake = ケーキ
party = パーティー

all sounds are flat in Japanese.

uses the long line to express long sounds　or extend sounds

you may not recognize the words when it pronounced in Japanese but you'll surprised to know a lot of English words are used in Japanese.

how to write / type Katakana is basically the same as how to write Hiragana.

Let's practice writing / typing words.

First, change the setting to Japanese typing mode,

to type Japanese, you need to know how it pronounced the word in Japanese.

type in  = McDonald = makudonarudo = マクドナルド
 hamburger = hanba-ga- = ハンバーガー
hotdog = hottodoggu = ホットドッグ

small つ is used when you skip the sound. to write small つ、type the consonant twice. you can also make the words smaller if you type in x before the word

only works for vowels and small tsu っ　

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Writing / Typing Japanese: Dotted letters and so on

I'll tell you how to type beyond usual Hiragana chart.

Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, if you add two dots  after those letters for example

かきくけこ
Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko

add " at the right above those letters, they becomes

がぎぐげご

it pronounces

Ga Gi Gu Ge Go

Same for さしすせそ becomes

ざじずぜぞ

Za Zi Zu Ze Zo

だぢづでど

Da Di Du De Do

ばびぶべぼ

Ba Bi Bu Be Bo

Then, if you put small circle at the right side above, they becomes

ぱぴぷぺぽ

Pa Pi Pu Pe Po


Next, if you put little や、ゆ、よ after certain letters, you will pronounce for example,

きゃ　＝　kya
きゅ　＝　kyu
きょ　＝　kyo

Like when you type　kyouto (Kyoto) きょうと　＝京都 in Kanji

you will see よ is little smaller.

Sha Shu Sho
しゃしゅしょ

Tya Tyu Tyo
ちゃちゅちょ

Nya Nyu Nyo
にゃにゅにょ

Hya Hyu Hyo
ひゃひゅひょ

Mya Myu Myo
みゃみゅみょ

Rya Ryu Ryo
りゃりゅりょ

Gya Gyu Gyo
ぎゃきゅぎょ

Ja Ju Jo
じゃじゅじょ

Bya Byu Byo
びゃびゅびょ

Pya Pyu Pyo
ぴゃぴゅぴょ

Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster
by falkdesigns

Writing / Type in Japanese on your computer

Hi,

I'll show you how to type (write) Japanese on your computer.

Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster
by falkdesigns

There are ways to type in using the alphabet.

before you start, you need to set up input enabled in Japanese, If you are using a mac, go to System Preferences from the Apple menu, click on the blue flag icon labeled Language & Region. Click on the button marked with a plus sign in the lower left to add a new language, then select Japanese from the menu and click the Add button. You also need to add the setting for the keyboard. go to the keyboard, input source, add Japanese.   I think it's similar for Windows users, please google "how to type Japanese on windows" and find out.

Lately, Japanese people use this type of keyboard on the smartphone. You tap the letter until you get the one you want on the row of, for example, if you want to input "う" you press "あ" three-time sinceうlocates at the third letter of a row of あ.

There are three kinds of letters in Japanese.

One is Hiragana,　ひらがな

then,  Katakana　カタカナ

the last one is Kanji,　漢字　 Chinese characters have meaning in each one.

Let's start from Hiragana.

By the way, I made this Hiragana and Katakana chart sold at zazzle.com please visit the page, you can see the image and study or you can order a poster online!

Japanese Alphabet (Katakana) Poster
by falkdesigns

change the setting to Hiragana. on the top right side, change the icon to hiragana usually says "あ" in Japanese. there is a shortcut on mac control and space, for windows, alt, and shift.



The first row is vowels, a i u e o

あいうえお

you'll notice the underline shows up, if you press the space key, it will give you the option to change to kanji, you need to press enter to make "あ" to confirm the letter.

when you add consonant, K it becomes Ka ki ku ke ko

かきくけこ

next line is S, Sa si su se so

さしすせそ

T Ta ti tu te to (it pronounces chi and tsu)

たちつてと

N Na ni nu ne no

なにぬねの

H Ha  hi hu he ho

はひふへほ

M Ma mi mu me mo



Y Ya        Yu       Yo

やゆよ

only have 3 on this row since the pronunciation is the same as vowel "i" and "e"

R Ra ri ru re ro

らりるれろ

 I think it's rather pronounced L There are no pronunciation represents L and R differences in Japanese. It's still hard for me to say in English. There's a simple reason why Japanese people can't pronounce R and L correctly. They don't exist in Japanese.

wa wo only two letters on this row.

わ　を

n is the last word. Type twice then hit enter.

ん