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