How to Type Japanese on Mac and Windows

You do not need a Japanese keyboard to type Japanese. You type the sounds in the alphabet you already have, and your computer turns them into hiragana, katakana and kanji. This takes about two minutes to set up.

Do this before your first typing practice. Without it, the practice screen cannot receive Japanese at all.

Set it up on a Mac

Open System Settings, then Keyboard. Next to *Text Input*, press Edit, then the + button.

Choose Japanese in the list on the left. Pick Romaji on the right, then press Add. Romaji means you type with the alphabet, which is what you want.

You now have two input sources. Switch between them with Control + Space. You can also press the globe key, or click the small A or あ in the menu bar at the top right.

Set it up on Windows

Open Settings, then Time & language, then Language & region.

Press Add a language, search for Japanese, and install it. Windows may ask to restart; you can keep working and restart later.

Switch languages with Windows key + Space. Once Japanese is active, switch between kana and the alphabet with the 半角/全角 key if your keyboard has one, or Alt + ` if it does not. The taskbar shows A for alphabet and あ for kana.

Type the sounds, then choose the word

With Japanese active, type the sounds and the letters become hiragana as you go. Type `sakura` and you get さくら.

To get kanji, press Space. Your computer offers 桜, 佐倉 and others. Press Space again to move down the list, then Enter to accept. If the hiragana was already what you wanted, press Enter without pressing Space.

Six spellings worth remembering

Most sounds are spelled the way you expect. These six are the ones that stop beginners.

• し is `shi`, and ち is `chi`. `si` and `ti` also work.
• つ is `tsu`. `tu` also works.
• ん is `nn`. A single `n` works before a consonant, but `nn` is always safe.
• っ is a doubled consonant. `kitte` gives きって, while `kite` gives きて.
• Small ゃ ゅ ょ come from three letters. `kya` gives きゃ, not きや.
• ー, the long mark in katakana, is the `-` key. `ra-men` gives ラーメン.

Quiz 1 Now try it

Open the typing practice and type a few words. The first minute feels slow for everyone. After that, your hands stop thinking about the alphabet and start thinking about the sounds.