Hints for Typing in Japanese
I recently met a man who reads and writes Japanese fairly well and has lived in Japan for years- yet he didn't know some of the most basic shortcuts for typing Japanese. So, here's a quick list of some of the most basic concepts.
Windows IME Shortcuts
| ALT+SHIFT | switch between English/hiragana/katakana |
| ALT+CAPSLOCK | switch to katakana input |
| CTRL+CAPSLOCK | switch to hiragana input |
| ALT+~ | toggle kana/direct input |
| Enter | "lock in" the words you are typing; tell the machine to accept "as is" what you have typed so far, and do not attempt to change it further |
| F6 | convert to full-width hiragana (standard hiragana) |
| F7 | convert to half-width katakana (standard katakana) |
| F8 | convert to half-width katakana (usually not what you want) |
| F9 | convert to full-width English (usually not what you want) |
| F10 | convert to half-width English (standard English) |
| Space | converts to the first word |
| 2-6 | when you see the word you want, but it's not in the first position, press the corresponding number to input that word |
Mac OS Shortcuts
| APPLE + SPACE | switch between English/hiragana/katakana
changes depending on version of OS X |
| CTRL+SHIFT+; | switch to romaji (standard English) input |
| CTRL+SHIFT+k | switch to katakana input |
| CTRL+SHIFT+j | switch to hiragana input |
| Enter | "lock in" the words you are typing; tell the machine to accept "as is" what you have typed so far, and do not attempt to change it further |
| F6 | convert to full-width hiragana (standard hiragana) |
| F7 | convert to half-width katakana (standard katakana) |
| F8 | convert to half-width katakana (usually not what you want) |
| F9 | convert to full-width English (usually not what you want) |
| F10 | convert to half-width English (standard English) |
| Space | converts to the first word |
| 2-6 | when you see the word you want, but it's not in the first position, press the corresponding number to input that word |
Japanese Symbols
| Symbol | What to Type |
| ○ | まる |
| × | ばつ |
| 「 」 | [ ] |
| 『 』 | [ ] + SPACE (or SHIFT + [ ]) |
| ・ | てん |
| … | てんてんてん |
| 〜 | から |
| ー | - (dash) |
| ￥ | えん |
| 『【〈〉〔〕 etc. | かっこ |
| → ↑ | やじるし |
| △ ▶ | さんかく |
| □ ■ | しかく |
| £†∬♀ etc. | きごう |
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