Kana input mode - how many people here use it?

• 
  mog86uk August 25, 2014 at 8:12am

  'Kana input mode' - what is it?
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  When typing japanese characters on a computer, the input mode which most people use is 'romaji input mode' ('K' key followed by 'A' key = か symbol on the screen).
  
  Another input mode directly uses the hiragana symbols printed next to normal alphabet letters on a Japanese keyboard. This is called 'kana input mode' ('か' key = か symbol on the screen. On a Qwerty keyboard this か key is on the 'T' key).
  
  You certainly don't need a Japanese keyboard to be able to type in either mode. I have an English UK keyboard and I always use kana input mode to type Japanese, even though I can't see which key is for which hiragana. When you can touch type, you shouldn't be looking at your fingers at all when typing, so it shouldn't matter even if all the faces of your keyboard keys were completely blank! :P
  
  Again, I am not trying to recommend kana input mode... I've heard, even among Japanese people, romaji input mode is FAR more common and more popular.
• 
  OathKeeper August 25, 2014 at 8:47am

  I for one use kana input mode, I wonder what others use.
• 
  JayT127 August 25, 2014 at 1:21pm

  I used to. However, for some reason, my laptop just completely stopped putting in "kana" all together. It just comes up as English letters even when I switch my keyboard to Japanese. Lol
• 
  mog86uk August 25, 2014 at 1:58pm

  @JayT127 You should try to get it sorted out. Helps a lot with learning Japanese if you are able to type it properly.
  
  I'm guessing you are using Microsoft IME on Windows?
  Probably the easiest sugestion I can give is to right-click the language bar, and click 'settings'. Remove any currently installed Japanese keyboards and the Japanese language from your list, so that you only have your default keyboard "English (US)" or whatever.
  Next, install Google Japanese Input. This is better and simpler to use than MS IME.
  Here's the link. All you have to do to download is tick the box and click "同意してインストール" (don't worry, the program is actually in English). It should pretty much download and install and place itself on your language bar automatically. Really quick and easy:
  http://www.google.co.jp/intl/ja/ime/download.html
  
  @OathKeeper Cool. I wasn't really sure that anyone used it, as it takes quite a bit of effort to learn it without the Japanese letters printed on the keys. ^^
  
  As for everyone who is using romaji input mode, there's something else I'm wondering: Is anyone on here using a specific different layout instead of Qwerty for Japanese? like Dvorak, Colemak, Colman, Workman, ...?
  
  I considered learning Dvorak, as it's meant to be better than Qwerty for English anyway, and more because some people say that Dvorak is extremely good for typing Japanese in romaji input mode.
• 
  tom1960 August 25, 2014 at 2:33pm

  Romaji input with Azerty layout on a Japanese keyboard.
• 
  mog86uk August 25, 2014 at 3:21pm

  I knew if I didn't mention Azerty with Qwerty, that someone was going to say it! xD
  
  However, I wasn't expecting it to be on a Japanese keyboard! I assume the physical keyboard doesn't actually have the key faces printed as Azerty layout though? I'd be surprised if you've actually found a Japanese keyboard which came printed thay way (having the key in the top-left printed as both 'A' and 'た')? ^^
• 
  tom1960 August 25, 2014 at 5:16pm

  Of course, the key faces are Qwerty style. By the way, I use this combination on a Linux PC. I have never been able to get Romaji/Azerty with Windows IME.
• 
  mog86uk August 26, 2014 at 5:27am

  I know what you mean. I have the same problem with my UK keyboard, because both Windows IME and Google IME seem to only use the US keyboard layout (which is different to UK, even though both are Qwerty). I guess people with Qwertz keyboards find this annoying too...
  
  You can do some stuff in Windows registry to use a different keyboard layout with IME. Can copy the French keyboard registry key over the IME keyboard registry key. However, if you did this with a Japanese keyboard, then some of the extra keys probably wouldn't work correctly. I tried this for my UK keyboard and it did work, however it also made kana input mode stop working... :/
  
  I've tried using keyboard layout software to create a custom keyboard layout. I wanted to make one based on Qwerty English (UK) layout and add the kana to the keys for kana input mode, and also add extra japanese keyboard functions. However I can never get it working properly with the IME. If I can figure out what I'm doing wrong, I could try making a French Japanese keyboard layout too. ^^
• 
  tom1960 August 26, 2014 at 2:16pm

  Actually I can live with that. I don't use Windows very much at home and at work, I am not supposed to write in Japanese, officially ...
• 
  devacto August 26, 2014 at 3:57pm

  romanji input here
• 
  Wonderland November 23, 2015 at 2:22am

  I'll be using it as soon as I can figure out how to get it.
• 
  mog86uk November 23, 2015 at 2:38am

  If you are on Windows and don't yet have any way to type in Japanese, the easiest and best option is to get Google Japanese Input (which is very popular and is what I use). Here's the download page:
  https://tools.google.com/dlpage/japaneseinput/eula.html
  
  It's really simple and quick to install. You can use an English or any language physical keyboard (don't need a Japanese keyboard). ^^
• 
  tapply August 3, 2023 at 5:40pm

  Yes, I did. My laptop, however, suddenly stopped entering "kana" altogether https://connections-game.com. Even when I set my keyboard to Japanese, it still comes out as English. Lol