Handy Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for Typing in Japanese (Intermediate- Advanced)

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+SHIFTswitch between English/hiragana/katakana
ALT+CAPSLOCKswitch to katakana input
CTRL+CAPSLOCKswitch 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
F6convert to full-width hiragana (standard hiragana)
F7convert to full-width katakana (standard katakana)
F8convert to half-width katakana (usually not what you want)
F9convert to full-width English (usually not what you want)
F10convert to half-width English (standard English)
Spaceconverts to the first word
2-6when you see the word you want, but it's not in the first position, press the corresponding number to input that word

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.