Channel:IME
From #japanese
Contents |
Methods of Japanese Text Input
Windows
- Windows IME comes as an optional part of the install for Windows 2000, XP and Vista.
- ATOK is the best option. It is not available in English.
Linux
SCIM and UIM are commonly used input method platforms on Linux. They don't implement input methods, but use input method modules such as Anthy, SKK and PRIME for actual input method implementation.
ATOK is also available for Linux, but as already stated, it's not in English. You might wanna take a look at the System Requirements page, you can guess most of the requirements mean so no real need for Japanese. Probably the one to be aware of is the need for ja_JP.UTF-8 locale support. Each distro usually has it's own docs on how to enable different locales so refer to that.
Another good IME is iBus. Just follow the ReadMe and you should be good to go real quick.
Using a Japanese keyboard
Information on how to use a Japanese keyboard can be found at Help and Assistance.
Some tips:
After inputting a word, in order to convert to kanji, press space. Use the up and down keys to navigate the list. Press enter to complete.
After inputting a word, to easily convert it to katakana, roomaji, or half-width katakana, you can use certain F-number keys. using the word 猫(cat) as an example; F6=> ねこ/ネこ F7=> ネコ/ネこ F8=> ﾈｺ F9=> ｎｅｋｏ F10=> neko.
To get small versions of certain hiragana and katakana, input a l or x in front of it(la=>ぁ,ltsu/xtu=>っ).
To get a small tsu in a word, input the consonant twice(kitto=>きっと).
To write てぃ,てぇ, etc, add a h, l or x in between the T and the vowel(thi/tli/txi=>てぃ). Also works for (dhi/dli/dxi=>でぃ).
To write うぃ or うぇ, type either wi or we. This can also be converted to ゐ and ゑ, two obsolete hiragana.
To get a voiced u, ヴ, add a v before what you are trying to type(vu=>ヴ,ve=>ヴぇ).
