I’ve always wondered what people use, I first started using the Kana keyboard layout on my phone but was incredibly slow at it, so I just used the Romaji Keyboard. I feel like that’s cheating however, I’m not a fast reader yet and I feel like using the Kana layout would help me more. Is there any significance in using any of the layouts?
48 comments
I haven’t even tried the kana input. To me it seems much slower.
I use the flick kana keyboard.
I use the flick keyboard if I do need to input anything on my phone. Seems pretty good and more my lack of experience that’s slowing me down when I use it.
Kana. It’s cool and nice and I love it, kiss it? No, due to germs. But I do use it
Romaji for me. Romaji is more natural for me than kana so its faster. I should practice with kana though.
I started using the kana one and it’s not too bad. I am still slow though. My bf uses it so I naturally wanted to get proficient at it, but funnily we both use the romaji keyboard on the computer and not likely to change.
I tried using the Kana keyboard and I’m so slow at it. It takes forever writing a short sentence when I’m studying on my phone.
I use the romaji keyboard.
I was using the kana tap keyboard (I can manage that faster than the flick one) but it was making my thumbs cramp.
It’s not cheating, it’s about comfort. And IMO it doesn’t matter how you input it comes out in Japanese.
Romaji. I don’t see a benefit to using the kana flick keyboard unless you grow up with it. Most Japanese people use the kana flick keyboard though.
Kana.
I use the kana keyboard. It took me a couple weeks to get used to it but the more time went by, the faster I could type. I’m a year in and I can type hardly paying attention to what buttons are where.
The reason it’s so quick is that all the え sounds (えけせてねへめれ) are to the right, all the う(うくすつぬふむる) are up, all the い sounds to the left (いきしちにひみり) and all the お sounds are down (おこさとのほとろ).
Once that becomes habit, you don’t need to see the letter on the keyboard to type, you just automatically flick. Once you start remembering which sound is where on the screen your fingers start flying without thinking. I recommend it!
I use the kana input. Even though I am slow at it, I try to type wherever I can do that I can develop muscle memory and become fast. It just takes times!
I really prefer and use Kana keyboard
kana, because it feels more right.
I also feel like it’s cheating but I just can’t do it lmao. I’m soooo slow with the kana keyboard, like stupidly slow. I’m at an N4/3 level (officially passed the 4 but I’m pretty sure I couldve passed 3) and I can type pretty damn fast with the romaji keyboard but I s2g that flick keyboard got me typing at a beginning japanese class day 1 level 💀🤣
9 key kana for me. Using romaji input feels clunky.
Kana flick, couple days talking to mates and i was pretty comfy with it
kana keyboard
kana wheel go brrrrrrrr
im significantly faster with the romaji one for some reason.
but it’s really all preference.
I prefer the kana one since, back when I started, I made a lot of typos which, unlike in English or so can be corrected fairly easily, turn into completely different words in Japanese. If you miss the “e” in negotiations, it’s an easy fix. If you miss the “u” in koushou, you get an entirely different word (from negotiations to failure). And I’m fairly fast in the kana keyboard too. It’s structured pretty well, it’s the same order as the gojuuon order (a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko … etc). Plus, you barely need to memorise anything since all of the stand-alone boxes are a-kana, all the ones to the top are u-kana, etc.
I use a kana keyboard, you get used to it and it becomes much fast over time.
I tried the kana flick layout, I’m so slow at it that I just downloaded a QWERTY romaji keyboard instead. Whatever works for each person I think. But really I switch to using English so often I think when using kana flick layout I just kept having to switch back often and it took longer than toggling romaji conversions.
Kana all the way babee.
It also helps you stop thinking about words in romaji.
I switched from romaji to flick kana a few months ago, used フリックラーニング on android to practice for a few days and have used it regularly since. It’s much nicer imo as you have less typos and can type better with one hand.
Kana keyboard ftw, if you get good at it it’s faster than romaji input
I use kana keyboard on my phone. Once I got used to it, it definitely helped me think more in kana.
My Japanese tutor uses the romaji one and when she tried to type something in on my phone didn’t know how to use a kana one (she’s lived in the UK for about 10 years).
I use flick, I would definitely say that early on it helped to dissociate the kana from romanji, but I don’t think it’s by any means necessary.
I mainly use the kana keyboard. But there are times when I type out things like じょう or はっぴょう etc that it gets annoying tapping the 小 button repetitively. So romaji keyboard is better in that regard. But I’ve been praised for typing fast with the kana keyboard before from random utility company sales reps lol.
I’m using kana input for some time already and got used to it a bit, before it was Romaji. The most frustrating are moments when I have to write small っ/ょ、ゅ、ゃ because I have to think a lot :’D
Romaji keyboard is helping me re-associate the syllables with the characters. (I originally learned to write using My Japanese Coach on the NDS… Yeah… Not getting that back.)
Kana flick keyboard all the way. It’s my favourite way to input Japanese across all platforms.
I set it to the kana keyboard and then I use Japanese to speak my input. Works really well.
I use the romaji… I mean, you feel like it’s cheating at what? I use it communicate to Japanese people and friends, it’s a tool for me and that’s just the way I’ve learned to use it. If you feel you’ll be more proficient or feel like a more “authentic Japanese learner” by using the Kana one then you should use it, it’ll just take time to get used to it.
I use romaji, but I use the unified spellings which I think most Japanese people normally use, like tyo for cho, tu for tsu, etc.
Romaji
Feeling bad that I never learned to use the kana keyboard despite living in Japan. I don’t really have to type a lot quickly though. I keep it around for the rare times a Japanese person has to use it.
Same reason I keep thinking about getting a mechanical keyboard (or learning to type faster) but still havent.
Flick kana. Takes a few days to get used to, but honestly much more beneficial in the long run since you type faster
I use the Kana keyboard but recently I figured out I could use the dictation option so I can skip most of the typing haha.
I use the handwriting keyboard, but on rare occasions I will use the 12 key kana
Kana, who doesn’t like slipping and sliding through those characters
I use the kana keyboard, where it’s based on column, and you swipe to one side depending on the vowel sound.
Granted I still use romaji for computer input
I do romaji, but I notice all my students use the kana keyboard. I’m pretty quick with romaji at this point though so idk if I’ll try to change it.
I recently transitioned to the Kana Keyboard. I’m still getting used to it, but I can see the value add.
I use kana as it is faster and keys are bigger. Kinda hate that keyboard on iPad isn’t same…
Mostly Romaji.
Kana, of course.
12-key (kana) layout of Gboard. I don’t type in Japanese super regularly, but often enough that I can use the 12-key keyboard effectively.
Romaji for me. Typing my name “Josh” (ジョシュ) is a hassle. Using Kana, it’s し+゛+よ+小+し+ゆ+小. That’s 7 inputs vs. 4 in romaji. Kana also forces me to use one finger and hold my phone vertically. And 日本語とEnglishをmixしてる時は全部romajiで入力できるからit’s just more convenientだと思うけど、、
The only reason I learned Kana is because I looked like an idiot whenever a Japanese person handed me their phone to type something.