Skip to content
Step by Step Internet 🌐 Guides for learning to surf the Net

How to put the keyboard in Japanese for any device? Step by step guide

How to put the keyboard in Japanese for any device? Step by step guide

The keyboard is the most important input peripheral of any device, it allows us to perform great functions, including executing commands through the combination of special keys. Although there are countless models, they all fulfill the same function as writing and if you want you can adapt the language you want.

If you want to change the language of this and place it in another, you can do it without complications, just change the settings. In this case we are going to talk about how to adjust it to Japanese, but first you must know a little about it. This jargon is considered one of the most complicated, for this reason it comes to present many problems when making an adaptation, since it has a large number of characters, approximately 256.

Not only that, but it has 3 syllables, which is summarized in that for example, for a syllable in this case KI, there are many variants, among them, 樹 、 来 、 木 、 機 、 匱. This can be easy for a person, since he has the ability to distinguish what he means if he studied it, but for an automatic team it is a bit complicated. Entering this subject, in this guide you can discover a little more of the ninth most spoken language in the world and how to adapt it to your team.

What is a keyboard for typing with Japanese letters and characters?

Japanese is a very complex language, because this is composed of two syllables that are Hiragana and Katakana (Kana), in addition to these is the Kanjis. Writing in this language can be a bit difficult if you don’t know it, as we mentioned has three writing systems and each one although they have little difference from the other, they tend to create confusion. That is why you must distinguish them very well before practicing it and know what their discrepancy is.

kanjis

One of the most important is that the Hiragana and the Katakana represent the phonemes and the Kanji, the complete words. This seems easy to the naked eye, but in reality it is not, Many of the words in this jargon are written the same as in Hiragana but have a different Kanji, that is, a different meaning.

>

The Hiragana ひ ら が な

This is often used to write the language’s own words. It is characterized by having curved and simple strokes. It consists of 46 characters; 40 are syllables formed by a consonant and a vowel, 5 are vowels and a single consonant that can go alone “N” (ん).

hiragana

El Katakana カ タ カ ナ

This is used for foreign words, they refer to those taken from other languages, particularly English. They are angled and geometric. It has 46 characters that represent syllables composed of a consonant and a vowel, or failing that of the latter. Of all the consonants only the “N” (ン) can go alone.

katakana

Kanjis

This is a writing system, but different from the previous ones, in this case this makes the Japanese language logical. To understand this jargon a little, its function is to strike a balance between each form of writing.

As we have said in this language there are several words that are pronounced the same, but have a different meaning, thanks to Kanji you can easily differentiate. An example of this may be the word “Hashi” which can be understood as “bridge”, “edge” … What to do to distinguish them? See the character.

Programs and applications to change and put your keyboard in Japanese language

In this part you can experience the different ways you have to modify the keyboard through programs and applications in different operating systems, Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone.

Change for Windows PC

Programs as such do not exist to make these changes on your computer, but you can do it from the Windows operating system itself, as it brings this programming by default. For example, Microsoft IME is one that is installed on all devices that have this OS. No matter what version you have, you can modify it.

Windows 7

This configuration is very easy to do, you can do it from two points, from the Toolbar or from the Menu through the Control Panel.

  • To enter from the Control Panel, you just have to enter your menu. « Control panel»> «Clock, language and region»> «Regional and Language Settings».

configuracion regional y de idioma

  • Select the “Keyboards and languages” option and click “Change keyboards.”

cambiar teclados windows

  • Press “Add” and look for the “Japanese” language. Select “Japanese” or “Microsoft IME”.

teclado en japones windows

  • After following these steps, you must click on «Accept» and «Apply». This way you can check either in Word or a Blog of notes that you already have activated.

escribir en japonés

Windows 8

Changing the language in this version is the same or easier than in the previous one, just run the following.

  • The first thing you should do is find your “Charms bar” and enter the “Settings”, at the top you will see a function which is “Change PC settings”.

barra de Charms bar windows 8

  • A new “Settings” window will open, there you must search and access “Time and language”> “Region and language”.
  • In this part you will see the language you have as default and below you will have a section that is “Languages”, enter “Options”.

hora e idioma windows 8

  • You will see that several options were displayed, in it is one that says «Add a keyboard», enter there to open a window with the languages. Find the “Japanese” , select it and click on “Set as main”.

agregar un teclado windows 8

Windows 10

The steps are very similar to those of previous versions of Windows. Only in this case you have to press the button «+ Add a language».

  • The first thing you should do is open the “Menu”.
  • You will go to the “Control Panel”.

panel de control windows 10

  • This will open a tab, in it you should look where it says «Time and language».

hora e idioma windows 10

  • Enter the “Region and language” section and search where it says “+ Add a language”.

region e idioma windows 10

  • It will show you all that it brings, look for the «Japanese 日本語» you select it and go. When you return to the «Region and language menu» you will see that it has been added, you just have to finish it.

idioma japonés windows 10

  • Enter “Options” of the language you added, the moment you access it will ask you to download the “Language options”. This may take a few minutes.

opciones idiomas windows 10

  • After you finish downloading, go back to the menu where you were right now and select the one you downloaded, now you can set it as default.
  • To complete you must restart your device so that it can process the change you just made.

Use on Mac computers

Modifying the language of your computer is something very simple, although sometimes it is not known how to change something specific and that this does not damage the configuration of it. As it is in this case, it is sought to change the keyboard language without affecting the rest of the equipment. To do so follow the steps below.

  • Opens the “System Preferences” pop-up.

preferencias del sistema mac

  • There, select the accounted keyboard represented.
  • Then you must click on “Input Sources”.
  • Search for the “Japanese” language by clicking on the + sign and selecting it.

fuente de entrada mac

  • When selecting “Japanese”, you must activate the “Show Predictive Terminations” function. This option will allow autocomplete many words and avoid the time to write them completely.

Put on your Android mobile

The writing options of the mobile devices have some default languages ​​incorporated, As in this case we need to activate Japanese, you can see if it is available.

For this you access a chat, for example, and at the bottom of the keyboard you will find a symbol in the form of «Globe» or the word «Spanish» in the space bar.

teclado android idiomas

If it doesn’t appear, go to your device settings and make sure which ones you drive. «Setting»> «Language and text input»> «Language». If you don’t get it, you can locate it by Google Play Store through an app. In this part you will see one that can help you make the change without altering your device.

Go keyboard

This application is designed primarily to replace the traditional keyboard that the device brings (Android), with a more dynamic one that you can adapt to your liking. With its new updates it has also incorporated a language pack, among them is Japanese, so it will not only allow you to adjust the presentation of this but also something else.

Go keyboard

Put on iPhone

These devices have a more advanced interface, so you can modify anything from their configuration. As we saw in the previous case you can verify if you can do it from these without having to download an additional program.

  • Go to the «Settings» of your device and access «General».

ajustes de iPhone

  • Search for the “General options”> “Keyboard” function, in what the window opens you should look for the “Add new keyboard” option.