Typing in Hiragana

[Great_Aku_Ha]

Hey everybody! Ever wanted to type in Japanese characters but you don't have a Japanese keyboard? Not a problem!

If you have Windows Vista, you can simply hit Alt+Shift, and the little 'EN' symbol (bottom right on taskbar) will change to 'JP A'. Click the 'A' and a menu appears. Highlit and click Hiragana at the top. Now all you have to do is type how you would Romaji, and it comes out in Hiragana.

EXAMPLE:

'arigatou gozaimasu' becomes ありがとうございます

'Sumimasen. Kore wa koushuu denwa arimasu ka?' becomes すみません。これわ公衆電話ありますか？

Remember to hit the 'Enter' key after each word and particle. If you want, you can hit the space bare before you hit enter to change the word to change the word to its Kanji form if it has one. Be aware though that there are 2000 Basic Kanji, and many of you will not be able to read full Japanese very well until you have learned these Kanji.

In this mode, spaces are made by hitting the 'Enter' key. Hitting the space bar will change your hiragana to kanji where possible. To switch quickly back to English, just use shift to capitalize the first letter of your sentence.

You can switch out of this mode at any time by hitting Alt+Shift. This can be down with operating systems XP and up, but the mechanics may be slightly different so try Google if you run into problems.

Ja ne~!  

[Kyuuketsuki ZIP]

"arigatou gozaimasu" is 有難うございます。=/
ありがとうございます is Thank you.  

[Mystique_x-men]

I have windows 7 and I can't type in Japanese, I get the Japanese keyboard instead, so when I hit the letter K I get the sign no and so on. And I've chosen microsoft IME... what do I do wrong?  

[Patricia Lesley]

Alt-shift only alters between NO and EN. I don't have Japanese as an option. How do I get that? Up until now, I have only been able to write with hiragana by copy-pasting from the internet, and handwriting of course, and writing on my computer would be nice to be able to do.  

[NikawaEx]

Mystique_x-men

I have windows 7 and I can't type in Japanese, I get the Japanese keyboard instead, so when I hit the letter K I get the sign no and so on. And I've chosen microsoft IME... what do I do wrong?

You can use "Baidu IME" free soft wear.
＾＾  

[Mystique_x-men]

NikawaEx

Mystique_x-men

I have windows 7 and I can't type in Japanese, I get the Japanese keyboard instead, so when I hit the letter K I get the sign no and so on. And I've chosen microsoft IME... what do I do wrong?

You can use "Baidu IME" free soft wear.
＾＾

Thanks for your reply, but my problem was sorted out shortly after I posted that=) Thanks anyway