Japanese IME for everyone

Japanese IME for everyone

Hey everyone Zarsla here and this is a two part resource, the first one is how to get Japanese IME and the other is Tricks and Tips about it.
How to Install:
For Windows 7/Vista Users:
First go to control panel.
Under the "Clock,Language, and Regin" there's a link that says "change keyboard or other input methods", click that link.
Now, Click Region and Language Tab.
Click Change Keyboard
Click Add.
Find Japanese and select it.
click OK
click Apply
Click Ok.
Done
For Windows 8 Users there are two ways:
First go to control panel.
Under the "Clock,Language, and Region" there's a link called "Add a Language", click the link
Click "Add a Language"
Find Japanese and select it.
Click add.
and your done

Tips and Tricks. (Note this isn't mine: I got it form here)
Tip 1: Easy IME on/off toggle
English Keyboards: ALT + Tilde. (This is a tilde: ~. It’s usually on the top left corner of your keyboard, right below the escape key.)
Japanese Keyboards: 半角/全角/漢字 (Top left key of the keyboard, below the escape key. ALT not needed.)

This is a very basic tip but one of the most important. Everyone needs to start here. Clicking around on your language bar to change the IME mode is just a waste of time; use this quick shortcut whenever you need to toggle your IME.

Tip 3: Use special characters
This is a fun tip. Having an IME makes it much easier to use the special characters that are available on most computers nowadays. I’m talking about things like arrows, stars, hearts, shapesand more. While these characters don’t always display properly on every computer and in every software environment, they are becoming more usable all the time and are particularly well supported in Japan (because Japanese has so many characters, fonts are fewer and special character sets and more standardized).

To type a special character, you simply need to know the keyword that will call it up in your IME. Here’s a table showing some of the major keywords and a sample of the characters they give you access to (this table is by no means exhaustive, there are many other keywords out there):

Keyword=Romaji= Meaning= Symbols
記号=kigou= symbol = ёゝ★℃【】㍉№¶㈱♪≒♂√㎡㍻£Ⅷ (and many more…)
数字=suuji=number=①②③⑳ⅳⅧ
星=hoshi=star=★☆※*⁂✮✰☄✱❈✪
矢印=yajirushi=arrow mark=↑↓←→⇔⇒↪➱➷➤☞☈↻➔
四角=shikaku=square=■□◆◇◩❖❐☑▩
三角=sankaku=triangle=▼▲△▽∵∴▹▿◥◂
丸=maru=circle=〇○●◎。①⑳㊤㊧゜☮☯◔❍◉
点=ten=dot=∵∴ ・ ‥ … ¨゛゜
音楽=ongaku=music=♪♭♯♬♩♮♫
雌=mesu=female=♀
雄=osu=male=♂
郵便=yuubin=mail= 〒〠〶
括弧=kakko= brackets=()<>『』【】“”〝〟{}
顔=kao= face= ☺ ☹ ☻
手tehand☜☛✍✌☝☟
星座seizaastrological sign♉♎♐♑♋♍♏♈♌♓♒♊
チェスchesuchess♘♙♕♞♛♝
トランプtoranpuplaying cards♡♥♤♠♧♣♦♢
天気tenkiweather☁☀☃☂☼
Note: Characters in blue require the symbols dictionary to be activated, see Tip #4, Unless your using a computer with Windows 8, then check out Zarsla's Extra Notes

Tip 4: Use more special characters
Out of the box your IME has some symbols, but if you want to use any of the ones from the table above that I’ve colored in blue, you’ll need the symbols dictionary activated. Here’s how:

extrasymbols.png


Tip 5: Mini hiragana characters
The hiragana characters あいうえおやゆよつ and corresponding katakana アイウエオヤユヨツ can all be sized down at will to meet your needs. Simply prefix the sound as you would type it normally with an L (for “little”). For example, L + U = ぅ. This only works with the vowel characters, ya/yu/yo and tsu ( in Japanese these are the only characters you should ever find opportunity to make small.)

Alternatively, you can downsize these characters by converting them (eg. “u” + spacebar), but prefixing the character is a much better option because it allows you to size as you type, which allows your IME’s parsing activity continue interrupted.

Zarsla's Extra Notes:
1. There are more tips on the original link.
2. For Windows 8 the symbols are all there, thus TIP #4 is useless.
3. For the symbols to work, make sure your IME is selected and is in Japanese Hirgana. Then type the word in Romaji, then press spacebar twice and you should have the whole list, including the symbols.

Hopefully, this helps.
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