I think @morteASD’s clarification about key press reduction is acute and important to note, but since there’s the possibility that the key press reduction isn’t insignificant, I kind of want to try kana input now.
Instead of spending the money on a new keyboard though, I’ll probably just order the stickers you mentioned and see how that goes.
As someone who has been using kana input on my computer for over a year, I can tell you it probably is not worth it. As people have said above, it does not increase my speed that much (though, to be fair, at my current place in Japanese I can’t think in the language fast enough to develop complex sentences as quickly as I would need them when expressing my thoughts as I do when I type in English). But, for example, during KameSame reviews where I use kana input, although I have not done any actual testing, I sincerely doubt that the decrease in review time compared to a romaji IME input is significant on any real level in my life.
Also I have at various times seen suggestions by some that being able to be “fluent” in kana typing changes how you think about Japanese. I can for sure say I have not consciously noticed any actual changes in how my brain processes Japanese syllables and sounds. As for subconsciously, I do not think that the kana input magically makes my brain better understand the basic functioning of the Japanese language in any way romaji input does not. That train of thought reminds me of the movie Arrival where the linguist learning the aliens’ language starts experiencing time differently than others. To repeat, as far as I can tell learning kana input does not alter how your brain comprehends the Japanese language in any way that learning romaji does not.
Do I regret learning the kana input? No. But do I think that its actually useful enough to justify the time I spent learning it? No. I suggest you learn it only if you really, really, really want to while also understanding it will likely not really be that helpful for you. I could be wrong though.
I gave kana keyboard a try for quite a while but couldn’t get used to it. I wouldn’t recommend it.
On the other hand, the kana keyboard on mobile devices is the best. It makes me wish there was something as simple and convenient for English because the roman keyboard is very tiny and it’s easy to hit the wrong key.
yeah, I asked my wife what she uses and she said that romaji is easier and most people use it…
Any reasonable flick keyboard will also offer alphabetic input one tap away from the kana. I started using that for the meaning input on WK reviews, and having gotten used to it, it’s now my primary way of typing on the phone. It’s so much smoother!
It all comes down to personal preference. I love the QWERTY keyboard and so I use romaji input everywhere.
My phone does not seem to have a flick-style keyboard for roman letters. I have to use the ordinary keyboard to type in English.
It doesn’t? You haven’t got a key that’s something like this?
This is just the regular iOS keyboard. What keyboard are you using?
I’m on Android. But what does the roman keyboard layout look like?
I think there might be a misunderstanding here. There is a button that can easily switch between roman and kana keyboards on my phone. I was just saying that it would be nice to have a more convenient way to type in English on my phone than an ordinary qwerty keyboard.
on my phone, which i use most of the time, i use the swipe/flick input on everything mostly bc i prefer it and why not
but on my computer i just use romaji bc i don’t wanna buy anything when what i have is perfectly fine
kinda like some japanese people i think
on’na would be what i use, and i think the most common romanization system does the same w stuff like kin’enseki
I started using the 12-key keyboard on my phone for kana input a few weeks ago. As somebody else already said, it’s nice that the keys aren’t tiny. I haven’t quite gotten used to it yet though, so it takes some of my brain power away from WK reviews.
I had no idea there was a 12-key flick keyboard for English letters! I’ll try this out for a while and see how it feels. I did have to go into the Japanese keyboard input settings and flip a switch to not use QWERTY (I’m on Android 8).
There’s always been a 12-key keyboard for English letters, though the addition of the “flick” is comparatively recent.
Haha, true. They’re just a pain to type on. Although come to think about it, I hate typing on touchscreen keyboards too. I guess younger people may be used to it, but I really need physical tactile feedback for where the keys are.
Unless I’m only doing a few reviews, I’ll either get out my bluetooth keyboard for my phone, or use my computer. Those are both romaji input. I was thinking of trying kana input since I’ve been transcribing a lot of text in the absolute beginner’s book club, but based on the earlier posts in this thread, I probably won’t.
I use GBoard on android, which is highly customizable. i’ve set it up to use a 3×4 flick layout that switches between kana, alphabet, and numbers, and i’ve still got the option to switch to a qwert layout (for german umlauts, in my case). Highly recommend it!
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