Typing double "n"

I’m having an annoying issue when typing in pronunciations; for words that have 2 "n"s in a row, I actually have to press n three times because the second n gets “swallowed” up into the first one.

So if the word is onna, I have to type the letters “o-n-n-n-a.” It’s very annoying.

There is no way around it, sorry.

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In fact, this is the way IME works on Windows too, since Japanese Hiragana-Katakana is a syllable system, you need to type N twice to get ん or, if you prefer not to double-type the letter, you can try with pressing N and SPACE, this way you input the ん and latter on the next kana.

So, おんな would be typed: O-N-SPACE-NA

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Take おんあい
You would type O-N-A-I? But how would IME know if you meant おんあい or おない? The ‘double n’ is to confirm that, yes yes, i do want ん here.

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If the exceptions are bothering you then make it a habit to always type ん as “nn” and you won’t have to do any extra thinking. It’s just how the IMEs do, and kind of must, work, live with it or get a direct kana input.

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Interesting, hadn’t considered any of the above.

Alright I’ll try space and double-n-ing, see if I can get used to either.

Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile:

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Uh, that’s a very good explanation. It’s like typing りょ or りよ. At the beginning I had a lot of troubles and I did not understand why it was marked as an error, and It was because it is not the same Ryo than Riyo.

These are the problems of typing on rômaji.

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As a coder (like everyone else here) I have thought the problem through: there is no other way for the IME to tell the difference between ん、and something that starts with な、に、ぬ、ね、の and an ん followed by a な、に、ぬ、ね、の. I like the Japanese flick keyboard myself, it reinforces the 日本語-ness of what I am trying to learn and stops me from thinking in romaji.

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Wait until you get in the habit of typing a double “n” at the end of English words. When you get into a rhythm, you’ll get three letter words ending in “n” marked incorrectly if you do this. :-o Careful!

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What do you mean with the ‘flick keyboard’? The one that looks like a cell keypad where you need to press and move the finger to the direction of the desired kana?

There are plenty of keys over on a standard QWERTY keyboard when using the IME. You could, for example, bind Q, which is rarely used in Japanese IME.

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Just remember you are not typing in the Romaji, you are just activating the IME… so, eye on screen, finger on keyboard, be a touch typist.

Japanese IME is configured so that most Kana can be made from two key presses. So, not only NN, I usually type SI, TI, TU as well.

I recently found a keyboard shortcut for typing certain loanwords, using Q; but it is indeed rare.

クォーター

Yeah, that one. Pardon me, I spend 90% of my time here (and ALL of my reviews and lessons) via mobile (Android) so I sort of think that way.

Revision: there is no other way that makes any phonetic sense at all. To me.

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