How to use Romaji typing practice
- 1
Switch Japanese input off
Put your IME in direct input (英数 on a Mac, 半角/全角 on Windows) so the keys type Latin letters; a notice appears if it is still on.
- 2
Choose a lesson or a themed set
Begin with the vowels and the kana rows, or pick daily life, food, travel, business phrases, proverbs, the prefectures or a classic novel.
- 3
Type the romaji under the kana
Each item shows the kanji text, its kana reading and a romaji guide. Any spelling an IME accepts is fine, and the guide switches to yours.
- 4
Review your result
Check the score and grade, keys and kana per minute, accuracy, your weakest keys and each item with the missed letters marked.
Limits and Pro
Free, no account: 28 Japanese lessons, 12 themed sets of 15 items with a 240-second limit you can switch off, a weekly 15-item check, and 300 saved results.
About Romaji typing practice
Romaji typing practice is the Japanese course of our typing tutor, built for the way Japanese is typed on a computer: you read 漢字かな交じり text and type its reading in Latin letters, as you would with an input method, but the page checks every keystroke itself. Three lines sit above the keyboard: the text, its kana reading and the romaji guide, which shows one spelling and rewrites itself as soon as you choose another. し can be shi, si or ci, じゃ can be ja, jya or zya, and a combined sound can even be split, as in shixya; a strict setting limits you to the efficient forms for drilling.
The trickier rules are handled the way IMEs handle them. ん takes nn, xn or n', and a single n only before a consonant, so こんにちは needs konnnichiha. っ doubles the next consonant or takes xtu, ー is the minus key, and 、。 are the comma and period. The keyboard is drawn as a JIS board with 半角/全角, ¥, 無変換, 変換 and かな, optional kana legends and a US layout option.
There are 28 lessons from あいうえお to loanwords, numbers and punctuation, and 12 themed sets in the style of Japanese typing sites: 15 items, a 3-2-1 countdown, a 400 ms pause between items and a 240-second limit. It does not teach JIS kana input or kanji conversion.
Privacy
The romaji you type is matched against the kana reading by code running in this page, so no keystroke, text or result is sent to a server. Lesson stars, per-key statistics and summaries of recent runs stay in this browser's local storage until you clear them.
Features
Every IME spelling
shi or si, tsu or tu, nn or n', doubled consonants or xtu: the romaji guide follows the spelling you choose.
JIS keyboard and hands
The next key and finger are highlighted on a JIS board, with optional kana legends.
Themed sets and lessons
28 lessons from the vowels up and 12 sets from daily life to proverbs and prefectures.