I just began using LinQ, and the programs I currently use, everything is typed in hiragana/romaji. HOW do I type something in Kanji? I did manage, while doing review, to type in hiragana, but it counts it wrong if you are already given the kanji in the lesson.
There are various ways depending on which device and OS youāre using. Iām on Windows/Firefox. Caveat: This is just the way I use, it might not be the best way and itās certainly not the only way.
I use the virtual keyboard from Google Translate - just set the āfromā language to Japanese and select the āćā input method, in which case you type phonetically using the English alphabet and it defaults to hiragana, but then thereās a drop-down arrow when you finish typing each word, if there are multiple ways to write it, and you can select the katakana or kanji from the drop-down.
This guy looks like he has figured out a way to just type using the regular hardware keyboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtkiRchnF8
ćć”ć¤ć! (Good luck!)
On Windows you can have several keyboard layouts installed. They come with the language and can be switched through using ALT+SHIFT IIRC. I donāt know exactly how it is with Japanese, but the Korean layout allows you to convert input from the Korean alphabet into Hanja (the Korean equivalent of Kanji), so I assume it should be the case for Japanese, too. You can also install additional keyboards on Android and toggle through them using the globe icon. The input is similar to the on on Google Translate: you tipe the phonetics using the latin alphabet and the text gets converted to Hiragana. It will give you suggestions for Kanji which you can choose from. You can also choose a different layout where you can type the hiragana directly (due to the amount of signs the keys are relatively small) or draw them with your finger on screen.
(EDIT: The input method is called ęäŗć (handcraft) but isnāt working on my end. But there are apps who can be utilized for this, some of which seem to be quiet good at recognizing drawn Kanja either.)
If Japanese is the only language you are learning using a non-Latin alphabet, you might consider getting yourself a Japanese keyboard. Again I donāt know the details, but the Korean one is based on the international US-Keyboard layout, so I got myself such one (Korean keyboards are hard to get here, Japanese is easier) and some stickers for the keys. This way I donāt have to toggle through the different layouts depending on which language I am using.
Yes, (Iām not OP butā¦) I also use the onscreen keyboard that came with Windows OS and it works great for Spanish, Korean, and even Chinese (Traditional), but when I have tried using it for Japanese I think I got the settings wrong or something; I guess Japanese is a little trickier than the others. For one thing there are more keys on a standard Japanese keyboard. (So thatās why I use Google Translateās onscreen keyboard instead). Otherwise, yes, everything works just as you describe.
And ditto on Android having keyboards for many languages and very easy to switch between them. So cool and so useful!
Edited to add: the Android keyboard for inputting Japanese works just fine. Also I forgot to mention Russian works great also on Android. (Havenāt tried it on Windows.)