wccrawford Wrote:And yes, I requested that they implement touch-typing so a kana keyboard could be used and they said nobody actually uses that, so they weren't going to implement it.

Why would anyone not use a kana keyboard? You can buy the kana stickers to use on a normal keyboard for just a few dollars. After witnessing the lightning speed Japanese high school kids on trains can type on their cell phones, typing out long hand using romaji makes no sense. Why would iknow think this would be a preferable way to learn to type in Japanese?

bodhisamaya Wrote:

wccrawford Wrote:And yes, I requested that they implement touch-typing so a kana keyboard could be used and they said nobody actually uses that, so they weren't going to implement it.

Why would anyone not use a kana keyboard? You can buy the kana stickers to use on a normal keyboard for just a few dollars. After witnessing the lightning speed Japanese high school kids on trains can type on their cell phones, typing out long hand using romaji makes no sense. Why would iknow think this would be a preferable way to learn to type in Japanese?

They aren't the only ones who have said this. I don't know why the Japanese choose to use an IME instead typing directly. It seems the touch-typing would be faster to me, too.

Complain to them. I'd love the chance to touchtype on iKnow, but since I'm probably the only person who has ever requested it... -shrug-

And yes, I have the stickers on my keyboard. I actually practiced to the point that I didn't need to look before I was repeated told it was pointless. And it's not like I can't type a -lot- faster with an IME so far anyhow.

I will send a request for it as well. It is much faster to just hit the つ or ち key than typing in tsu or chi. Its seems like a no brainer. It doesn't take much practice for your fingers to automatically go to the correct key. If anyone wants the stickers, they are $2 on Ebay. Just type in the keywords: Japanese keyboard stickers.

Oh yea, I am bodhisamaya on iknow as well

I was surprised to discover that the kana input thing isn't common in Japan. I'm still not sure why--is it related to the prevalence of ローマ字 online?