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How to type in Romanji Input on IME Language Bar?

#1
Hello, I am new to this site. Though I studied Japanese years ago I am now beginning to review and expand on my ever-decreasing fluency. I used to use a program on my computer to type in Japanese, but now I have decided to use the IME on Windows XP, with a standard US Qwerty keyboard.

However I am running into problems. Searching the web and this forum, I have not found even a mention of my problem, please bear with me if this has been discussed before. I am new to using IME so I will try to be clear about what is happening on my computer.

I switch to JP on the Language Toolbar, then click the 'A' icon and select 'Hiragana'. This allows me to type on my Qwerty keyboard as though it were a Japanese keyboard. For example, pressing the keys QWERTY will type たていすかん.

At first this was fine, and I began to memorise this new layout...until I needed to type the 'ro' character. Well, apparently there is no key for 'ro' on my keyboard. After searching the web for help, I discovered that the most practical solution is to type using 'Romanji Input'.

From what I understand, in this form of input you need to spell out a word in romanji, and then the appropriate Japanese characters will appear. But no matter how I try I cannot find a way to change to Romanji Input!

So far I have tried all the keyboard shortcuts mentioned on this forum, and tried to manually change input methods via the Language Bar, with no results. Please help me switch to Romanji Input. I apologize for the simplistic nature of my problem. Thank you for your help.

-Rain
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#2
Don't have MS IME installed anymore (using Google's IME), but I believe if you right-click the language bar, click Settings, select MS IME from the menu and click Properties, you can change input to Romaji? (Edit: Yep, just click the General tab after Properties to get to the option for romaji input.)

From there as long as JP keyboard is selected, you can alt + ~ and switch between Hiragana and Direct Input.
Edited: 2011-03-25, 2:15 am
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#3
Oh Thank you! Perfect solution!
May I ask why you switched to Google IME? Do you find it superior to MS IME?
I had not heard of Google IME but I think I'll look into it.

-Rain
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JapanesePod101
#4
'Ro' is on the bottom right, next to the shift key.

Wikipedia shows the layout here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...se.svg.png

It's actually not bad - at one time I could touch type on it.
Edited: 2011-03-25, 4:24 am
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