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User profile for user: Nat Harari
Nat Harari Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

English/Japanese Keyboard on Macbook?

Hi there,


I'm planning on ordering a new Macbook in the next two days from the Apple Store.


I'm wondering, however: I'm planning an extended stay (1+ years) in Japan in the coming few months. Is there such a thing as an English/Japanese keyboard? I know the OS obviously does Japanese, but I'm wondering about the keys. I don't know Japanese yet, but I will be taking classes whilst there, so I figure it might be best to get such a keyboard to be prepared.


Any info would be appreciated as I would really love to order this in the next couple of days. 🙂


Thanks!

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 1:20 PM

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User profile for user: Nat Harari
Nat Harari Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

Aug 31, 2015 1:27 PM in response to Kappy

Ah that's a shame. I wanted it built in on the top, so to speak. The reason I'm getting a Macbook is because of the amazing portability. I guess I'll look for some stickers or something to put on the keys then.


Actually, I just saw a picture of the Japanese keyboard. It seems to have QWERTY English/Roman letters on the keys as well? If so, that's what I was looking for. Is that the case?

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User profile for user: Nat Harari
Nat Harari Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

Aug 31, 2015 1:38 PM in response to Kappy

I tried the chat just now but they appear to be closed, and their phone number is not responding at the moment. So I guess I'll try again in a little while.


I didn't see a picture of it on the Apple site either. I just did a Google search for "Macbook Japanese Keyboard" and saw several examples of Macbook Air and others with Japanese keyboards with QWERTY as well.

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User profile for user: Nat Harari
Nat Harari Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

Aug 31, 2015 1:57 PM in response to Kappy

I found my answer. I talked to a chat help guy and he pointed me to this page:


https://support.apple.com/en-il/HT201794


As you can see, the Japanese keyboard does indeed come with QWERTY. It's a tad bit different size for some of the keys (I'm used to dealing with that with other countries I've been in), so that's not much of a biggie. I can adapt to that. 🙂


Just figured I'd post it here for anyone else looking for the same sort of information.

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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
119,926 points

Aug 31, 2015 2:29 PM in response to Nat Harari

For some info on writing Japanese with your Mac, see


http://redcocoon.org/cab/mysoft.html


The most common way Japanese is input does not require any Japanese on the keys. You type the latin letters and they are automatically converted to kana and Kanji. A Japanese keyboard is mainly useful if you want to input kana directly.

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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
119,926 points

Aug 31, 2015 2:55 PM in response to Nat Harari

Nat Harari wrote:


So basically, I don't really need to get a Japanese keyboard and can just stick to English for now and learn to input phonetically?


That's correct.


I have heard that some Japanese learners find the Japanese keyboard helpful -- they practice directly Kana input and it helps them memorize the Kana. But as far as I know most people just use an ordinary keyboard and input phonetic latin.

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English/Japanese Keyboard on Macbook?

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