Romaji ↔ kana converter
Type Japanese in Latin letters (romaji) and it turns into hiragana or katakana as you type. The other way round, paste kana to read their romaji. Free, no account, nothing is sent anywhere.
Hiragana
What to type
shi, chi, tsu, fuし, ち, つ, ふHepburn romaji, the one textbooks use. si, ti, tu, hu (Kunrei) work too.gakkouがっこうA double consonant gives the small っ, the short pause before the syllable.kan'i, kanjiかんい, かんじn before a consonant or at the end of a word gives ん; before a vowel, add an apostrophe (kan'i), otherwise you get な, に… (kani: かに).kyou, sha, choきょう, しゃ, ちょCombined sounds: a kana ending in “i” followed by a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ.ha, wo, heは, を, へThe particles are written は, を, へ but pronounced wa, o, e: type them the way they're written.tōkyō, koohiiとうきょう, コーヒーLong vowels: ō gives おう in hiragana; in katakana, ō or oo give the long mark ー.Romaji is a crutch: drop it early
The converter helps out, but reading Japanese in romaji slows everything else down. The 46 hiragana take a few days to learn, then come the katakana. To practise reading them fast, try the hiragana speed test.
Frequently asked questions
How do I type hiragana on an English keyboard?
Type the word in romaji in the converter: each syllable becomes a hiragana as you type (ka → か, shi → し). To write Japanese everywhere, add the Japanese keyboard on your computer or phone: it works the same way.
Why does “konnichiwa” give こんにちわ and not こんにちは?
The は in こんにちは is the old particle は, pronounced wa but written は. The converter follows what you type: write “konnichiha” to get こんにちは. The same goes for the particles を (wo) and へ (he).
Does the converter translate into Japanese?
No: it changes the script, it doesn't translate. “Hello” won't become こんにちは; you need to type the Japanese pronunciation in romaji.
What about kanji?
The converter gives kana. To get kanji, you need to know which word you mean: かみ can be written 紙 (paper), 神 (god) or 髪 (hair). That's what a Japanese keyboard does when it offers choices, and what you learn in the lessons.