Developing typing skills for beginners

Students learn about Japanese typing skills through a series of exercises. These resources are aimed at upper primary to senior secondary school students and teachers may modify them to suit their students’ needs.

Why do we need typing skills in Japanese?

With the development in IT technology and communication technology, our way of communicating is changing. In recent years, many Japanese learners are not only talking, but are also interacting via email, online chat and SNS. Typing on the keyboard or touch screen has become an essential skill for communication. 

How to type in Japanese

This is a useful guide for teachers to explain in detail to students how to type in Japanese.

How to type in Japanese (WORD 38KB)

Exercises for students

1. Practise basic typing

Students complete the charts by typing in the appropriate hiragana and katakana letters. 
The worksheets provided are in a Microsoft Word document format but are also compatible with Google Docs.

The Hiragana chart for typing (WORD 40KB)
The Katakana chart for typing (WORD 38KB)

2. Practise typing words

Students start by typing simple words. They then type more complex words containing long vowels and double consonants. 
The worksheets provided are in a Microsoft Word document format but are also compatible with Google Docs.

Word-level typing (WORD 49KB)

3. Practise typing sentences

Students type sentences and texts that include hiragana, katakana, and kanji. 
The worksheets provided are in a Microsoft Word document format but are also compatible with Google Docs.

Sentence-level typing (WORD 61KB)

REFERENCE

Dexter, K. (2016, May 10). How to type in Japanese (and Fun characters too!). Retrieved from https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/how-to-type-in-japanese/. 

Yana, A., Ooki, R., & Komatsu, Y. (2005). Writing E-mails in Japanese. Tokyo, Japan: The Japan Times, Ltd. 

Resource created by Minako Kadoi with assistance from Rina Jessup (July 2020).

Back To Top