Question

I'm using Windows Vista, and I type English with the Dvorak keyboard layout, and I want to be able to type Japanese text that way, too.

I've figured out how to set it up to let me type Japanese here, but it uses QWERTY. What I've got so far is:

• click the "EN" in the taskbar, and select "JP"
• if the letter that appears in the taskbar is "A", hit alt-~ to change it to "あ"
• type as if I was typing Romaji on a QWERTY keyboard, (e.g., left pinky home row, right ring finger top row), and hiragana appear (あお)
• press spacebar to convert to kanji (e.g., 青), and return to accept

That all works great, but it assumes I'm on QWERTY, which isn't very comfortable for me. I want everything the same, but to be able to type kana with Dvorak (e.g., left pinky home row, left ring finger home row -> あお).

I can do this on Mac OS, so it's not an unheard-of feature. But it was kind of an obscure setting to find, so I figure on Windows it's probably a really obscure setting. :-) But I haven't been able to find it yet.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Apparently it can´t be done directly, but you can edit the advanced properties of the Microsoft IME and change the series of keystrokes that generate each kana. A lengthy process but I don't see any other solution.

Answer 2

Have you tried NJStar Japanese word processor? Its like a simple word processor that lets you type Japanese (kana and kanji) using a regular keyboard layout

I can't find anything on their website, and I don't have it installed on this machine, but I believe there should be a setting to say what your keyboard setup is