Learn Japanese! What is Romaji? [Introduction step2]

What is Romaji?

Introduction step2

There’re two systems in Romaji.

The Hepburn system

most Japanese-English dictionaries use this

easier to use for the native speaker of English

The Kunreishiki system: can be considered the most systematic

is used in school education such as elementary school

Most Japanese textbook use Hepburn system

To master Romaji is very important to pronounce Japanese and to type Japanese characters on your PC. Also, in the respect that even native Japanese confuse Hepburn system with Kunreishiki system, it is meaningful that you can recognize two types of Romaji.

Basic Japanese syllables: vowel, consonant plus vowel and n

*The Hepburn system is shown by red.

c/v	a	i	u	e	o	Consonant plus ya,yu,yo
k	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko	kya	kyu	kyo
s	sa	si	su	se	so	sya	syu	syo
		shi				sha	shu	sho
t	ta	ti	tu	te	to	tya	tyu	tyo
		chi	tsu			cha	chu	cho
n	na	ni	nu	ne	no	nya	nyu	nyo
h	ha	hi	hu	he	ho	hya	hyu	hyo
			fu
m	ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mya	myu	myo
y	ya	(i)	yu	(e)	yo
r	ra	ri	ru	re	ro	rya	ryu	ryo
w	wa	(i)	(u)	(e)	(o)
					wo
g	ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gya	gyu	gyo
z	za	zi	zu	ze	zo	zya	zyu	zyo
		ji				ja	ju	jo
d	da	(zi)	(zu)	de	do
		ji				dya	dyu	dyo
b	ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bya	byu	byo
p	pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pya	pyu	pyo
Note: syllables yi,ye,wi,wu, and we don’t occur in modern Japanese. There is a special “n”, which is not combined with vowels. Instead of “wo, “o” is used in “w”line. “wo”is used only for typing work.

*You’ll understand about this chart precisely after studying Japanese phonetic features in the next step.