Rômazi Aiueo
What is this site?
Rômazi Aiueo is the website for the purpose of understanding and dissemination of romanized Japanese (romaji). It is an effort that let Japanese people learn the basics of romaji and use it more widely.
Romaji is a basic knowledge of the Japanese language taught at elementary school. However, few Japanese can write romaji correctly. Many foreigners have noticed that the spelling of romaji written by the Japanese is not consistent. The reason for this is that Japanese people do not understand how to write romaji correctly and often write them incorrectly. You may be surprised to learn that the Japanese government and companies, for political or economic reasons, deliberately ignore the official rules and use writing styles that are not only academically incorrect but also undesirable in international relations. Even more troubling, many of the explanations of romaji found on the Internet are of poor quality, and these spread misunderstandings.
In the age of the Internet, the fact that Japanese people cannot write Japanese correctly has become known throughout the world, making foreigners wonder why. This is internationally embarrassing. This situation should be changed. That is the primary purpose of this site, which is basically designed for Japanese people. However, there are many people in Japan who want to imitate foreigners, and if foreigners learn and use the correct romaji, Japanese may start to imitate them. Therefore, we hope that foreigners will learn the correct romaji and spread it around the world.
Contents
Pages on the Top Menu
- はじめに: introduction (top page)
- あらまし: overview
- なりたち: history of romaji
- いろいろ: various types of romaji
- かきかた: how to write romaji
- からくり: tools
- おさらい: teaching materials
- つながり: external links
Other Pages
- Kunrei System (cabinet order)
- Hepburn System (commonly used)
- Japanese System (pre-Kunrei System)
- Portuguese System (historical)
- Person's Names
- Words and Phrases
- Poems and Stories
- Romaji Movement
- Text Editor
- Sitemap
Screen Keyboard
If you need to input hiragana/katakana, please use this keyboard.
Gallery
Some pictures picked up from the contents. What do you think of the last one?
"Feiqe Monogatari" published in the 16th century.
Old map. HUZISAN means Mt. Fuji.
Elementary school textbook.
Fashion magazine.
Road sign...???
Terminology
Following words may confuse machine translation.
JP | EN |
---|---|
ローマ字 | 1) Latin alphabet, roman letters 2) romaji notation, romanized Japanese |
ラテン文字 | Latin alphabet, roman letters |
ローマ字表記 | romaji notation, romanized Japanese |
ローマ字文 | romaji sentence, Japanese sentences written in roman letters |
ローマ字入力 | romaji input, typing method to input Japanese using roman letter keys |
ローマ字論 | romaji theory, that claims that Japanese should be written in roman letters |
ローマ字運動 | romaji movement, social movement based on romaji theory |
かな文字 | kana characters |
かな文字表記 | kana character notation |
かな文字文 | kana sentence, Japanese sentences written in kana characters |
かな入力 | kana input, typing method to input Japanese using kana character keys |
かな文字論 | kana theory, that claims that Japanese should be written in kana characters |
かな文字運動 | kana movement, social movement based on kana theory |
漢字 | kanji, Chinese characters |
漢字仮名交じり文 | kanji-kana sentence, Japanese sentences written in kanji and kana characters |
「英語」 | English classes in school |
「国語」 | Japanese classes in school |
ヘボン式 | Hepburn system (romanization method), by J. C. Hepburn |
訓令式 | Kunrei system (romanization method), cabinet order |
日本式 | Japanese system (romanization method), pre-Kunrei system |
標準式 | Standard system, a variant of Hepburn system, extended version |
「英語式」 | English-like system, a variant of Hepburn system |
99式 | 99-system, a variant of Kunrei system, proposed in 1999 |
「姓」 | family name, last name |
「名」 | given name, first name |
◯ | good, correct, yes, recommended |
△ | good with conditions, acceptable |
✕ | bad, wrong, no, prohibited |