How can you type Japanese faster?

Typing Japanese adds a conversion step that English does not have. You enter the sound as kana or romaji, then choose the kanji from a list. For long text, speech may be the fastest route. No study we opened compares romaji and kana input directly, so you cannot assume either method is faster. Our overview of Japanese, Chinese and Korean speech to text explains the speech and typing options for all three languages.

Typing Japanese involves a conversion step that takes attention

Japanese has no single key for each character. A typist enters a spelling of the sound and then picks the right kanji from a list of candidates. That choice takes attention each time. The few published measurements do not isolate that step. In one older study of Japanese university students, a two-minute transcription task produced about 23 words per minute on desktop PCs ¹, and about 17 on cellphones ². The study is small and dated, so use it for the shape of the comparison, not as a current benchmark. For current typing speeds in Japanese, see how fast people type in Japanese.

Touch typing did not show a speed gain in one 2016 study

Touch typing, which means typing without looking at the keys, is the usual advice for faster typing. In a 2016 study of how people type, touch typists entered text at 57.8 words per minute ³, and typists who had not learned touch typing reached 58.93 ⁴. Non-touch typists were not slower in that sample, so the study does not show a speed gain from touch typing. The same study corrected its speed method later, so read those two figures as a rough comparison ⁵.

A larger online study points the same way. Its authors found that untrained typists can be as fast as trained typists, although trained typists are faster on average ⁶. Those studies measured English, not Japanese. Still, the finding suggests that formal training is not the only route to speed.

Word prediction did not improve accuracy in one 2024 study

Word prediction and candidate lists can seem like shortcuts. The best study we opened tested them with blind smartphone users, not Japanese typists. Word prediction did not enhance typing accuracy, and it increased both physical and temporal workload compared with the default keyboard ⁷. The study did not test Japanese input, so it does not settle the question for Japanese. Even so, it is a warning. A candidate list that you must read and choose from each time can slow you down, so learn the habit of accepting the first correct candidate.

Speech is the clearest measured gain for long text

For long text, the clearest measured gain in our sources comes from speech. In a controlled phone study, Mandarin entered by speech reached 123 words per minute, against 43 with a Pinyin keyboard ⁸. The English condition of the same study counted the finished text, including corrections ⁹. No phone study we opened measures the same comparison for Japanese, so treat the Mandarin result as a guide. The question on whether speaking Chinese is faster than typing pinyin covers the Mandarin case in full.

Speech also changes the errors. Japanese has many words that sound the same and are written with different kanji, so you must read a dictated draft before you send it. The steps for dictating in Japanese on each device are in how to dictate in Japanese on phone or computer.

It depends: short messages, long documents and your device

For a short reply, typing with your usual input method may be quicker than starting dictation. For a long document, speech may be faster, but correction takes time. Compare the two on your own text. Write one paragraph by typing and one by speaking, then count the minutes including fixes.

Your device also matters. On a Mac, general Dictation can be processed on the device ¹⁰. On Windows, voice typing needs an internet connection, so typing may be the better choice offline. On an Android phone, Gboard's advanced voice typing needs a Pixel 6 or later ¹¹, so it is not available on every phone.

What to do

1. Measure your current speed on a passage of about 200 characters of your own writing. Note the minutes and the characters, then repeat each week.
2. Choose one input method and practise it for two weeks before you judge it. Switching methods mid-practice makes it hard to tell what helped.
3. Accept the first correct candidate most of the time, and save the candidate list for words you cannot type.
4. Use speech for drafts of long text, then edit by typing. Check every homophone before you send.
5. Add touch typing only if you will practise it. The 2016 result suggests it is not an automatic speed gain.

For the terms in this answer, see input method editor, the software that turns your keystrokes into Japanese characters, and character error rate, which measures dictation accuracy for Japanese.