Japanese keyboard layout and input in KDE Plasma 5

Hello,

I'm taking Japanese lessons online and I need to communicate with my tutor in Japanese via chat.

I've set my keyboard layouts in the KDE settings as English US, French Canadian and Japanese (default). But when I switch to Japanese, I still have an English US layout when I type.

I was expecting it to be more like in Windows where you can switch between Standard alphabet (Romaji), Hiragana and Katakana with a kind of an auto complete.

Am I doing something wrong?

ClipperDefiance ,
@ClipperDefiance@lemmy.world avatar

The thing you're looking for is called an Input Method Editor. The only one I've ever used on Linux is Fcitx which I really liked. I haven't used it in a few years though.

This is the homepage for the current version.

ownsauce ,

Install Mozc Japanese instead
and then learn the keyboard shortcuts to toggle between english and japanese, and the F keys to toggle between english(direct input), hiragana, katakana with width variations. You can edit the shortcuts in settings if you like.

I use mozc in android and linux.

https://github.com/google/mozc
Search the web or watch youtube videos for guides if you need help installing.

cyborganism OP ,

Yeah I tried that this weekend and it messed up my keyboard layout switcher.

I'll need to look at videos like you suggested.

ownsauce , (edited )

When I switch from English (US) to Japanese (Mozc), the default option is "Direct input" meaning my US keyboard layout. Im sure if I check in settings I could change the default.

I have a dropdown menu on my Desktop Dock for Input mode. I have to change it over to Hiragana to start (I haven't figured out the keyboard shortcut yet for that step).

So I hit Super + Space to switch to Japanese Mozc
Then I use my mouse to change from "Direct Input" to "Hiragana"

Not sure if that's where you were having issues, but yeah there's probably some youtube guides that'll help.

Edit:this guide here helped me. I had to set shortcuts for the muhenkan, henkan, and eisu keys, but now I don't need to use my mouse anymore to swtich.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/561486/how-do-i-switch-input-modes-in-mozc-without-going-to-the-ibus-menu

odium ,

Also try crossposting to !kde

cyborganism OP ,

Ah thanks!!!

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