Where is my shortcut key to toggle Romaji input and Kana and or Direct Input?

ctrl + shift + K

I am amAZED at the lack of information on the internet about this question! I though if I searched hard enough, I would find it. Nobody really knows the answer. They just flit around talking about it. Maybe it's a hard question or I didn't look long enough. Anyway, it seems like NOBODY, I mean, NOBODY, knows the answer. And then they will excitedly come back saying, "I figured it out! I figured it out!" But they didn't actually figure out exactly what I wanted to know... which IS..... (I know, I think I'm the only one with a question that matters...) and it is the following:

What is the SHORTCUT on an ENGLISH/AMERICAN QWERTY Keyboard for toggling between direct kana input and romaji input? Not via the settings. Not via the button on the language bar. Not with a button on a JAPANESE keyboard. No!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I WISH I had a Japanese keyboard. I don't!!!)

I ALWAYS have to go my settings and find out the answer.

I can't believe I haven't already written this down! I even made my own Japanese-direct-input keyboard (glued pieces of paper) and I forgot how to set it up electronically via the shortcut! I forgot to write it down!!!

(Can you feel my agony?!)

I am going to go look again, and I will write it down this time. GRRRRRRRUGH!!

I would like to compare this someday in Japanese, so here are the supposed terms, from what I can guess. Actually, I'm sure these are terms that refer to Romaji and direct input, respectively: （入力「にゅうりょく」）

ローマ字入力　ＶＳ　かな入力

ctrl + shift + K

i.e. hold down the control key, then shift, then press the K key

...

Does this work for anybody else?

...

I feel silly.

Good night!

Switch Between Confusing Japanese Keyboard Layouts: Romaji Input and Kana Input! (Simple answer at the bottom)

I am soooo excited about something I just figured out.

Something about Japanese IME has confused me forever. I think it's mostly because of those befuddling explanations, "Here's how you switch between hiragana, katakana, half-width that and half-width this--"

"And you can do it two different ways-- by editing the settings, clicking with the mouse, although using the symmetrical copies of the same keys may not work; also please do "

"And it will be totally backwards if you're running vista, or if you're running XP it could be slightly closer to this model--"

By the way, we hope you're VERY confused by now! If only we could make you, poor little english-japanese-typing-newbie, give up... but with the invention of Copy and Paste, we may not prevail in this effort.... pooohy..."

The settings menus are also very detailed and befuddleoozing.

SO! My keyboard gets confusing every once in a while. I'm just typing along happily in Japanese, entering text into Jisho, Google translate, searching lyrics, or peering at anime and manga on amazon.jp.... and SURPRISE!

The symbols come out wrong. The letters are not what they seem to be. I press は　and get　くち. WHAT IS THIS!?

The keyboard is whacked. My fingers are insane. My brain-muscle coordination has exploded in its capacity for functionalism.

At first I thought something crazy was going on, and I couldn't explain it. I'm very slow that way. …^o.o^…  Then I realized my keyboard layout was different. It was like I was typing on some Japanese keyboard. And I was!

Duh. You can switch between "Kana Imput" and "Romaji Imput". Some keyboards, like the ones Japanese might use, have a layout with little kana on each key. So you don't have to press two keys to get a kana, you can press ONE key.

Romaji imput is obviously going to be easier for us English speakers, since we don't have to learn how to type all over again. I've also heard it said that neither method is especially more efficient than the other.

Here's the shortcut for switching your keyboard layout!-> (make sure to press these keys while in the Japanese IME, which should be activated most simply by pressing alt+shift)

ctrl+shift+capslock

....that's it....

Please note I use Vista! That could make a difference... -.-'   ? ? ?

Listening. クリスマス。 Doing Better.

So, last night I talked with my Dad again... but guess what?

I.

Listened.

EEEEK!

Well I guess I don't care about the listening much as part as that I

Did.

Not.

Cry.

I did not feel overly-pressured. I --

could.

handle.

it.

Without arguing.

Well, not too much. X)

Basically, my Dad was telling me that this week, I HAVE to focus on looking for jobs. This week. Well? It doesn't freak me out too much. I want to do it.

Usually, not arguing is hard for me because it's fearfully difficult for me to deal with pressure, so I make excuses, but also, he talks for a long, detailed, time, (saying things I disagree with) making me want to interrupt all the more. So I listened to his orders, which he is very careful to explain in DETAIL like he has many times before, and I told myself over and over that it's okay and he's right and that I sincerely agree BUT also that I have my own plans. That I'm not plan-less and opinion-less and that I am mature and grown-up and that I will succeed.... And kinda contrary to his opinion, that my dreams are worth something big.

After that ordeal, which wasn't much of an ordeal in comparison to other similar situations :) ...
I realized I had been wearing on my head my Claire's (accessories) silver princess crown, the whole time I was talking with Dad.

LOL. Haha. Oh well.

We ended the conversation on my own statement! Actually I do that a lot anyway :) (I'm kind of a stubborn snobby daughter) And I said, "I just don't want to be treated badly because of my past actions anymore." Or something like that. Maybe not a very nice thing to say, and certainly it's asking for a lot (too much?) but I need to think better of myself now.

So what am I doing about this? Well, my plans are to get my life organized and be at peace with everything that goes on in it. I don't want to be monumentally worried all the time just because I'm not controlling my own actions. That means I want to get IT together. That means I want to get a job. It's on the list. Metaphorically.

The best way to put it is that I'm working on scheduling myself. I am customizing my planner and making a sort of weekly schedule with activities like piano, Japanese, job-searching, volunteering (piano playing), house-cleaning and singing (for example). I will make short term (daily) and longer term goals, backed by reasons. I also am using Textfugu's cool method of making a list of excuses for why I should quit, which I can use to remind myself that those excuses are retarded. Eh. I mean misguided.  Also, I'm making goals for each day; basically, I assign myself tasks, which I complete by doing them regularly as habits or "traditions".

I have yet to get myself organized, but that's the idea I'm going for.

I've also started translating stuff all over the place. I've restarted Shugo Chara / しゅごチャラ！ without subtitles :) !

And, today I watched the first episode of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne / 神風怪盗ジャンヌ (Divine Wind Phantom Thief Jeanne is the long translation).

And for both those animes, I usually stop and write out the song lyrics in kana and kanji, working toward pronunciation, then understanding it or translating it to English. I learn a lot of new words this way, and I remember them best because I'm not bored and I can connect it to lifelike stories which I love.

One more thing I'm doing is listening to my audio CDs of the book Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. (amazon) (zondervan) It's useful (...so far...) and has lots to do with my issues with being myself naturally, standing up for opinions, and especially deciding where my boundaries are so I don't have to worry about my responsibilities so much.

I'm thinking of where I stand. There are SOME things I DO NOT need to change about myself (for other people). Also, there are influences of others that I can IGNORE; by which, I mean there are things I can stop worrying about.

Haha... well, it's kind of like I don't care about others' feelings as much. That sounds awful, but it was putting a lot of strain on MY emotions... plus my life isn't going well at all, career/education-wise, so if I don't change something about myself there's not much point in my existence (I only mean that theoretically and also a bit dramatically).

Anyway, it's 11:00 and I've got to get out of my room to clean house. We've got the housekeeper (I like to say "maid" X) coming today and ironically, we clean up before she gets here at 12:30. Haha.

No, maybe that's not ironic, silly me, how else can she clean the counters and floors under the enormous amount of clutter and Christmas decoration Rubbermaid containers and cardboard boxes?

Hee hee SO! here is how to spell Christmas in Japanese!

クリスマス 

Which you say like this: "Ku-ree-soo-mass" (pronounce the syllables lightly, and clipped.) If you like romaji better, it looks like this: "kurisumasu"

Well, anyway, that's probably right. Source: myself. Not anybody Japanese. I'm an authority, can't you tell? No, I'm not. That's sarcasm.

And here are some snowflakes for Christmas. ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶✻ ✼ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❉ ❊ ❋
✽ ✾ ✿ ❀ ❁ ❃ ❋

I just can't help but tell somebody. For Naruto fans, you;ll recognize this -

影分身の術

"kage bunshin no jutsu"

SHADOW CLONE JUTSU

so cool. Anyway. The only reason I'm excited is because I love seeing the Japanese I hear written down. It feels cool on my tongue. What about you?

Bye!