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Category romanization

Category computer input

Waapuro rōmaji

Waapuro romaji|ワープロローマ字 ("word processor rōmaji") is a form of romanized Japanese which resembles the format used to enter Japanese kanji and kana via an intermediate romanized form. The basic format for computer and word processor input is Nippon-shiki romanization, with the following changes:
Wapuro romaji on the side of a truck
  • Long vowels are not typed in as circumflexed, but using romanization of the individual kana. For example, おう (kana "o" and "u") is typed as "ou" on the keyboard.
  • A syllabic n is typed as a two ns: "nn" produces ん.
  • Hepburn and Kunrei are also accepted. For example "shi" produces し, and "tsu" produces つ.
  • Small-sized kana vowels such as the smaller versions of kana a or o can be produced by prefixing the vowel with a letter "x" or "l". For example, "xa" produces ぁ (full-sized: あ).

    • What is usually described as waapuro romaji is not, in fact, what is input into computer systems, but merely the practice of indicating long vowels using "ou" or "uu" in romanization rather than a circumflexed or macroned o or u. This usage is very common on the internet.

    Advantages of waapuro romaji

  • It is easier to type, since circumflexed or macroned versions of letters are not available on most people's keyboards and are difficult to input.
  • It can be mixed with encoded Japanese in formats such as ISO-2022-JP, which do not feature macroned vowels in their character sets. In the previous versions of the sci.lang.japan FAQ, waapuro romaji was used in order to be able to combine encoded Japanese with the romaji.

    • Disadvantages of waapuro rōmaji

  • Waapuro rōmaji does not work for katakana words with long vowels, such as rōmaji, in which the long vowel is indicated by a chōon in usual Japanese writing.
  • Waapuro rōomaji does not correctly indicate the difference in pronunciation of words such as omou, where the final u actually is an u sound, not a lengthening of the previous vowel.

    • Unicode encodings of Japanese such as UTF-8 allow kanji, kana, and macroned or circumflexed vowels to coexist, and may make waapuro romaji less common on the internet.

    See also

    MS IME