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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: Special K on Sun, 18 November 2018, 15:50:51

Title: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Special K on Sun, 18 November 2018, 15:50:51

I'm working on an IC for a keycap set, GMK "The Matrix" (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=78931.0, yes I know it was started a long time ago) that will feature Japanese Katakana characters as secondary legends and have a question for any Japanese speakers/readers here:

Is there any particular mapping of the Katakana characters to the standard alphanumeric characters on a US keyboard that would make sense?  I was looking at the character set here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana and it looks like multiple characters have the same starting consonant sound, making a 1:1 mapping between the Katakana characters and US alphanumeric characters impossible.  For comparison, the GMK Laser set used Hiragana characters as secondary legends:

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-mito-gmk-laser-custom-keycap-set

Is there any rhyme or reason as to how those mappings were chosen?  I couldn't find an explanation in the set description and contacted that set's creator but never received a reply.

This is primarily an aesthetic choice, but I'd like to see if there's any particular layout that makes sense before paying for renders.

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Sifo on Sun, 18 November 2018, 16:47:21

u can't match based on sounds. the hiragana in the laser set is just what the standard is, it's almost always ordered that way across all JIS keyboards.

if you wanted to make a katakana set, it would follow the exact same order, just with the different alphabet.

(https://online-welcome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/japanese-katakana-english-keyboard-stickers-white.jpg)

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Special K on Sun, 18 November 2018, 18:28:51

Quote from: Sifo on Sun, 18 November 2018, 16:47:21

u can't match based on sounds. the hiragana in the laser set is just what the standard is, it's almost always ordered that way across all JIS keyboards.

if you wanted to make a katakana set, it would follow the exact same order, just with the different alphabet.

Show Image

(https://online-welcome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/japanese-katakana-english-keyboard-stickers-white.jpg)

Thanks!

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Special K on Sat, 08 December 2018, 13:55:11

Quote from: Sifo on Sun, 18 November 2018, 16:47:21

u can't match based on sounds. the hiragana in the laser set is just what the standard is, it's almost always ordered that way across all JIS keyboards.

if you wanted to make a katakana set, it would follow the exact same order, just with the different alphabet.

Show Image

(https://online-welcome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/japanese-katakana-english-keyboard-stickers-white.jpg)

Would you be able to tell me the names of the characters circled in green below:

(https://i.imgur.com/NKaImTE.jpg)

Some of those look like symbols that aren't part of the standard character set, but I'm not sure on that.

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Sifo on Sun, 09 December 2018, 04:38:11

Quote from: Special K on Sat, 08 December 2018, 13:55:11

Quote from: Sifo on Sun, 18 November 2018, 16:47:21

u can't match based on sounds. the hiragana in the laser set is just what the standard is, it's almost always ordered that way across all JIS keyboards.

if you wanted to make a katakana set, it would follow the exact same order, just with the different alphabet.

Show Image

(https://online-welcome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/japanese-katakana-english-keyboard-stickers-white.jpg)

Would you be able to tell me the names of the characters circled in green below:

Show Image

(https://i.imgur.com/NKaImTE.jpg)

Some of those look like symbols that aren't part of the standard character set, but I'm not sure on that.

top left extends vowel sound

bottom right 3 are comma, period, and the solid dot is punctuation for separating characters

bottom left are brackets and dakuten and handakuten

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Special K on Sat, 02 March 2019, 13:20:23

Does this mapping look correct:

Code: [Select]

key    katakana legend (top)    katakana legend (bot)
`/~    ro
1      nu
2      hu
3      a                        a
4      u                        u
5      e                        e
6      o                        o
7      ya                       ya
8      yu                       yu
9      yo                       yo
0      wo                       wa
-      vowel extend             ho
+\=    he
q      ta
w      te
e      i                        i
r      su
t      ka
y      so
u      na
i      ni
o      ra
p      se
[/{    open bracket             dakuten
]/}    close bracket            handakuten
\/|    mu
a      chi
s      to
d      shi
f      ha
g      ki
h      ku
j      ma
k      no
l      ri
;/:    re
'/"    ke
z      tsu                      tsu
x      sa
c      n
v      hi
b      ko
n      mi
m      mo
,/<    comma                    ne
./>    period                   ru
//?    solid dot                me


Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: Sifo on Mon, 04 March 2019, 10:03:38

at a quick glance everything looks good!

Title: Re: Question for any Japanese speakers/readers here (secondary keycap legends)
Post by: LeoZ on Wed, 06 March 2019, 19:47:01

I've always just typed with the romanji, never used the other keyboard.