Romanization of Japanese | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 03/12/2018

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Romanization of Japanese


00:01:46 1 History
00:03:51 1.1 As a replacement for the Japanese writing system
00:04:58 2 Modern systems
00:05:07 2.1 Hepburn
00:06:18 2.2 Nihon-shiki
00:07:05 2.3 Kunrei-shiki
00:08:10 2.4 Other variants
00:08:38 2.5 JSL
00:09:28 3 Non-standard romanization
00:10:38 3.1 Long vowels
00:11:20 4 Example words written in each romanization system
00:11:32 5 Differences among romanizations
00:11:54 6 Spacing
00:12:31 7 Kana without standardized forms of romanization
00:13:20 8 Historical romanizations
00:13:47 9 Roman letter names in Japanese
00:14:26 10 See also



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SUMMARY
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The romanization of Japanese is the use of Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in English as rōmaji (ローマ字, literally, "Roman letters") ([ɾoːmaꜜʑi] (listen). There are several different romanization systems. The three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization (ISO 3602), and Nihon-shiki romanization (ISO 3602 Strict). Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used.
Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese (kanji) and syllabic scripts (kana) that also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. Rōmaji may be used in any context where Japanese text is targeted at non-Japanese speakers who cannot read kanji or kana, such as for names on street signs and passports, and in dictionaries and textbooks for foreign learners of the language. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English (or other languages that use the Latin script) on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, and may also be used to display Japanese on devices that do not support the display of Japanese characters.
All Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. Therefore, almost all Japanese are able to read and write Japanese using rōmaji, although it is extremely rare in Japan to use this method to write Japanese (except as an input tool on a computer or for special purposes like in some logo design), and most Japanese are more comfortable reading kanji and kana.