Type common Japanese words and see your speed and accuracy. Japanese input works differently from English at a fundamental level, which is why the numbers mean something different too.
How Japanese typing actually works
Typing Japanese is not one action but two. You enter the reading of a word, usually in romaji, and the input method editor converts what you typed into the correct mixture of hiragana, katakana and kanji. Typing the word for "flower" means pressing h, a, n, a and then accepting a conversion, so five keystrokes and a decision produce two visible characters.
This has a consequence that surprises people coming from English: the relationship between keystrokes and output is not fixed. Two typists producing identical text can press very different numbers of keys depending on how much they convert at once, whether they accept the first candidate, and how well their IME has learned their habits.
It also means a large part of Japanese typing skill has nothing to do with your fingers. Choosing how much text to convert in one go, recognising when the first candidate is wrong, and correcting a bad conversion efficiently are all learned skills that separate fast Japanese typists from slow ones.
Why Japanese and English speeds are not comparable
A words-per-minute figure assumes a stable relationship between keystrokes and meaning, and Japanese breaks that assumption. Because one word is defined as five characters, and Japanese conveys far more meaning per character than English does, the same amount of communicated content produces a much lower character count.
The reverse is also true at the keystroke level: producing a single kanji can take several keystrokes plus a conversion. So depending on which end you measure, Japanese looks either faster or slower than English, and neither comparison is meaningful.
The practical answer is to compare within the language. Your Japanese speed belongs next to other Japanese speeds and, most usefully, next to your own Japanese speed last month. This site keeps results separated by language for exactly that reason.
- One kanji can require several keystrokes plus a conversion decision
- Japanese carries more meaning per character than English does
- IME learning means the same typist speeds up on familiar material
- Compare Japanese scores only against other Japanese scores
Romaji, kana input and which is faster
Most Japanese typists use romaji input, entering Latin letters that the IME converts to kana. A minority use kana input, where each key produces a kana directly. Kana input requires fewer keystrokes per character, so in theory it is faster, and experienced kana typists genuinely are quick.
In practice romaji dominates, for a practical reason rather than a technical one: it uses the same keyboard layout as English, so a typist maintains one set of motor patterns rather than two. For anyone who also types English regularly, the cost of maintaining a second layout usually outweighs the keystroke saving.
This test uses common Japanese vocabulary in kana. If you type romaji through an IME, you will be entering Latin letters and watching kana appear, which is exactly how ordinary Japanese typing works.
Improving your Japanese typing speed
The first thing to work on is usually conversion habits rather than finger speed. Typing a whole phrase and converting once is generally faster than converting word by word, because the IME has more context and picks the right candidate more often. Learning to trust that and only intervene when it is wrong removes a great deal of stopping and starting.
The second is the same advice that applies in any language: accuracy before speed. A wrong reading produces a wrong conversion, and fixing a bad conversion costs considerably more time than fixing a mistyped letter in English, because you have to reopen the candidate list and find the right one.
- Convert in phrases rather than word by word where you can
- Learn your IME’s shortcuts for reopening and cycling candidates
- Practise the readings you get wrong, not just general text
- Keep separate expectations for Japanese and English speeds
Taking the test
Select Japanese from the language selector on any test and the word set switches to common Japanese vocabulary. Every duration and every measurement works the same way as in English: net WPM, accuracy, errors, consistency and percentile.
The mobile typing test works with Japanese input too. Because it reads the text field rather than waiting for individual key events, it handles IME composition correctly, which is what makes flick input and predictive Japanese keyboards work.