Romanization of Japanese
In Japanese, rōmaji (Japanese: ローマ字 "Roman characters") broadly refers to the Roman alphabet.
In English, the word is usually used to refer specifically to the writing of the Japanese language in Roman characters as opposed to the usual mix of kanji and kana.
Japanese may be written in rōmaji for many reasons: street signs for visiting foreigners; transcription of personal, company, or place names to be used in another language context; dictionaries and textbooks for learners of the language; or even simply for typographic emphasis.
There are a number of different romanization systems in use: the four main ones are Hepburn, Kunrei-shiki (Cabinet order or ISO 3602), Nihon-shiki (ISO 3602 Strict) and JSL. Hepburn is the most widely accepted method outside Japan, and is used on Japanese road signs and passports. The Japanese government, however, officially sanctions Kunrei for use in education.
See also: Cyrillization of Japanese Wikipedia:Manual of Style for Japan-related articles
Advantages of each romanization system
- Hepburn follows English phonology and so gives the best indication to English speakers of how a word is pronounced in Japanese. It is used by Wikipedia.
- Nihon-shiki follows Japanese kana spelling and so is easiest for Japanese speakers to compose and interpret. It has also been known as ISO 3602 Strict form.
- Kunrei-shiki is the modified Nippon-shiki with the touch of Hepburn; it is the official romanization system of the Japanese government and is taught in Japanese schools. It has been standardized as ISO 3602.
- JSL has a system of indicating pitch.
Example words written in each romanization system
English Japanese Kana spelling Hepburn Kunrei-shiki Nihon-shiki JSL Roman characters ローマ字 ローマじ rōmaji rômazi rōmazi roomazi Mount Fuji 富士山 ふじさん Fujisan Huzisan Huzisan Huzisan Tokyo 東京 とうきょう Tōkyō Tôkyô Tōkyō Tookyoo tea お茶 おちゃ ocha otya otya otya governor 知事 ちじ chiji tizi tizi tizi shrink 縮む ちぢむ chijimu tizimu tidimu tidimu
(TODO: The JSL column needs pitch indicators.)
Differences between romanization systems
Kana Hepburn Kunrei-shiki Nihon-shiki JSL うう ū û ū uu おう, おお ō ô ō oo し shi si si si しゃ sha sya sya sya しゅ shu syu syu syu しょ sho syo syo syo じ ji zi zi zi じゃ ja zya zya zya じゅ ju zyu zyu zyu じょ jo zyo zyo zyo ち chi ti ti ti つ tsu tu tu tu ちゃ cha tya tya tya ちゅ chu tyu tyu tyu ちょ cho tyo tyo tyo ぢ ji zi di di づ zu zu du du ぢゃ ja zya dya dya ぢゅ ju zyu dyu dyu ぢょ jo zyo dyo dyo ふ fu hu hu hu