The various ways in which Japanese can be Romanized or transliterated into Roman letters or the English alphabet, and the uses this is put to.

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7
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7answers
719 views

What are the advantages/disadvantages of writing in romaji instead of kanji, hiragana, and so on?

Romaji is somewhat of a conversion from kanji, hiragana, and so on to the Roman alphabet. What are the disadvantages of learning only or mostly romaji aside from being unable to read/write in kanji? ...
12
votes
2answers
404 views

What is the more common pronunciation for the romaji letter 'Z' in Japanese?

I was on the phone with NTT the other day and things were going well (or as good as they could), until I had to spell some email address for the customer rep, and fell upon the letter 'Z'. ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views

What is the difference between tori vs. dori?

In Aikido, different dojos seem to latch on to using either dori or tori when describing grabbing attacks. For instance one dojo might say: Katate Dori Another would say: Katate Tori Each dojo ...
8
votes
1answer
363 views

Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana rather than Romaji?

Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana, or is this dependent on the type or writing, and the target audience? For example, this Japanese Wikipedia entry on Steven Bradbury uses ...