Trains are written in Roman letters and do not write "densha"! ??Points to note when teaching Romaji at home | Benesse Education Information Site

Reasons why elementary school students learn romaji

Your child will learn Romaji in the second semester of the third grade of elementary school. There are three significances to learning Romaji during this period. First of all, because children often see romaji in their daily lives, we want them to think about the meaning and effect of romaji notation.

Secondly, as the number of children who are familiar with personal computers is increasing, it is becoming more important to learn Romaji for character input. Also, learning Romaji leads to learning how to write the alphabet, and is positioned as an important entrance to learning English.

Two notations, royal instructions and Hepburn

Next, I would like to introduce how the elementary school teaches romaji notation. Let's translate the following Japanese into Roman letters.

(1) Densha (2) Chawan

The answer is (1) is densya and (2) is tyawan. Among the parents, (1) is densha and (2) is chawan? I think there are some people who think that. In fact, both of these two spellings are correct. This is because there are two main ways to spell Romaji currently used in Japan.

The former is a royal instruction ceremony learned at school. It is characterized by emphasizing the arrangement of Japanese phonology, such as expressing all Ha lines with "H". The latter is the Hepburn romanization used for station name notation and keyboard input. It is an English-style spelling that has become mainstream since the Meiji era, and is characterized by spelling that emphasizes the actual pronunciation of English. There are other romanizations and Hepburn romanizations that are written differently.

The main lessons learned in textbooks are the royal instructions, but the Hepburn romanization is also spelled out in parentheses. Also, in the Shinkenzemi "Challenge", I try to learn by the instruction formula, but as an alternative, I also have a Hepburn style answer.

The reason why Hepburn romanization is also included in textbooks is that many of the Roman letters that we see in our daily lives are Hepburn romanization. So, even if a parent teaches your child how to write Hepburn, that's not wrong. However, for children who are just beginning to learn Romaji, learning two ways of writing at the same time is likely to be confusing, so I would like you to give priority to school instruction first. Parents who have forgotten how to write the instruction ceremony may want to check the rules while looking at the textbook with their children.

Romaji notation rules to be careful

Besides the fact that there are two ways to write romaji, what you should be aware of when teaching your child is the detailed rules for romaji notation. There are the following rules when writing romaji.

Parents often forget the precautions when writing the sound of stretching and bouncing because it is a rule that is not used when entering characters on a computer. Let's also check the above rules.

Let me use it in my life

In the third grade of elementary school, the goal is to be able to read and write romaji based on the "Romaji list". Therefore, you don't have to learn all the romaji writing. It is OK if you can write and read correctly while looking at the table.

However, as I said at the beginning, familiarizing yourself with the Roman alphabet will lead to keyboard input and learning English. It is a good idea to have fun learning by finding a signboard written in Roman letters in the city and having your child read it. Even if you can't read Chinese characters, I think there will be more and more people who can understand how to read them if they have Roman characters. Then, the child will be able to realize that the Roman alphabet is useful for foreigners to understand station names and place names. You can also let them enter simple characters on the keyboard to teach them the joy of using a computer.

Romaji can only be learned in the third grade of elementary school, and the number of units is small, but it is often useful for subsequent learning. I would be grateful if you could support your learning while making your child feel the joy of being able to read and write.