Question re hiragana keyboard on Mac

Hi all, I joined six days ago, and just completed module 1 yesterday.  I’ve got a question for those of you who have been doing this for a while.  I use mostly my iPad as the onscreen Japanese keyboard is really good.  Does anyone know how to get a similar keyboard on a Mac, seeing the benchmark and end of module tests can’t be done on the iPad?  Or do you know any way they can be done on the iPad?  I really want to make full use of the course, but the tiny on screen keyboard on the Mac is useless, and when I turn my regular keyboard into a hiragana keyboard, it feels like cheating as I can just type in romaji.  What does everyone else do?  Thank you!

Just download the keyboard for Japanese so you have the option to switch your typing input to Japanese rather than use a website function to change it. You want something physically on your computer to change the typing input and change as you need to.

Hi Tony,
I do have my typing input set to Japanese on my computer keyboard - I have activated the hiragana keyboard, but the only way to use it is to type in romaji on my keyboard, and it then becomes hiragana.  I was looking for something more like on the iPad where the keyboard is actually in hiragana and you can choose the character.  I feel like if I’m typing in romaji, i’m not learning the characters properly...

Hi MichelleP28, 

I know you may be looking for other tools, but please note you are able to increase the size of the virtual keyboard by clicking on the arrows at the top of board: 

https://1ce.org/1#BJZNrI1iE

Or, the other tool I know of, would be using Google Input Tools. 

Kind Regards! 
 

Thank you so much Marieg! That is the perfect solution. I hope one day the benchmark and certificates will work on the iPad but this will be great in the meantime.
ありがとうこざいます！

Hi MichelleP28 - You can also buy a Japanese keyboard from the online Apple store. If you go to mac->accessories->keyboard, you'll find that the default is for your region (US English in my case), but it's actually a pulldown menu, and you can choose "Japanese."

I bought mine when I was in Japan before I realized that I could have gotten the same thing in the US, and a bit cheaper. :)