typing in japanese

[w@rtech nation]

before anybody say anything about http://psu.amesani.org/db/character/statsim.php. i only like that for looking stats up. anyway... when i switch my keyboard to type japanese, my word starts translating to it. i get like 5 choices to choose. how do i kno if i choose the right one and when do i switch to h one?, not kana. i have had little progress with this.:-?

[Keilyn]

This is the hard part of writing Japanese and requires you to know some of the language. Japanese Characters have multiple readings. Using either of the readings gives you that kanji.

When you type the Japanese reading you normally get the Kanji you want, but when you type in the Kanji name itself, since there are many kanji out there with the same name you get a drop down list to choose the right one. In short you have many words spelled the same way, pronounced the same way but mean different things.

Edit: I wanted to provide an example

死　if we type しぬ you are going to get this　死ぬ. Of course this means "To Die"　but if you type SHI alone. し you are going to be asked literally what you mean because many kanji are named し.　its a shortcut in japanese to know the kanji names because if you know tatakau which means to fight you can write it as 戦う　（write tatakau to get that） or you can write　Sen　which is　戦　and then add in the conjugation that you want.

Japanese verbs are conjugated. This means you have a Root Word that gets modified to define tense and form. An example in English exist when we write gerund form of verbs (progressive actions) by adding in -ing. Like Going, Coming, Attacking, Defending.

The English Language is structured as Letters (Consonants and Vowels) that we learn their sounds and construct syllables.
The Japanese Language is structured as syllables from the start. A letter in Japanese is actually an entire Syllable.

This is the best that the IME can do for conversion.