English to Romaji Translator

Romaji is Japanese written in the alphabet you already use. No kanji. No kana. Just letters.

This free English to romaji translator turns plain English into romanized Japanese. Type hello, get konnichiwa, copy it, paste it wherever you need it.

What Is Romaji?

Japanese normally runs three scripts at once: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Romaji spells those same sounds with Latin letters instead.

Arigatou is ありがとう. Kawaii is かわいい. Same word, same sound, easier keyboard.

This page follows the Hepburn style, the one most English speakers meet first, with long vowels written out as ou and uu. It is one of a few systems in use, and Wikipedia lists the others. You will not need them for a trip.

How This Tool Works

It translates the meaning first, then writes the Japanese in romaji. So you get real Japanese word order, not English words swapped one by one.

Real Japanese moves the verb to the end and marks the subject with particles like wa, ga and o. The tool handles that for you. I want water comes back as mizu ga hoshii desu, the way a textbook writes it.

It uses polite desu and masu forms by default. Type something casual, like a text to a friend, and it answers in casual Japanese.

Press Translate after you type. It takes a second or two, since a full sentence needs more than a lookup table.

Where It Can Still Slip

Japanese has more than one right answer for most sentences. The tool picks one. Your teacher may prefer another.

It also cannot see who you are talking to. Japanese changes with that, so check the politeness level before you send it to a boss or a host family.

Use it for travel phrases, captions, and practice. Do not use it for anything legal or medical.

Features at a Glance

Feature	Details
Price	Free
Signup	None
Output	Romanised Japanese (romaji)
Copy paste	Yes
Works on	Phone, tablet, computer
Good for	Travel phrases, study, captions

How to Use the English to Romaji Translator

Step 1: Type English in the left box.

Step 2: Press Translate and read the romaji on the right.

Step 3: Hit the copy button.

Step 4: Paste it into notes, a chat, or a travel app.

Example Conversions

• Hello → Konnichiwa
• How are you? → Ogenki desu ka?
• See you later → Jaa mata

Common Romaji Phrases

Romaji	Meaning
Konnichiwa	Hello
Ohayou gozaimasu	Good morning
Arigatou	Thank you
Sumimasen	Excuse me
Hajimemashite	Nice to meet you
Ogenki desu ka	How are you
Wakarimasen	I do not know
Mizu	Water
Okane	Money
Jaa mata	See you later

You Already Type in Romaji

Here is the part that surprises people. Almost nobody types Japanese by hunting for kana keys, because there are far too many of them to fit on one keyboard. You type the sounds in Latin letters and the phone turns them into kana as you go.

Try it yourself. Add a Japanese keyboard to your phone, then type the sounds out in plain letters. The kana show up as you go. The letters do all the work.

So the letters on this page are more than a beginner crutch. They are the same letters a person in Tokyo taps out to send a text to a friend.

One Thing to Watch

The long vowel sound in a word can be written three different ways, and books do not agree on which one to use.

Some books draw a bar over the letter. Some drop the sound entirely. This page writes it out in full, the way arigatou and ohayou are spelled in the table above. None of the three is wrong. They are just house styles.

Where People Use Romaji

Travel. Station names and menu items stop being a wall of shapes and turn into sounds you can actually say out loud.

Study. Most first-week Japanese classes start in romaji and move to hiragana within a month or two.

Captions and usernames. Romaji pastes into Instagram and Discord without any font trouble, and it reads fine to friends who never studied Japanese.

More scripts. Our Hiragana Translator gives you the kana version when you are ready for it.

Common Questions

Is the English to romaji translator free? Yes. No account, no fee.

Does it output hiragana or kanji? No. Roman letters only.

Is romaji the same as English? No. It spells Japanese sound with Latin letters, so the words still mean nothing in English.

Does copy and paste work? Yes. The output is plain text.

Does it work on a phone? Yes. The boxes stack when the screen gets narrow.

Can I trust this for homework? It gets the word order and particles right most of the time. Still check it against your textbook, since there is often more than one correct answer.

Can I paste Japanese and get romaji? Yes. Paste hiragana, katakana or kanji and it writes the sounds out in romaji.

Why is there a Translate button? Full sentences need a real translation, which takes a second. The button keeps it from running on every key you press.

Learn the Kana Next

Romaji is a ramp, not a destination. It gets you reading on day one, but it also lets you fake sounds that kana would force you to get right. Use this page for trip notes and captions, then go learn hiragana properly. More tools sit on our translators page.