If the keyboard picture on the screen does not match the symbols printed on the keys in front of you, check the layout before anything else. Three settings are involved, and they are easy to treat as one: the language the site is shown in, the input mode of the device, and the physical keyboard itself.
Separate the three settings
- Site language: the language of the instructions and buttons. Reading the site in Japanese does not mean the keyboard is JIS, and a JIS keyboard can type English perfectly well.
- Input mode: how the device turns key presses into text. Every lesson on Tanepo is typed with Japanese, Chinese or Korean input switched off — even the Japanese lessons, which are typed in romaji and checked key by key. If a conversion window appears, the keys do not reach the lesson.
- Keyboard layout: which key produces which symbol. This is a fact about the hardware, and the device's operating system has to know it too.
Tanepo also has a "What to type" setting on the lesson screen. That chooses the language of the sentence you type. It is not a keyboard setting either. Change one setting at a time; one choice does not fix the other three.
What the Keyboard buttons change — and what they do not
On the lesson screen, in challenges and in the picture books there is a "Keyboard" setting with five buttons: US, JIS, AZERTY, ES and IT. The choice is remembered in the browser for next time. Until you choose, the site guesses from what you are typing: JIS for Japanese, US for English.
These buttons change the keyboard picture and the finger hint — which key to press, with which finger. They do not change what gets typed. Tanepo checks the character your device actually produced, so which character appears is decided by the physical keyboard and the operating system's layout setting. If the device thinks a different keyboard is connected, the character that appears will not match the label on the key, whichever button you press on the site.
The site's Keyboard button only changes the hint. The device's own setting decides what gets typed.
Identify the keyboard you actually have
Letters are in the same places on US and JIS keyboards, and the same finger presses each one. The difference is in the symbols. Two printed keys usually settle it. On a JIS keyboard, @ has a key of its own just right of P, and " is printed above 2. On a US keyboard, @ is above 2, and " shares a key with ' just right of L and ;. A JIS keyboard also has a ¥ key and a short space bar with extra keys beside it.
Then make sure the device knows the same thing. The place to check is the operating system's keyboard or input settings; we have not tested every system, so we do not give menu names here. If you are unsure, a parent should look at the keyboard's model and documentation before changing anything.
Symbols that move between US and JIS
From the layout data the site draws its keyboard picture from. The ones that come up most in English sentences are first.
- ' (apostrophe, as in "Let's"): US — its own key right of ;, no Shift. JIS — Shift + 7.
- " (quotation mark): US — Shift + the ' key. JIS — Shift + 2.
- @: US — Shift + 2. JIS — its own key right of P, no Shift.
- : (colon): US — Shift + ;. JIS — its own key right of ;, no Shift.
- ( and ): US — Shift + 9 and Shift + 0. JIS — Shift + 8 and Shift + 9.
- & — US Shift + 7, JIS Shift + 6. * — US Shift + 8, JIS Shift + the : key. = — US its own key, JIS Shift + -. + — US Shift + =, JIS Shift + ;.
- The same on both: ! # $ % , . / ? ; and -.
Check letters and spaces with a short lesson before moving on to one with punctuation, such as "Let's read a fun book about the sea." When one symbol stops you, go through these four questions in order:
- Is that symbol the character the lesson is asking for right now?
- Does the printed key match the keyboard picture on the screen?
- Does the device's layout setting match the keyboard that is actually connected?
- Is a text-conversion window still open?
We have not tested every combination — external keyboards, tablets, or a US keyboard used with a JIS setting and the other way round — so treat those as unverified rather than memorising a fix from somewhere else. If a problem remains, tell us the device, the browser, the keyboard layout and the point where input stops. Never send a child's personal details.
Use the finger chart as a reference
The printable finger chart has the same five Keyboard buttons. Pick the one that matches the keyboard in front of you and check the picture before printing. A chart helps a child find the finger for a key; it cannot fix a device setting that does not match, so if keys still disagree after printing, go back to the layout first rather than blaming the fingers.