Furigana

Converts Japanese text to hiragana, katakana, or roman text.

Format 

Furigana ( text {; option } )

Parameters 

text - any text expression or text field

option - 1 through 5, depending on how you want to convert text

Data type returned 

text

Originated in version 

14.0

Description 

Japanese text is composed of kana (hiragana and katakana) and kanji (characters). Kanji characters have multiple readings, and the Unicode ordering of these characters is arbitrary. Thus, to sort kanji characters in a truly meaningful way, it is necessary to sort by the kana (phonetic syllabary) reading intended for each character.

The option parameter determines whether Furigana converts the specified text to hiragana, katakana, or roman (romaji) text.

 

Option

Converts text to

1

Hiragana

2

Full-width katakana

3

Full-width roman (romaji)

4

Half-width katakana

5

Half-width roman (romaji)

If option is not specified or any value other than 1 through 5, Furigana returns the specified text in hiragana.

Example 1 

Converts the specified text to hiragana.

Furigana ( "Japanese kanji characters pronounced tokyoto" ) returns Japanese hiragana pronounced tokyoto.

Example 2 

Converts the specified text to roman text.

Furigana ( "Japanese kanji characters pronounced tokyoto" ; 5 ) returns toukyouto.

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