# How to Read Romaji in AI Roleplay for Beginners | Lunafic Source: https://lunafic.ai/blog/how-to-read-romaji-ai-roleplay | Published: 2026-10-31T04:57:07.646Z | Updated: 2026-10-31T04:57:07.646Z | Author: Lunafic Team | Tags: Roleplay, Guide, Language, dual-language > AI roleplay can show Japanese in romaji with English under each line. Learn to read it: vowels, particles, honorifics, words for "I" and sentence endings. Yes, an AI roleplay app can write each Japanese line in romaji, the Japanese sounds spelled in English letters, with the English translation right under it. Lunafic does this when a world's characters speak Japanese, and this guide shows you how to read those lines, from the vowels to the small words that tell you who a character is. You don't need to study Japanese for this. Much of an anime character's voice sits in a few small pieces: their word for "I", the ending on the sentence, the name tag they put on you. Spot those, and the romaji tells you things the translation can't. How the feature itself works is in [AI roleplay with Japanese dialogue and the English translation under every line](https://lunafic.ai/blog/ai-roleplay-japanese-dialogue-translation). This post is the reading part. ## What is romaji, and how do you say it? Romaji is Japanese written in the Latin alphabet. The romaji on Lunafic follows a spelling close to Hepburn, a system made for English speakers, so most letters sound the way you would guess. **Five vowels, always the same sound.** a as in "father", i as in "machine", u as in "food", e as in "bed", o as in "go" but shorter. There is no silent e, so "kore" (this) is ko-re. **Long vowels.** A long vowel is held for two beats, and the length changes the word. "Ojisan" is uncle, "ojiisan" is grandfather. Textbooks write it with a line on top, like ō. Roleplay text usually doubles the letter or writes ou, as in "arigatou" and "koohii" (coffee). **Double consonants.** A doubled letter means a tiny stop before it. "Matte" (wait) is mat-te, with a short catch in the middle. **N on its own.** N can be a full beat by itself. "Konnichiwa" is ko-n-ni-chi-wa. Before a vowel, some romaji adds an apostrophe, so "kan'i" (simple) doesn't read as "kani" (crab). **The quiet u.** In "desu" and "masu" the u is so light it almost disappears. They sound like "dess" and "mass". ## Why do some particles look spelled wrong? Particles are tiny words that show what each part of a sentence does. Three confuse almost everyone, because romaji follows the sound, not the kana. - **wa** marks the topic. It is written with the kana for "ha", said "wa", and Hepburn spells it "wa". "Watashi wa" means "as for me". - **o** marks the object. Some apps spell it "wo". Same word. - **e** means "toward". Said "e", sometimes spelled "he". Two more are everywhere. **no** works like 's, so "watashi no" is "my". **ni** marks where something is or who it goes to. ## What do -san, -kun and -chan say about a relationship? Honorifics are name tags that show how close two people are. When one changes in a story, the relationship just changed. - **-san**: the polite default for anyone you are not close to, usually on the family name. - **-kun**: for boys and young men, from friends or from someone senior. - **-chan**: cute and close. Children, close friends, girls, pets. On someone who didn't ask for it, it is teasing. - **-sama**: high respect, for nobles, gods and customers. A character who calls himself "ore-sama" is very full of himself, on purpose. - **-senpai**: someone ahead of you at school, in a club or at work. - **-sensei**: teachers, doctors and manga artists. No honorific at all is normal between close friends or lovers, and rude from a stranger. When a cold character drops the -san from your name for the first time, that's a scene. ## How do "I" and sentence endings become a character's voice? English has one "I". Japanese has several, and fiction uses them like a costume. - **watashi**: the standard, polite "I". The default for most women, and for men in formal settings. - **boku**: a softer, boyish "I". Gentle boys, polite young men. - **ore**: rough and confident. Delinquents, heroes who shout. - **watakushi**: very formal. In anime it marks the ojou-sama, the rich, proper young lady. Sentence endings do the same job at the other end of the line. - **desu / masu**: the polite form. Calm, careful, or keeping distance. - **da**: the plain form of desu. Casual and a little blunt. - **wa**: in anime, a soft, often feminine ending. Proper ladies stack it as "desu wa". Real young women use it less than anime suggests. - **zo**: rough emphasis, usually male. "Iku zo!" is "Let's go!" with a fist in it. - **kashira**: "I wonder". Feminine and a little refined. - **nano**: a soft "it's that...". In anime it often sounds cute and young. Here is a real line. In [Vengeance and Love Languages](https://lunafic.ai/scenarios/vengeance-and-love-language), an original world on Lunafic, Euler Florence is the cold heiress of a fallen family, and you play Haru, the scholarship student everyone calls the Commoner. This line is from her Speech Examples, laid out the way Romanized plus Translation shows dialogue: > "Nani o mite iru no? Watakushi no kao ni nanika tsuite iru kashira?" > > [What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?] The translation is correct, and a little flat. The romaji has *watakushi*, the formal lady's "I", and *kashira*, a refined "I wonder", inside a line that is really a snap. She is prickly in the most proper words she owns. You can find the particles too: o after "nani", no in "watakushi no kao" (my face), ni after "kao". Her rival from the fencing club, Camille, has this line on her sheet: > "Ara, Florence-san. Kyou mo ohitori desu no?" > > [Oh my, Florence-san. Alone again today?] *Ara* is a sweet "oh my", *-san* keeps her at a polite distance, and *ohitori* adds a polite o to "alone". The politeness is the insult, and the English can't fully carry it. ## Which small words come up again and again? - **ara**: "oh my" or "oh?". Mostly women or older characters, sweet or fake sweet. - **ne**: at the end of a line it means "right?". At the start, often stretched to "nee", it's "hey". - **yo**: at the end, "I'm telling you". It adds push. - **maa**: "well...", a verbal shrug. "Maa maa" means "now, now, calm down". - **hmph**: the anime huff, sometimes spelled "fun". A proud character saying "I'm not impressed" while being a little impressed. ## How do you turn on romaji with translation in Lunafic? Lunafic uses three language dials instead of one dropdown. They are explained in the [Narrative settings docs](https://lunafic.ai/docs/narrative-settings). 1. Open Narrative settings from the right panel, under This world, and go to the Language tab. 2. Set Character Language to Japanese. This is what the characters speak. 3. Set Narrative Language to English. The narration and the translations follow this one. 4. Set Dialogue Format to Romanized plus Translation. Native Only shows the Japanese script, for people who read it. Translation Only drops the romaji when you want to read fast. Romanized plus Translation only appears for languages in another script, like Japanese, Korean or Russian. In a Playable World, the author sets the languages when building it, so a Japanese-speaking world like Vengeance and Love Languages already opens in romaji with the translation under each line. Japanese lines in dual language have a small speaker button at the end. Tap it and your phone or computer reads the line aloud with its own voice, which uses no AI usage. It's the fastest way to check your reading. Why we built dual-language dialogue at all is in [AI roleplay in Japanese with English translation side by side](https://lunafic.ai/blog/ai-roleplay-in-japanese-with-english-translation-side-by-side). ## What romaji in roleplay is NOT - **It is not a Japanese course.** You will pick up words and endings, but there are no grammar lessons, no kanji, and nobody checks your Japanese. - **The AI's Japanese is not perfect.** Sometimes a line comes out stiff, too formal for the character, or simply wrong, and romaji spelling can be inconsistent. If a line reads off, check the translation, retry the reply, or fix the line by hand, which uses no AI usage. - **Anime Japanese is not everyday Japanese.** Talk like an ojou-sama to a shop clerk in Tokyo and you will get a confused smile. - **Not every world speaks Japanese.** Many are English only, and Korean or Russian worlds get their own romanized line. - **You don't have to write Japanese.** Write your turns in English and the characters still answer in Japanese. In [MC Mode](https://lunafic.ai/features/mc-mode/) the AI never writes your character's lines. ## How to try it tonight 1. Open [Vengeance and Love Languages](https://lunafic.ai/scenarios/vengeance-and-love-language), press Play and choose Haru. 2. Pick a starting choice, or write your own first move in English. 3. When Euler answers, find her "I", her sentence ending, and what she calls you. 4. Tap the speaker button on her line and read along. 5. For a world of your own, start a Private world and set the three dials. You can start free. Free accounts get a monthly AI usage allowance and the Flash model. Every Lunafic feature is on one page at [lunafic.ai/features](https://lunafic.ai/features/). --- Read this on Lunafic: https://lunafic.ai/blog/how-to-read-romaji-ai-roleplay More from Lunafic: https://lunafic.ai/blog What is Lunafic: https://lunafic.ai/ai-roleplay AI characters you build stories with over long memories. You play as your character, the AI plays everyone else, and stories stay private by default.