Chinese on my computer

[MikeXiao]

I ask this question. Is there a program I can purchase that will type Chinese? I have a translation program. But when my wife gets here, that may not be the best for her. She'd have to type English first. Anyone know of what can be done?

[Dan R]

Many of my friends say they just use the XP soft keyboard for pin yin input. This seems to work fine and is quick to learn. Set your default region and language on China and everything for windows shows in Chinese.

[warpedbored]

You do need to add the languages you want in the text services and input tab. It is a little cumbersome for them. They have to type in the pinyin then select the proper characters since the same pinyin pronunciation may have several characters to choose from.

[tonado]

http://seba.studentenweb.org/thesis/howto-winxp.php

[david_dawei]

The only drawback input wise on an American OS is if she is more accustomed to typing in Wubi ... the IMs are pinyin based.

 

You can search for these on the web and read what they offer:

NJ Star

Twinbridge

PowerWord

Chinese Star

[C4Racer]

Mike,

 

Lisa uses a program which she got from another friend. She swears it is much faster than the pinyin input. Watching her type I would have to agree. Some how it seems she gets many of the characters in one or two key strokes and rarely needs to type more than three.

 

Have her buy Windows XP with Service Pack Two and Chinese Windows Office XP in Nanning. Lisa can tell her where to go to get these programs. They should cost 15 rmb each. Then you can install these programs on a different partition or drive. It also lets you install other Chinese programs like Chinese MSN or Yahoo Messenger. Lisa stays in touch with all her friends this way.

 

Let us know when Xiao is here and Lisa can send her this program.

[david_dawei]

Mike,

 

Lisa uses a program which she got from another friend. She swears it is much faster than the pinyin input. Watching her type I would have to agree. Some how it seems she gets many of the characters in one or two key strokes and rarely needs to type more than three.

 

Have her buy Windows XP with Service Pack Two and Chinese Windows Office XP in Nanning. Lisa can tell her where to go to get these programs. They should cost 15 rmb each. Then you can install these programs on a different partition or drive. It also lets you install other Chinese programs like Chinese MSN or Yahoo Messenger. Lisa stays in touch with all her friends this way.

 

Let us know when Xiao is here and Lisa can send her this program.

This sounds like Wubi input method which I mentioned above..

 

 

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Wubi+method

 

"The Wubi method is based on the structure of characters rather than their pronunciation, making it possible to input unfamiliar characters, as well as not being too closely linked to any particular Chinese dialect. It is also extremely efficient: every character that you would want to write can be written with at most 5 keystrokes. In practice, most characters can be written with less. There are reports of experienced typists hitting 160 wpm with Wubi. What this means in the context of Chinese is not entirely clear, as words are an ill-defined unit in such a largely isolating language, but it is true that wubi is extremely fast when used by an experienced typist. The main reason for this is that, unlike with traditional phonetic input methods, one does not have to spend time selecting the desired character from a list of homophonic possibilities: virtually all characters have a unique representation. "

 

 

Learning Wubi:

 

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~wicento...w/wubixing.html

[cosmiclobster]

http://seba.studentenweb.org/thesis/howto-winxp.php

Tony: Excellent link!!

I'll have to remember this the next time someone asks me.

Is this in the reference link section??? (It should be!)

[tonado]

Mike,

 

Lisa uses a program which she got from another friend. She swears it is much faster than the pinyin input. Watching her type I would have to agree. Some how it seems she gets many of the characters in one or two key strokes and rarely needs to type more than three.

 

Have her buy Windows XP with Service Pack Two and Chinese Windows Office XP in Nanning. Lisa can tell her where to go to get these programs. They should cost 15 rmb each. Then you can install these programs on a different partition or drive. It also lets you install other Chinese programs like Chinese MSN or Yahoo Messenger. Lisa stays in touch with all her friends this way.

 

Let us know when Xiao is here and Lisa can send her this program.

This sounds like Wubi input method which I mentioned above..

 

 

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Wubi+method

 

"The Wubi method is based on the structure of characters rather than their pronunciation, making it possible to input unfamiliar characters, as well as not being too closely linked to any particular Chinese dialect. It is also extremely efficient: every character that you would want to write can be written with at most 5 keystrokes. In practice, most characters can be written with less. There are reports of experienced typists hitting 160 wpm with Wubi. What this means in the context of Chinese is not entirely clear, as words are an ill-defined unit in such a largely isolating language, but it is true that wubi is extremely fast when used by an experienced typist. The main reason for this is that, unlike with traditional phonetic input methods, one does not have to spend time selecting the desired character from a list of homophonic possibilities: virtually all characters have a unique representation. "

 

 

Learning Wubi:

 

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~wicento...w/wubixing.html

I use NJStar Radical lookup method to input Chinese. I don't like the pinyin because I don't know how to spell the Chinese words.

[tonado]

http://seba.studentenweb.org/thesis/howto-winxp.php

Tony: Excellent link!!

I'll have to remember this the next time someone asks me.

Is this in the reference link section??? (It should be!)

Yes, I just put it in. There is a lot of goodies in Links and Resources.

[perryf]

I just installed Win XP for a dual boot. Fanny is extremely happy.

[david_dawei]

I use NJStar Radical lookup method to input Chinese.  I don't like the pinyin because I don't know how to spell the Chinese words.

radical lookup is easier than learning and spelling pinyin?