Macintosh and PinYin text entry

[timb]

My SOs computer is dying a slow death. If things work out with us, I'm going to pick up a laptop for her when I'm in Hong Kong or Shenzhen. I know Macs real well, but have never used one for Chinese text entry. Anyone have any experience with this and can comment on how easy or difficult it might be for a PC user to adapt?

 

TimB

[dnoblett]

I own a Intel Mac Mini, it handles displaying Chinese OK, but I need to see about pinyin entry.

 

From what I read on Apple's site full support should be there.

 

SEE:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/international/

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?pa.../en/mh2022.html

 

Yu mostly uses the other computers in the home running Windows XP with MUI packs installed to give full native Chinese support.

 

A English/Chinese dictionary for Mac

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo...&vid=174020

[dnoblett]

I tinkered some on the Mac, and it supports PinYin input method (IME), but it is not as friendly as Windows the native Chinese version, or Windows XP with the Office 2003 MUI, and XP MUI packs installed.

 

The Pinyin provided by windows office 2003 is smart and predicts chinese character combinations out to 3 characters.

 

If your SO is used to MS-IME she may have a hard time with Apple's IME.

 

To activate Mac's IME select System Prefs, international, Input Menu, then Chinese Simplified, and Traditional Chinese.

 

The traditional Chinese Pinyin is closest to that provided by the full MS-IME in the MS MUI Packs.

[jim_julian]

Our 19 year old college student Chinese daughter had a PC in China. Our house is mostly Mac with one PC. She uses all of our machines.

 

When asked what she wanted for her college laptop she picked a Mac.

 

Mac supports three methods (ITABC, Wubi Xing, and Wubi Hua), that I know of, to enter Chinese. You can easily switch the OS back and forth between Chinese and English ... this is separate from selecting to type in English or pinyin.

 

Our daughter can type pinyin and thereby characters with blazing speed on both platforms. She uses the ABC method. I just asked her which is easier and pointed out the "smart" feature mentioned by Dan. She says that is not very useful and both operating systems are virtually the same when it comes to typing in Chinese.

 

She chose a Mac over a PC because ...

 

- More intuitive and easy to use

- Don't have to reboot

- Not much problem with virus, etc

[timb]

Very helpful. This told me what I needed to know. Thanks very much.

 

TimB

[carl.hops]

I'm sure its been talked about before, but what does everyone use for Chinese input? I've been using NJStar.

 

Also, I've installed the chinese text language pack, but with out NJSTAR running, it seems that their are still problems viewing. For instance, I never got QQ to work properly.

[Zachary And Lychee]

I'm sure its been talked about before, but what does everyone use for Chinese input? I've been using NJStar.

 

Also, I've installed the chinese text language pack, but with out NJSTAR running, it seems that their are still problems viewing. For instance, I never got QQ to work properly.

 

Holy cow I'm the the youngest on here anymore! Extending my welcome out to you here on CFL bud.

 

I use the Windows built-in IME. I made a video here... explaining how to do that. Your QQ, however, might be displaying boxes and ??? I'm guessing, and this is a result of you not setting your system to Chinese for non-unicode programs. It's pretty simple to do. That same place I showed you to go in that video... go there (Regional and Language Options). Click on the the Advanced tab and select Chinese from the first drop-down list. Click ok and you'll be asked to restart your computer. After restarting QQ should now display Chinese characters. I also have an English version of QQ if you like. I don't use it anymore though because the Chinese version is more up-to-date and because I need to learn anyway. This is all assuming you're running Windows XP.

 

I used to use NJ Star. Many of my friends use it because you can type easier in it. For example if you want to type "Ni hao" you simply type "nh" and it will dispay the common combinations of characters starting with "n" and "h". "BKQ" would also give you "Bu Ke Qi". So it's faster. However I didn't like that bar always at the bottom of the screen, and the thing was a trial with a start-up delay. I also vaguely recall some other problem with it but I can't remember exactly what it was... perhaps something about the way it handled the English or numeric input. Like if I tried to sign onto QQ and I knew I was typing my password correctly it was telling me the password was not correct. By closing NJ Star it allowed me to sign on using Windows EN input. Something along those lines but I don't recall.

[carl.hops]

I'm sure its been talked about before, but what does everyone use for Chinese input? I've been using NJStar.

 

Also, I've installed the chinese text language pack, but with out NJSTAR running, it seems that their are still problems viewing. For instance, I never got QQ to work properly.

 

Holy cow I'm the the youngest on here anymore! Extending my welcome out to you here on CFL bud.

 

I use the Windows built-in IME. I made a video here... explaining how to do that. Your QQ, however, might be displaying boxes and ??? I'm guessing, and this is a result of you not setting your system to Chinese for non-unicode programs. It's pretty simple to do. That same place I showed you to go in that video... go there (Regional and Language Options). Click on the the Advanced tab and select Chinese from the first drop-down list. Click ok and you'll be asked to restart your computer. After restarting QQ should now display Chinese characters. I also have an English version of QQ if you like. I don't use it anymore though because the Chinese version is more up-to-date and because I need to learn anyway. This is all assuming you're running Windows XP.

 

I used to use NJ Star. Many of my friends use it because you can type easier in it. For example if you want to type "Ni hao" you simply type "nh" and it will dispay the common combinations of characters starting with "n" and "h". "BKQ" would also give you "Bu Ke Qi". So it's faster. However I didn't like that bar always at the bottom of the screen, and the thing was a trial with a start-up delay. I also vaguely recall some other problem with it but I can't remember exactly what it was... perhaps something about the way it handled the English or numeric input. Like if I tried to sign onto QQ and I knew I was typing my password correctly it was telling me the password was not correct. By closing NJ Star it allowed me to sign on using Windows EN input. Something along those lines but I don't recall.

 

ллfor showing me how to use the chinese key board, £É¡¡£è£á£ä¡¡£ì£ï£ï£ë£å£ä¡¡£á£ô¡¡£é£ô¡¡£ï£î£ã£å¡¡£â£õ£ô¡¡£î£å£ö£å£ò¡¡£õ£î£ä£å£ò£ó£ô£ï£ï£ä¡¡£è£ï£÷¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£õ£ó£å¡¡£é£ô£®¡¡£É really don't like using NJSTAR¡¡£í£ù¡¡£ó£å£ì£æ£®¡¡£Æ£ï£ò¡¡£ô£è£å¡¡£ó£á£í£å¡¡£ò£å£á£ó£ï£î£ó£®¡¡¡¡£á£ì£ó£ï¡¡£÷£á£î£ô¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£ó£á£ù¡¡£ô£è£á£î£ë£ó¡¡£æ£ï£ò¡¡£ô£è£å¡¡£÷£å£â¡¡£ð£á£ç£å£¯£ð£ò£ï£ç£ò£á£í¡¡£ù£ï£õ¡¡£í£á£ä£å¡¡£ô£è£á£ô¡¡£å£ä£é£ô£ó¡¡£®£ø£í£ì¡¡£ä£ï£ã£õ£í£å£î£ô£ó£¡

[Zachary And Lychee]

ллfor showing me how to use the chinese key board, £É¡¡£è£á£ä¡¡£ì£ï£ï£ë£å£ä¡¡£á£ô¡¡£é£ô¡¡£ï£î£ã£å¡¡£â£õ£ô¡¡£î£å£ö£å£ò¡¡£õ£î£ä£å£ò£ó£ô£ï£ï£ä¡¡£è£ï£÷¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£õ£ó£å¡¡£é£ô£®¡¡£É really don't like using NJSTAR¡¡£í£ù¡¡£ó£å£ì£æ£®¡¡£Æ£ï£ò¡¡£ô£è£å¡¡£ó£á£í£å¡¡£ò£å£á£ó£ï£î£ó£®¡¡¡¡£á£ì£ó£ï¡¡£÷£á£î£ô¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£ó£á£ù¡¡£ô£è£á£î£ë£ó¡¡£æ£ï£ò¡¡£ô£è£å¡¡£÷£å£â¡¡£ð£á£ç£å£¯£ð£ò£ï£ç£ò£á£í¡¡£ù£ï£õ¡¡£í£á£ä£å¡¡£ô£è£á£ô¡¡£å£ä£é£ô£ó¡¡£®£ø£í£ì¡¡£ä£ï£ã£õ£í£å£î£ô£ó£¡

 

Your letters are spaced out and weird like that because you're using the Chinese English. Press Left Alt + Left Shift to switch back to EN (English) and they won't do that weird spacing. It doesn't do it all the time in CN mode but sometimes.

[chucky]

YOu mentioned QQ. For the Mac we use Luma QQ to talk to Chinese friends. Skype works well. Lili has no trouble using the Mac for Chinese. The Chinese internet TV only works on Windows so far. We just use VirtualBox to boot an XP and run the Chinese peer to peer TV program. Macs rule.

 

Sincerely Yours, Charles and LiLi

[jim_julian]

Charles ... Luma QQ is news to us ... we're checking it out ... thanks.

[timb]

Where can I find out more about that Chinese tv program?

 

TimB

 

 

 

YOu mentioned QQ. For the Mac we use Luma QQ to talk to Chinese friends. Skype works well. Lili has no trouble using the Mac for Chinese. The Chinese internet TV only works on Windows so far. We just use VirtualBox to boot an XP and run the Chinese peer to peer TV program. Macs rule.

 

Sincerely Yours, Charles and LiLi

[jim_julian]

My daughter watches time delayed Chinese TV on her Mac laptop all the time.

 

I'll try to remember to ask her tonight for some URLs and player info.

[jim_julian]

The Chinese TV website that our daughter goes to is:

 

http://www.tudou.com

 

I checked it out, looks like it uses a Flash player. Anyway, works fine on a Mac (OSX 10.4) in Firefox.

 

The front page didn't look like it has full TV programs but she says it does. As it's all in Chinese I didn't dig too far.

[timb]

Thanks Jim!

 

 

The Chinese TV website that our daughter goes to is:

 

http://www.tudou.com

 

I checked it out, looks like it uses a Flash player. Anyway, works fine on a Mac (OSX 10.4) in Firefox.

 

The front page didn't look like it has full TV programs but she says it does. As it's all in Chinese I didn't dig too far.