Entering Chinese Characters WITHOUT PINYIN

[griz326]

My gal's daugher is doing just fine typing and writing in Chinese using pinyin entry to find Chinese characters.

 

My gal does not know pinyin.

 

What can I do to enable Chinese character entry for her?

 

I have XP and VISTA English OSes.

[Randy W]

We have a Wacom writing pad and stylus, with character recognition software from TwinBridge.

 

Thr Microsoft Japanese IME also includes Chinese character recognition, but Jiaying didn't like this because of the small size of the input area.

[griz326]

In checking the TwinBridge site they offer both handwriting and voice recognition software (mandarin or cantonese). My experience with both of those has been pretty shaky, especially chinese character entry. Has your wife found stroke order for handwriting recognition a problem?

 

Have you tried the voice recognition?

[Randy W]

In checking the TwinBridge site they offer both handwriting and voice recognition software (mandarin or cantonese). My experience with both of those has been pretty shaky, especially chinese character entry. Has your wife found stroke order for handwriting recognition a problem?

 

Have you tried the voice recognition?

 

 

No - we haven't tried the voice recognition. Jiaying is a holy terror with the handwriting recognition, though. It almost always works for her, including the Chinese script that she uses.

[Dennis143]

Leiqin uses this pad:

 

http://i37.tinypic.com/29p7vcy.jpg

This is ~6 sq in with a 4" screen. You write the character directly on the pad and the image appears across the computer screen and then QQ or whatever will add the character to her message.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know where you can order one online, as she bought hers through a local Chinese man who configures (changes) computers from English to Chinese, sells software, hardware and teaches private lessons on how to use a computer.

 

Anyway, if you can't find one, PM me and I will purchase one for you and mail it to you ~$40 + postage.

[Randy W]

In checking the TwinBridge site they offer both handwriting and voice recognition software (mandarin or cantonese). My experience with both of those has been pretty shaky, especially chinese character entry. Has your wife found stroke order for handwriting recognition a problem?

 

Have you tried the voice recognition?

 

 

No - we haven't tried the voice recognition. Jiaying is a holy terror with the handwriting recognition, though. It almost always works for her, including the Chinese script that she uses.

 

The stroke order is pretty well defined - the Chinese handwriter will know how to enter characters (top-to-bottom, left-to right). I think the handwriting recognition works better because of this.

 

I even get it right sometimes.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Randy W (see edit history)

[griz326]

Good to know, Randy.

 

When using Wenlin's character recognition my gal had a hell of a time.

[A Mafan]

My father-in-law also doesn't know pinyin. But he uses a stroke order/count entry system. Get into your computer's language bar settings, and try all the China keyboard settings, one by one. One of 'em has to work...

[izus]

here is something for the non pinyin folks

 

[Randy W]

here is something for the non pinyin folks

 

 

 

Blackberry's do this also, but no touch screen, so I'm not sure how you input the Chinese characters. If I want to input a Chinese character, I'll find it somewhere, and just cut and paste.

 

Fingers make fairly poor styli - you have to learn where your callouses are - I'm surprised that the iPhone does this.

 

I would think this is fairly common, since a lot of the (different brands) phones are sold in China also.

Edited August 29, 2008 by Randy W (see edit history)

[izus]

check out new hp touch smart....

 

looks like basic Hiragana input

 

she does well with fingernails

Edited September 3, 2008 by izus (see edit history)

[Randy W]

check out new hp touch smart....

 

looks like basic Hiragana input

 

she does well with fingernails

 

 

Looks pretty bad to me - we have 4 different ways to input Chinese characters to different devices - they all have styluses. Finger no good.

 

The only one Jiaying doesn't like is Microsoft's Japanese IME - the writing area is too small. But she gets about 85-90% recognition on the others.

[Guest jin979]

check out new hp touch smart....

 

looks like basic Hiragana input

 

she does well with fingernails

 

 

Looks pretty bad to me - we have 4 different ways to input Chinese characters to different devices - they all have styluses. Finger no good.

 

The only one Jiaying doesn't like is Microsoft's Japanese IME - the writing area is too small. But she gets about 85-90% recognition on the others.

 

 

just download microsoft chinese version.