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Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or more "characters" correspond roughly to one "word" or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard.
[edit] OverviewSome Chinese input methods were proposed for typewriters before 1950s - Lin Yutang spent much money on it.[1] Few were used before the computer age, but now a variety of keyboard input method editors (IME) have been designed to allow the input of Chinese characters using standard keyboards. Keyboard input methods can be classified into three main types:
The following are some samples of Chinese input methods. Many of these input methods have variations. Full Pinyin and Double Pinyin are variations of the pinyin input method. In addition, the methods which require the user to select a character from a menu generally have sophisticated methods for guessing which characters the user intends based on context. Each standard has its strengths and weaknesses and usage varies between people. For example, for someone who is already familiar with pinyin, the pinyin method can be learned instantly. However, the maximum typing rate is limited, and learning the system can be difficult for those not familiar with pinyin. Wubi takes much effort to learn, but expert typists can enter text much faster with it than with the phonetic methods. Because of these factors, there is very little likelihood of a "standard" method evolving.  Other means of entering Chinese characters include handwriting recognition, OCR and voice recognition. The first and last of these usually must be “trained” before use; that is, the user must first use the system in a special “learning mode” so that the system can get accustomed to the user’s handwriting or speech pattern, and failure to do so will increase the recognition error rate. These, especially the latter two, are less frequently used than keyboard-based input methods and suffer from relatively high error rates, especially when used without proper “training”, though the error rates are an acceptable trade-off to many users. Particular mention should be given to handwriting recognition systems: although mostly associated with stylus and tablet-based systems, handwriting recognition systems for Chinese are generally far more reliable.[citation needed] Finally, some systems allow Chinese characters to be entered by typing their equivalent English words. [edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Character structure
[edit] Combination of pronunciation and character structure
[edit] Methods of entering pinyin accent marks on a PCThe Windows PC is notably absent of a native methods of entering Chinese tone markers that is not cumbersome to use. This has led to a number of kludgy methods of entering these tone marked vowels into a Windows PC. [edit] Microsoft Pinyin IMERight click on the MSPY icon of the Microsoft Pinyin IME language bar, then select "Additional icons in taskbar" on the popup menu that appears. This will cause a "Context menu" icon to appear on the language bar. Click on the "Context menu" icon, then on the popup menu that appears, select "Soft keyboard", and then select "Pinyin letter". A soft keyboard will appear with all the symbols with tonal marks for user selection. After use, the soft keyboard could be closed by clicking on the "Context menu" icon and then select "Soft keyboard" and "Close soft keyboard". [edit] Apple MacUnlike windows, the Mac Natively supports entering of tone markers with special option key sequences. Support for entering pinyin access marks is activated by enabling the U.S. Extended keyboard. Then, you select one of 4 intotation mark key combinations followed by the vowel that gets the mark. The intonation selection keys on the MAC are as follow:
As an Example to type “wŏ”, you would first type w followed by option-b followed by o. [8] [edit] pinyinput IMEPinyinput is an IME extension for Microsoft windows that allows entering of Pinyin tone marked vowels using an pininput IME.[9] [edit] Alt-Numpad MethodWindows does not support an International keyboard with all the necessary Chinese vowel tone marks combination. However, some of these vowel tone marker combination are accessible by entering an Alt-Numpad code. The following is a list of alt+numpad codes, with Num Lock on, hold down the Alt key and type a 3 or 4-number code using the keypad:[10]
However, unfortunately, Alt-Numpad does not support all tone markers. Its is possible to enable access to unicode with Alt-Numpad by enabling Hexadecimal Alt Codes in the registery ([HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method] "EnableHexNumpad"="1" ). [edit] Firefox pinyin addonOther Method of Entering Tone Mark require additional software. For Instance, The firefox addon Pinyin Input Firefox Extension with convert onscreen numerical pinyin to pinyin with tone marks. For example, to type “xue2xi2 Zhong1wen2″ in the comment box. Then, you would click on a button in the lower right corner of the Firefox browser window that would converted the text to “xuéxí Zhōngwén.”[11] [edit] Web Application MethodIt is possible to convert pinyin entered numeric-based tones into pinyin with tone markers using the pinyin tone convert on the web.[12] One the converter is run, you can cut and paste the output into your wordprocessor or where ever it is needed. [edit] Microsoft Office Macro MethodIt is possible to convert pinyin entered numeric-based tones into pinyin using VBA script macros.[13] [edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
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