CHINESE INPUT METHODS FOR COMPUTERS

Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two "characters" corresponds roughly to one "word" or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. Many early Chinese computers used keyboards with thousands of keys.
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 in three main types:

★ by encoding

★ by pronunciation

★ by structure of the characters.
The following are just some samples of Chinese input methods. Many of those 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, and most Mandarin speakers master pronunciation through Pinyin. 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, as with even the most advanced English language systems, 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, it is in fact one of the built-in input methods in Windows XP systems. Handwriting recognition systems for Chinese are generally far more reliable.
Finally, some systems allow Chinese characters to be entered by typing their equivalent English words.

Contents

Pronunciation

Character structure

Combination of pronunciation and character structure

See also

External links

Pronunciation

★ Pinyin method (拼音)

★ Zhuyin (注音)

★ Cantonese phonetic method (粤拼)

Character structure

★ Cangjie method (倉頡; 仓颉)

★ Simplified Cangjie (簡易倉頡, known as 速成 on Windows systems)

★ CKC Chinese Input System (縱橫輸入法)

★ Boshiamy method (嘸蝦米)

★ Dayi method (大易)

★ Array method (行列)

★ Four corner method (四角碼; 四角码)

★ Q9 method (九方)

★ Shouwei method (首尾字型)

★ Stroke count method (筆畫; 笔画)

★ Stroke method (筆劃; 笔划)

★ Wubi method (五筆字型; 五笔字型)

★ Wubihua method (五筆畫; 五笔画)

★ Zheng code method (鄭碼; 郑码)

★ Shou-wei Hao-ma method (首尾號碼)

Combination of pronunciation and character structure

★ Tze-loi method (子來; 子来)

★ Renzhi code method (認知碼; 认知码)

See also

★ Japanese language and computers

★
★ Japanese input methods

★ Korean language and computers

★ Han unification

★ Chinese character encodings:

★
★ Big5

★
★ Guobiao code (GB)

★
★ Neima (内码)

★
★ Unicode

★
★ Telegraph code (电报码)

External links

;Information

★ What Does a Chinese Keyboard Look Like?, article by Slate.com
;Tutorials

★ What is an Input Method Editor and how do I use it?, a Microsoft article about Windows XP's Input Method Editor.

★ Enabling International Support in Windows XP/Server 2003 Family, a Microsoft tutorial on how to install input methods on Windows XP.

★ IME Tutorial, tutorial on how to use Microsoft Global IME for pre-Windows 2000 systems.
;Tools

★ InputKing Online Chinese Input System

★ CantonWP, Colloquial Cantonese and Mandarin Editor and Learning Tool.