Anyone recognise this conversion tool?

[David W Jackson]

Hello. In this short clip http://www.danwei.org/danwei_tv/sexy_beijing_chinese_peoples_e.php#comments the reporter, Anne Sophie Loewenberg, can be seen writing "weishenme" on her apple laptop where it's immediately converted into hanzi. Anyone know what that tool might be? Thanks. Oh and Happy New Year too.

[geraldc]

That's just standard pinyin entry. It comes with the Mac OS (and Windows for that matter).

[onebir]

That's just standard pinyin entry. It comes with the Mac OS (and Windows for that matter)

It looks different on my windows pc. I get a little grey box with a list of alternative characters/words...

[David W Jackson]

Admittedly, I am technologically challenged in many regards. I can't find this on my system though. If it's not too much hassle, could someone please hold me by the hand and walk me through the steps to be able to use this on my Windows?

Cheers

David

[geraldc]

Follow the instructions given here

http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/Language/asianlanguageinstallation_XP.html

[David W Jackson]

Gerald

Thanks for the link but it doesn't open.

David

[kudra]

it opens for me. You have to just click on the link in the post. Perhaps you cut and pasted which will not work because the text in the post has ... in it because the link is long.

If you must cut and paste try this proxy:

http://tinyurl.com/1npx

Good luck.

[David W Jackson]

Thanks Kudra. I opened it. Unfortunately the options don't correspond to what appears in XP. (There's stuff about double pinyin and fuzzy something). I feel like I'm 10 years old again crying with frustration at not being able to understand simple maths. I - appear - to have installed Pinyin IME; however, nothing happens when I type, I mean no, hanzi appear to be selected. Maybe I need to go back to the bit about installing East Asian Languages. I read somewhere that you need your windows CD to do this. But when I opened the window that option was already checked so I don't know. I followed another thread and downloaded somebody else's suggested input method but I just got a lot of ??????????? question marks, so not much use. Yet I can read hanzi in emails and on websites, they display just fine. Thank God for Multiple Intelligence Theory, otherwise I might just want to jump out of my 12th-storey window...

[kudra]

OK if you have installed pinyin IME then you need to look at the language bar. This is a little icon down on the task bar that lets you switch between typing english and typing pinyin into the IME.

See the post below. But basically if you don't see a little icon that says EN, then you need to figure out how to get it there. Perhaps this means that the IME is not installed correctly.

Try putting your mouse on the task bar at the bottom, and right click. Hopefully one of the choices will be "show language bar" or something like that. If you can get the language bar to appear, it will probably say "EN" for english as I said. If you click on it, you will be able to select Chinese, or Pinyin or whatever, if you get it to show "Chin" (or whatever, I'm typing on a mac now so I don't remember what it says on windows.) then if you start typing in MS Word, or into the text box in your web browser, it should come up with hanzi choices.

Sounds like you are almost there. If you are in Qingdao, isn't there someone there who can help you out?

Here is some more tutorial, don't know if it will help

http://classes.yale.edu/chns130/TypingTutorials/index.html

or if you must cut and paste

http://tinyurl.com/3eydva

Good Luck

What version of Windows are you running? From your post it sounds like it might not be XP.

[David W Jackson]

Kudra, you are a scholar and a gentleman. Thanks for the tutorial link: that did the trick. Well, at least I can input hanzi now but when I click on the question mark on the language bar, no help is forthcoming. Nothing opens. I'm running XP. And I'm in Tianjin not in Qingdao but I don't know how to update that either! Ha! Fiddling with this stuff is so time-consuming. Thanks again for your advice.

[kudra]

when I open the help with the ?-mark on the language bar as directed in the yale ime tutorial, I don't get what they show either -- specifically where they say, "read this and you will be an expert." So I've never become one. Probably you can just play around with it, or there may be other help pages on the internet. I've installed the ime on a couple machines at work, and it always seems a bit different, probably depending on the details of the windows xp installation, so I would't sweat the details here.

And what? you're not going to show us 一点中文 to show off your new capabilities?

(Not to pressure you or anything. That's for calling me a gentleman, )

Updating Qingdao: Under the chinese-forums "Quick Links" menu, select "edit profile".

[David W Jackson]

Due thanks once again Kudra. I updated my profile. Fired up at the prospect of being able to input hanzi, I just tried to use Powerword, you know the Kingsoft dictionary I have on my laptop, but to my dismay the language bar just disappeared entirely, despite the toolbar thing being checked. So more tedium, I'm afraid. You'll have to wait to see my glorious calligraphic efforts write large on screen. Hopefully, not for ever though.

[David W Jackson]

Hey Presto! I found it again. But despite CH showing, the hanzi for zhong showing and having tried all 3 of the possible input methods - it won't input. Neither here, nor in Word. So, suan le ba! Diminishing returns.