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Typing in Chinese
- Thread starter goodtimes5
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I'm not at my Mac right now so I'm not sure of the exact steps, but go to System Preferences, International, Keyboard tab. You should be able to select the Chinese input method. As for knowing which key sequences correspond to which characters, I have no idea.
thats right but its not keyboard tab its the input menu tab. all you have to do it check the language you want then check the box on the bottom that says show input menu in menu bar. you'll have to log off/on before you can't type it. after you log back on ther should be an american flag on youre menu bar. select the language then you should be able to type it.
Or import a chinese keyboard, Apple Ginza might have some maybe and you know they would be mac compatible.
Yes I know Apple Ginza is in Japan but Chinese and Japanese is the same language for those who didn't know.
Yes I know Apple Ginza is in Japan but Chinese and Japanese is the same language for those who didn't know.
CrackedButter said:
Out of curiosity, is this just a troll, or do you actually believe this? If the former, it's not very funny, and if the latter is true, well...
Short answer: no, no, and no. They share some characters but the readings are completely different, and hence the input method is too. Japanese keyboards are full of buttons that would serve no purpose in Chinese, as they're for Japanese. Think a roman keyboard with an annoyingly short spacebar, a few buttons for switching between alphabets/etc, Japanese alphabet counterparts printed on the otherwise normal letter keys, and annoyingly messed up punctuation.
Nothing's stopping you from using the methods mentioned above with a Roman keyboard anyway...
Quobobo said:
Oh why would I troll, is something that isn't recognised immedaitely labelled troll these days?
Japanese is a derivative of chinese, i forgot how much they have separated with visual characters, i was thinking in terms of audio, you can speak one language and get by in both. So my post doesn't make sense, my bad.
CrackedButter said:Oh why would I troll, is something that isn't recognised immedaitely labelled troll these days?
Japanese is a derivative of chinese, i forgot how much they have separated with visual characters, i was thinking in terms of audio, you can speak one language and get by in both. So my post doesn't make sense, my bad.
Isn't recognized immediately? I recognized it as wrong. I live in Japan, am studying Japanese full-time, and on top of that have several Chinese friends, some of who are here studying Japanese.
Japanese is not a derivative of Chinese, although they picked up some readings for the symbols at the same time that they adopted them for use. Keep in mind that they had their own language well before this, and they didn't simply stop using it when they adopted the Chinese readings.
However, the limitations of Japanese pronounciation and the hundreds of years since then, have rendered almost all the Chinese readings entirely different. The meanings are the same, but the usage/grammar (and the Japanese alphabets) render Japanese mostly incomprehensible for Chinese.
The spoken languages are even more different than the written languages. The sounds/pronounciation are completely different. The grammar is completely different. The words are completely different (sure, you might run into one that barely resembles a Chinese word, but like I said, the sounds are completely different). It's about as big a difference as it is from English to Chinese or Japanese, aside from the writing as mentioned above. This is way off-topic, and sorry to the original poster...
goodtimes5 said:
Are you looking for a way to type in Chinese characters or pinyin? If it is pinyin you will have to download a pinyin font. Also depending on which you will need, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese you will be able to select them from Systems Preference, International, Input as mentioned before.
And Quobobo is absolutley correct, Chinese and Japanese are completely different especially when spoken. I speak both..
kasei said:
you really speak chinese? are you chinese?? if you're not, it must have been hard to learn it. koreans learn it 1st-12th gradel and still have a hard time speaking it. but they know meaning of most of it if they read though.
sorry for going off topic.
Quobobo said:
I'm talking about the fact that you see my post as a troll rather than an honest mistake.
CrackedButter said:Oh why would I troll, is something that isn't recognised immedaitely labelled troll these days?
Japanese is a derivative of chinese, i forgot how much they have separated with visual characters, i was thinking in terms of audio, you can speak one language and get by in both. So my post doesn't make sense, my bad.
I didn't see it as trolling, but then, you've been around for a while--Quobobo hasn't been. Besides, it's difficult to know everything.
There are similarities still between the two languages, but most have gone away since World War II and the simplification of Japanese Kanji, the change in Chinese transliteration in the 1980s (Peking->Bejing), and the move toward Simplified Chinese. There are also audio similarities in the very basic sounds of some Kanji to their original Chinese counterparts. While Chinese and Japanese people might be able to communicate (I've done it barely), it would be very rudimentary.
hanq said:
I have been learning Chinese for 1 year now and it is definitely easier to learn than Japanese.