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Chinese input methods for computers

June 14, 2023

Chinese input methods are methods that allow a computer user to input Chinese characters. Most, if not all, Chinese input methods fall into one of two categories: phonetic readings or root shapes. Methods under the phonetic category usually are easier to learn but are less efficient, thus resulting in slower typing speeds because they typically require users to choose from a list of phonetically similar characters for input, whereas methods under the root shape category allow very precise and speedy input but have a steep learning curve because they often require a thorough understanding of a character's strokes and composition.

Other methods allow users to write characters directly onto touchscreens, such as those found on mobile phones and tablet computers.

History

 
An early experimental Chinese radical keyboard using 496 keys for input was developed by researchers of National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, but was never widely used.[1]

Chinese input methods predate the computer. One of the early attempts was an electro-mechanical Chinese typewriter Ming kwai (Chinese: 明快; pinyin: míngkuài; Wade–Giles: ming-k'uai) which was invented by Lin Yutang, a prominent Chinese writer, in the 1940s. It assigned thirty base shapes or strokes to different keys and adopted a new way of categorizing Chinese characters. But the typewriter was not produced commercially and Lin soon found himself deeply in debt.[2]

Before the 1980s, Chinese publishers hired teams of workers and selected a few thousand type pieces from an enormous Chinese character set. Chinese government agencies entered characters using a long, complicated list of Chinese telegraph codes, which assigned different numbers to each character. During the early computer era, Chinese characters were categorized by their radicals or Pinyin romanization, but results were less than satisfactory.

In the 1970s to 1980s, large keyboards with thousands of keys were used to input Chinese. Each key was mapped to several Chinese characters. To type a character, one pressed the character key and then a selection key.[3][4] There were also experimental "radical keyboards" with dozens to several hundreds keys. Chinese characters were decomposed into "radicals", each of which was represented by a key.[1][5][6] Unwieldy and difficult to use, these keyboards became obsolete after the introduction of Cangjie input method, the first method to use only the standard keyboard and make Chinese touch typing possible.[6]

 
A typical keyboard layout for the Cangjie method, which is based on the United States keyboard layout

Chu Bong-Foo invented a common input method in 1976 with his Cangjie input method, which assigns different "roots" to each key on a standard computer keyboard. With this method, for example, the character 日 is assigned to the A key, and 月 is assigned to B. Typing them together will result in the character 明 ("bright").

 
An electronic dictionary with Cangjie keyboard

Despite its steeper learning curve, this method remains popular in Chinese communities that use traditional Chinese characters, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan; the method allows very precise input, thus allowing users to type more efficiently and quickly, provided they are familiar with the fairly complicated rules of the method. It was the first method that allowed users to enter more than a hundred Chinese characters per minute. Its popularity is also helped by its omnipresence on traditional Chinese computer systems, since Chu has given up its patent in 1982, stating that it should be part of the cultural asset. Developers of Chinese systems can adopt it freely, and users do not have the hassle of it being absent on devices with Chinese support.[7][8] Cangjie input programs supporting large CJK character set have been developed.[9][10][11]

All methods have their strengths and weaknesses. The pinyin method can be learned rapidly but its maximum input rate is limited. The Wubi takes longer to learn, but expert typists can enter text much more rapidly with it than with phonetic methods. However, Wubi is proprietary, and a version of it has become freely available only after its inventor lost a patent lawsuit in 1997.[12]

Due to these complexities, there is no "standard" method.

In mainland China, the wubi (shape-based) and pinyin methods such as Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin are the most popular; in Taiwan, Cangjie, Dayi, Boshiamy, and zhuyin predominate; and in Hong Kong and Macau, the Cangjie is most often taught in schools, while a few schools teach CKC Chinese Input System.[13]

Other methods include handwriting recognition, OCR and voice recognition. The computer itself must first be "trained" before the first or second of these methods are used; that is, the new user enters the system in a special "learning mode" so that the system can learn to identify their handwriting or speech patterns. The latter two methods are used less frequently than keyboard-based input methods and suffer from relatively high error rates, especially when used without proper "training", though higher error rates are an acceptable trade-off to many users. In recent years, online IME have become more scarce, owing to the proliferation of cellphones and apps.[14]

Categories

Phonetic-based

See also: Pinyin input method, Bopomofo, and Jyutping
 
Interface of a Pinyin input method, showing the need to choose an appropriate word out of a list of options. The word typed is "Wikipedia" in Mandarin Chinese, but the options shown include (from top to bottom) Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia, Wiki, Crisis, and Rules Violation.

The user enters pronunciations that are converted into relevant Chinese characters. The user must select the desired character from homophones, which are common in Chinese. Modern systems, such as Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin, predict the desired characters based on context and user preferences. For example, if one enters the sounds jicheng, the software will type 繼承 (to inherit), but if jichengche is entered, 計程車 (taxi) will appear.

Various Chinese dialects complicate the system. Phonetic methods are mainly based on standard pinyin, Zhuyin/Bopomofo, and Jyutping in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, respectively. Input methods based on other varieties of Chinese, like Hakka or Minnan, also exist.

While the phonetic system is easy to learn, choosing appropriate Chinese characters slows typing speed. Most users report a typing speed of fifty characters per minute, though some reach over one hundred per minute.[15] With some phonetic IMEs (Input Method Editors), in addition to predictive input based on previous conversions, it is possible for users to create custom dictionary entries for frequently used characters and phrases, potentially lowering the number of characters required to evoke it.

Shuangpin

 
The Microsoft pinyin 2003 shuangpin scheme.

Shuangpin (雙拼; 双拼), literally dual spell, is a stenographical phonetic input method based on hanyu pinyin that reduces the number of keystrokes for one Chinese character to two by distributing every vowel and consonant composed of more than one letter to a specific key. In most Shuangpin layout schemes such as Xiaohe, Microsoft 2003 and Ziranma, the most frequently used vowels are placed on the middle layer, reducing the risk of repetitive strain injury.

Shuangpin is supported by a large number of pinyin input software including QQ, Microsoft Bing Pinyin, Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin.

Shape-based

Typing Chinese with Cangjie

Hybrid

  • Tze-loi method (子來; 子来)
  • Renzhi code method [zh] (認知碼; 认知码)
  • Cong Ming Da Zi (聪明打字,[19] Released 2011)

Others

Examples of keyboard layouts

  •  

    A typical keyboard layout for zhuyin on computers, which can be used as an input method

  •  

    The Wubi keyboard which is an input method

  •  

    A typical keyboard layout for Cangjie method, which is based on United States keyboard layout. Note the non-standard use of Z as the collision key.

  •  

    A typical keyboard layout for Dayi method

  •  

    Chinese (traditional) keyboard layout, a US keyboard with Zhuyin, Cangjie and Dayi key labels, which can all be used to input Chinese characters into a computer

Software

Notes

  1. ^ a b "1973年交大研製第一個中文鍵盤". The memory of Hsinchu city (in Chinese). Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  2. ^ 中文與計算機 Archived 2003-05-13 at archive.today
  3. ^ "汉字整字键盘盘面字排列". Standardization Administration of China. 1987. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  4. ^ "Mitac 神通資訊科技 - 神通資科的前身「神通電腦」於1979年出品的第二代中文終端機 (CCRT 280)，中間一共有320個中文字鍵，每個字鍵有16個字，每一個字鍵再對應16個位置鍵，總共可以組合出5000個中文字，實在是非常酷呢！". Facebook. 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  5. ^ 謝清俊, 黃永文, 林樹 (1973). "中文字根之分析". Science Bulletin National Chiao-Tung University. 6 (1).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  6. ^ a b 朱邦復 (1995). "三、電腦 倉頡、天龍、零壹、漢卡". 智慧之旅. 第3部, 炎夏(一九七三-一九九五). 時報出版.
  7. ^ 朱麟華 (2012). "教育科技的專利與普及". 國家教育研究院電子報. No. 33.
  8. ^ 藍麗娟 (1999). "朱邦復的人文科技夢". 天下雜誌. No. 219. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  9. ^ "中州韻輸入法引擎". Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  10. ^ "倉頡之友". Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  11. ^ 田奕 (2012-03-02). "錢鍾書先生與「中國古典數字工程」". Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  12. ^ "王永民王码五笔字型专利纠纷案". 中国知识产权律师网. 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  13. ^ "倉頡以外的另一個選擇 ─"縱橫輸入法"". 教師雜誌. No. 7. 2004. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  14. ^ Type in Chinese Online (IME)
  15. ^ users' Report on Pinyin Method, Sougou BBS
  16. ^ Lee (FourDollars), Shih-Yuan (2013-10-07), DNA Chinese Input Method, retrieved 2022-10-15
  17. ^ TigerCode home website, retrieved 2023-03-04
  18. ^ Zhang, Xiao-heng (2003). "正易全:一个动态结构笔组汉字编码输入法 (Towards Correctness , Easiness and Completeness : Building a Chinese Character Coding Input Method Based on Dynamic Structured Stroke Groups)". Journal of Chinese Information Processing. 17 (2003) (3): 60–66.
  19. ^ Chinese CleverTexting : 聪明打字, Luna Ergonomics, 2012-05-30, retrieved 2022-10-15

See also

External links

Information and articles

  • What Does a Chinese Keyboard Look Like?, article by Slate.com
  • , by Sebastien Bruggeman.
  • 中文輸入法世界 Chinese input method news.
  • The engineering daring that led to the first Chinese personal computer. With 1,000s of Chinese characters and limited memory, inventors of the Sinotype III had to push the limits of early machines. by Tom Mullaney, June 29, 2021, techcrunch.com
  • How intensive modding ushered in China’s computer revolution: Early Chinese engineers needed to constantly push against the boundaries of 'alphabetic order,'by Tom Mullaney, October 24, 2021, techcrunch.com
  • The computer pioneer who built modern China, By Leila McNeill, 19th February 2020, bbc website.

Tutorials

  • , a Microsoft article about Windows XP's Input Method Editor.
  • , tutorial on how to use Microsoft Global IME for pre-Windows 2000 systems.
  • Setting Up Your Computer to Type Chinese, website cheng-tsui.com

Tools

  • Microsoft Voice Recognition
  • Typing Chinese Online with Optional Tone Input
  • Online Cantonese Input
  • Type in Chinese online (IME) Online IME using the pinyin system.
  • InputKing Online Input System, an online IME with multiple input methods, supporting both simplified and traditional characters.
  • NJStar Software Corp. (南极星 Nanjixing): Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language software solutions for use with Microsoft Windows operating systems. Solutions include keyboard & hand-written input tools, English translation tools, desktop publishing, and educational tools.
  • CJKV Input Method Editors for MS Word VBA macros for input Asian characters and for text conversion.
  • HanziLookupJS Free, open-source Chinese handwriting recognition in Javascript.

June 14, 2023
chinese, input, methods, computers, factual, accuracy, parts, this, article, those, related, handwriting, voice, recognition, compromised, date, information, reason, given, tech, advances, have, vastly, improved, these, input, methods, please, help, update, th. The factual accuracy of parts of this article those related to handwriting OCR and voice recognition may be compromised due to out of date information The reason given is Tech advances have vastly improved these input methods Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information June 2021 Chinese input methods are methods that allow a computer user to input Chinese characters Most if not all Chinese input methods fall into one of two categories phonetic readings or root shapes Methods under the phonetic category usually are easier to learn but are less efficient thus resulting in slower typing speeds because they typically require users to choose from a list of phonetically similar characters for input whereas methods under the root shape category allow very precise and speedy input but have a steep learning curve because they often require a thorough understanding of a character s strokes and composition Other methods allow users to write characters directly onto touchscreens such as those found on mobile phones and tablet computers Contents 1 History 2 Categories 2 1 Phonetic based 2 1 1 Shuangpin 2 2 Shape based 2 3 Hybrid 2 4 Others 2 5 Examples of keyboard layouts 3 Software 4 Notes 5 See also 6 External links 6 1 Information and articles 6 2 Tutorials 6 3 ToolsHistory Edit An early experimental Chinese radical keyboard using 496 keys for input was developed by researchers of National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan but was never widely used 1 Chinese input methods predate the computer One of the early attempts was an electro mechanical Chinese typewriter Ming kwai Chinese 明快 pinyin mingkuai Wade Giles ming k uai which was invented by Lin Yutang a prominent Chinese writer in the 1940s It assigned thirty base shapes or strokes to different keys and adopted a new way of categorizing Chinese characters But the typewriter was not produced commercially and Lin soon found himself deeply in debt 2 Before the 1980s Chinese publishers hired teams of workers and selected a few thousand type pieces from an enormous Chinese character set Chinese government agencies entered characters using a long complicated list of Chinese telegraph codes which assigned different numbers to each character During the early computer era Chinese characters were categorized by their radicals or Pinyin romanization but results were less than satisfactory In the 1970s to 1980s large keyboards with thousands of keys were used to input Chinese Each key was mapped to several Chinese characters To type a character one pressed the character key and then a selection key 3 4 There were also experimental radical keyboards with dozens to several hundreds keys Chinese characters were decomposed into radicals each of which was represented by a key 1 5 6 Unwieldy and difficult to use these keyboards became obsolete after the introduction of Cangjie input method the first method to use only the standard keyboard and make Chinese touch typing possible 6 A typical keyboard layout for the Cangjie method which is based on the United States keyboard layout Chu Bong Foo invented a common input method in 1976 with his Cangjie input method which assigns different roots to each key on a standard computer keyboard With this method for example the character 日 is assigned to the A key and 月 is assigned to B Typing them together will result in the character 明 bright An electronic dictionary with Cangjie keyboard Despite its steeper learning curve this method remains popular in Chinese communities that use traditional Chinese characters such as Hong Kong and Taiwan the method allows very precise input thus allowing users to type more efficiently and quickly provided they are familiar with the fairly complicated rules of the method It was the first method that allowed users to enter more than a hundred Chinese characters per minute Its popularity is also helped by its omnipresence on traditional Chinese computer systems since Chu has given up its patent in 1982 stating that it should be part of the cultural asset Developers of Chinese systems can adopt it freely and users do not have the hassle of it being absent on devices with Chinese support 7 8 Cangjie input programs supporting large CJK character set have been developed 9 10 11 All methods have their strengths and weaknesses The pinyin method can be learned rapidly but its maximum input rate is limited The Wubi takes longer to learn but expert typists can enter text much more rapidly with it than with phonetic methods However Wubi is proprietary and a version of it has become freely available only after its inventor lost a patent lawsuit in 1997 12 Due to these complexities there is no standard method In mainland China the wubi shape based and pinyin methods such as Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin are the most popular in Taiwan Cangjie Dayi Boshiamy and zhuyin predominate and in Hong Kong and Macau the Cangjie is most often taught in schools while a few schools teach CKC Chinese Input System 13 Other methods include handwriting recognition OCR and voice recognition The computer itself must first be trained before the first or second of these methods are used that is the new user enters the system in a special learning mode so that the system can learn to identify their handwriting or speech patterns The latter two methods are used less frequently than keyboard based input methods and suffer from relatively high error rates especially when used without proper training though higher error rates are an acceptable trade off to many users In recent years online IME have become more scarce owing to the proliferation of cellphones and apps 14 Categories EditPhonetic based Edit See also Pinyin input method Bopomofo and Jyutping Interface of a Pinyin input method showing the need to choose an appropriate word out of a list of options The word typed is Wikipedia in Mandarin Chinese but the options shown include from top to bottom Wikipedia Uncyclopedia Wiki Crisis and Rules Violation The user enters pronunciations that are converted into relevant Chinese characters The user must select the desired character from homophones which are common in Chinese Modern systems such as Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin predict the desired characters based on context and user preferences For example if one enters the sounds jicheng the software will type 繼承 to inherit but if jichengche is entered 計程車 taxi will appear Various Chinese dialects complicate the system Phonetic methods are mainly based on standard pinyin Zhuyin Bopomofo and Jyutping in China Taiwan and Hong Kong respectively Input methods based on other varieties of Chinese like Hakka or Minnan also exist While the phonetic system is easy to learn choosing appropriate Chinese characters slows typing speed Most users report a typing speed of fifty characters per minute though some reach over one hundred per minute 15 With some phonetic IMEs Input Method Editors in addition to predictive input based on previous conversions it is possible for users to create custom dictionary entries for frequently used characters and phrases potentially lowering the number of characters required to evoke it Shuangpin Edit The Microsoft pinyin 2003 shuangpin scheme Shuangpin 雙拼 双拼 literally dual spell is a stenographical phonetic input method based on hanyu pinyin that reduces the number of keystrokes for one Chinese character to two by distributing every vowel and consonant composed of more than one letter to a specific key In most Shuangpin layout schemes such as Xiaohe Microsoft 2003 and Ziranma the most frequently used vowels are placed on the middle layer reducing the risk of repetitive strain injury Shuangpin is supported by a large number of pinyin input software including QQ Microsoft Bing Pinyin Sogou Pinyin and Google Pinyin Shape based Edit source source source source source source source source source source source source source source Typing Chinese with Cangjie Cangjie input method 倉頡 仓颉 Tsang chieh Simplified Cangjie 簡易倉頡 known as 速成 or Quick on Windows systems and Sucheng on Mac OS X systems CKC Chinese Input System 縱橫輸入法 Boshiamy method 嘸蝦米 Dayi method 大易 Array input method 行列 Four Corner Method 四角碼 四角码 Oxis Chinese Character Finder 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 Zhengma method 鄭碼 郑码 Biaoxingma method 表形碼 表形码 Shou wei Hao ma method 首尾號碼 Knot DNA method 筆結碼 16 TigerCode method 虎码 17 ZYQ method 正易全 18 Hybrid Edit Tze loi method 子來 子来 Renzhi code method zh 認知碼 认知码 Cong Ming Da Zi 聪明打字 19 Released 2011 Others Edit Chinese telegraph code 中文電碼 Examples of keyboard layouts Edit A typical keyboard layout for zhuyin on computers which can be used as an input method The Wubi keyboard which is an input method A typical keyboard layout for Cangjie method which is based on United States keyboard layout Note the non standard use of Z as the collision key A typical keyboard layout for Dayi method Chinese traditional keyboard layout a US keyboard with Zhuyin Cangjie and Dayi key labels which can all be used to input Chinese characters into a computerSoftware EditMicrosoft IME Sogou Pinyin Google PinyinNotes Edit a b 1973年交大研製第一個中文鍵盤 The memory of Hsinchu city in Chinese Retrieved 2022 08 25 中文與計算機 Archived 2003 05 13 at archive today 汉字整字键盘盘面字排列 Standardization Administration of China 1987 Retrieved 2022 08 26 Mitac 神通資訊科技 神通資科的前身 神通電腦 於1979年出品的第二代中文終端機 CCRT 280 中間一共有320個中文字鍵 每個字鍵有16個字 每一個字鍵再對應16個位置鍵 總共可以組合出5000個中文字 實在是非常酷呢 Facebook 2016 08 26 Retrieved 2022 08 26 謝清俊 黃永文 林樹 1973 中文字根之分析 Science Bulletin National Chiao Tung University 6 1 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link a b 朱邦復 1995 三 電腦 倉頡 天龍 零壹 漢卡 智慧之旅 第3部 炎夏 一九七三 一九九五 時報出版 朱麟華 2012 教育科技的專利與普及 國家教育研究院電子報 No 33 藍麗娟 1999 朱邦復的人文科技夢 天下雜誌 No 219 Retrieved 2022 08 26 中州韻輸入法引擎 Retrieved 2022 08 26 倉頡之友 Retrieved 2022 08 26 田奕 2012 03 02 錢鍾書先生與 中國古典數字工程 Retrieved 2022 08 26 王永民王码五笔字型专利纠纷案 中国知识产权律师网 2009 05 17 Retrieved 2022 08 26 倉頡以外的另一個選擇 縱橫輸入法 教師雜誌 No 7 2004 Retrieved 2022 08 26 Type in Chinese Online IME users Report on Pinyin Method Sougou BBS Lee FourDollars Shih Yuan 2013 10 07 DNA Chinese Input Method retrieved 2022 10 15 TigerCode home website retrieved 2023 03 04 Zhang Xiao heng 2003 正易全 一个动态结构笔组汉字编码输入法 Towards Correctness Easiness and Completeness Building a Chinese Character Coding Input Method Based on Dynamic Structured Stroke Groups Journal of Chinese Information Processing 17 2003 3 60 66 Chinese CleverTexting 聪明打字 Luna Ergonomics 2012 05 30 retrieved 2022 10 15See also EditList of input methods for Unix platforms List of CJK fonts Japanese language and computers Japanese input methods Korean language and computers Vietnamese language and computers Han unification Character amnesia Chinese character encodings Big5 Guobiao code GB Neima 內碼 Unicode Telegraph code 電報碼 External links EditInformation and articles Edit What Does a Chinese Keyboard Look Like article by Slate com Overview of Input Methods by Sebastien Bruggeman 中文輸入法世界 Chinese input method news The engineering daring that led to the first Chinese personal computer With 1 000s of Chinese characters and limited memory inventors of the Sinotype III had to push the limits of early machines by Tom Mullaney June 29 2021 techcrunch com How intensive modding ushered in China s computer revolution Early Chinese engineers needed to constantly push against the boundaries of alphabetic order by Tom Mullaney October 24 2021 techcrunch com The computer pioneer who built modern China By Leila McNeill 19th February 2020 bbc website Tutorials Edit What is an Input Method Editor and how do I use it a Microsoft article about Windows XP s Input Method Editor IME Tutorial tutorial on how to use Microsoft Global IME for pre Windows 2000 systems Setting Up Your Computer to Type Chinese website cheng tsui comTools Edit Microsoft Voice Recognition Typing Chinese Online with Optional Tone Input Online Cantonese Input Type in Chinese online IME Online IME using the pinyin system InputKing Online Input System an online IME with multiple input methods supporting both simplified and traditional characters G6 Chinese Input Method preinstalled on some Android phones e g by HTC NJStar Software Corp 南极星 Nanjixing Chinese Japanese and Korean language software solutions for use with Microsoft Windows operating systems Solutions include keyboard amp hand written input tools English translation tools desktop publishing and educational tools CJKV Input Method Editors for MS Word VBA macros for input Asian characters and for text conversion HanziLookupJS Free open source Chinese handwriting recognition in Javascript Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chinese input methods for computers amp oldid 1154421498, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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