Chinese Typing, Chinese Input, Chinese Reading, Chinese Editor, Chinese Learning, Language Tool www.hanwj.com
I. Chinese Input Examples
First, make sure you select HanWJ Chinese Input on Windows language bar.
Character is the smallest unit of Chinese language. Now let's input a character using pinyin.
Type "zhong". Then you see the following:
HanWJ displays your typing on the first prompt line. On the second prompt line, all possible Chinese characters (candidates) matching that pinyin pattern are shown.
The first choice can be entered by pressing spacebar or number key '1'; the second choice can be entered by pressing '2';and so on.
If what you are looking for isn't shown, type "<" or ">" keys (no shift) to scroll the prompt content left or right to see more choices.
Word is the second smallest unit of Chinese language. It consists of two or more characters(usually 2-4). Now let's input a word using pinyin.
Type "zhongguo". Then you see the following:
Again, your typing are shown on the first prompt line. On the second line, possible words and characters matching (in some degree) your pinyin inputs are shown.
Type spacebar, then you got word "中国" entered.
Here is briefly what happens when you type in the pinyin. Inside the software, there is a database containing collected or pre-installed words. It is called WordBase. When you type in pinyin, HanWJ takes your input;If the input is pinyin for character, HanWJ will list all characters for that pinyin; otherwise, HanWJ will try to find close-matches in WordBase,and shows them onto the prompt line. The word you are looking for may not be in found in WordBase; if that's the case, you need to select a character or sub-word first, which is listed on the prompt line.
Let's try an example.
Type in "xuehanyu"(学汉语):
On prompt line, there is no "学汉语" listed. But character "学" is there. Select it:
Now that "学" is there. HanWJ takes the rest of the input sequence, and found match for it! Just type spacebar then we're done!
One More example. Type in "jiaoshoulou"(教授楼):
HanWJ didn't find the whole word, but found "教授". Enter it using Space bar:
Again, after you input, HanWJ takes the rest of the pinyin sequence, and lists character choices for it!
Using number key, enter "楼", then we're done!
All words constructed and entered will be put into WordBase automatically.
★HanWJ Chinese Input allows you to simplify pinyin input in a few important ways (HanWJ Pinyin Simplifications).
For example, instead of typing "liang", you can use "liag"; instead of "hang" you can enter hag. Basically you substitute "ng" with "g".
e.g.,
“中国” input as "zhogguo"
“红楼梦” input as "hogloumeg"
“富丽堂皇” input as "fulitaghuag"
Other simplification rules are: "iao" can be input as "io"; "uang" be input as "ug". For example, you can input "tiao" as "tio" and "zhuang" as "zhug".
You can also input a word using each character's first pinyin letter.
For example,
“中国” input as "zg" (zhongguo-->zg:first letter of each character's pinyin) or "zguo"
(still 1st letter of pinyin,but the last character's pinyin is spelled fully. This is useful when choices are too many)
“红楼梦” input as "hlm"(hongloumeng-->hlm)or "hlmeg"(last character spelled fully)
“富丽堂皇” as "flth"
★Advanced methods.
When inputing character, we often get too many choices. One way to eliminate those extras is to use Tone.
Chinese character has five possible tones (Please skip this part if you can not differentiate them. This is not absolutely necessary when inputing Chinese). HanWJ uses the leftmost column of keys(four keys) and the right-shift key to denote them. i.e., tone 1-5 are represented by " ` " key,Tab key,CapsLock key,Left-Shift key, Right-Shift key, respectively. You can find out these key-tone assignments using Alt+K.
Now let's try examples.
“诗”inputs as "shi". Not in first page of prompt. Instead of scrolling down using ">" key, type in tone-1, i.e., the " ` " key.
“己”input as "ji". Not in first page of prompt. Instead of use "<" to scroll the prompt pages, type in tone-3 key, i.e., CapsLock key. Now “己” is on first page of promt:
Not only choices for character can be narrowed down using tone keys, choices for word can too.
e.g.,“诗集”inputs as "shiji"; type in tone-2, i.e., Tab key. Now “诗集”becomes on the first prompt page.
That is, for word, you can use last character's tone key to narrow down choices.
Here are a few tips for inputing Chinese under HanWJ.
(1) When constructing word (before final commit), after just inputing a character or word, you can change your selection by Alt+I. E.g., if after inputing the 1st choice you'd like to change to the 2rd choice, just hold Alt key down and press letter "I".
(2) To speed up input, each key has been assigned a commonly used character. You can input these character by just type that key and then spacebar.
(3) You can edit your typed pinyin letters, move insert point (the little red caret above your pinyin sequence) around by using arrow keys.
(4) Chinese punctuation characters are usually twice as wide as puctuation characters in western languages. In the control toolbar, there is a pushdown button to control whether inputing punctuations full-size or half-size.
HanWJ has Word-Forecast feature. In Chinese language, in many situation, by looking at the input already done,
the following elements can be forecasted. HanWJ utilizes this feature to further boost the input speed.
When HanWJ prompts the forecasted items,you can either ignore it or
type F9 (or Ctrl+;) to input it.
Another example:
Input“天可崩”，HanWJ Chinese Input Engine will pop up“地可裂”:
You can tap F9 or Ctrl+; to input“地可裂”.
If you need a comma before“地可裂”, you may enter it before tapping F9 or Ctrl+;.
Using artificial intelligence techniques, HanWJ tries tolerate some typo and still find the word you are trying to input.
For word, HanWJ will automatically adjust the order they show up on candidate list depending on frequency of usage. For character, you can select list order options on the Input Options dialog.