How do Chinese themselves enter characters into computer?

Question

Looks like Microsoft input method is either imperfect or I don't know exactly, how to use it.

Many characters are just not appear in the hint panel, for example

to enter 苹 or

to enter 汁.

Is there any way yo be able to enter ANY character?

Answer 1

Chinese Input Methods Introduction:

Pinyin methods.

• Bing

Out-of-box on windows in Chinese language. Very elegant. Pure typing.

• Sougou

Most users. Most powerful word source. Most ADs. It provides anything you want and don't want.

• QQ

Powerful than Bing, less useless functions than Sogou. I use QQ 精简 edition on windows.

• Google

Only if you are a geek.

双拼(Double Type) Pinyin methods

Almost all these pinyin methods support this function to turn on in settings. I'd tried to learn it, but I found I can spend my time on TVs, so I still use pinyin.

五笔 methods

Sougou support this, just like I said, it provide anything. Another choice is 极点五笔.

五笔 is very hard to learn, I had used this method for several years but switched to Pinyin methods many years ago. It is based on the form of character other than pronunciation, but it doesn't fit the nature of character-writing.

Common usages of Chinese input method:

Choosing word: Space

prev page: - or ,(comma)

next page: + or .(period)

some methods also support number keys.

switch to English: shift key.

Insert English: just type english ,then press Enter

Special content: press key v ( some methods allow you to input emojis, radicals, even running custom scripts. i.e. google method)

Answer 2

If you enter, for example yao something like 189 results will show up. To scroll through them I use the Tab key. I think some systems use F12.

I use iBus intelligent Pinyin input method.

You can also scroll using the arrow keys.

I think yin throws up about 300 candidates. It would be impractical to show them all!

The more you use the program, the more the characters you use a lot show up first. Intelligent pinyin!

Answer 3

You can use Page up or Page down to get more show up, arrow doesn't work.

Answer 4

Because the input method will show suitable character automatically when you used for many times. By the way ,my English is not very well.

Answer 5

The Chinese character input methods can basically arranged under these categories.

Voice Input

Like Siri, the software can transform the voice into characters.

Handwriting Input

Draw a character and any possible options will be listed and then you can pick one.

Spell Input

This category includes Pinyin, the one in your question, and phonetic symbols used in Taiwan.

Stroke Input

A character is composed of several basic strokes, like －丨丿丶𠃌乛. The sequence "－丨丿丶" can form 木. Taking a forward step, a character can be resolved into smaller basic parts like 木. 木木木 can form 森. This is how Wubi(五笔) input method does. By the way Wubi is the most efficient and powerful if you master it.

If we have many possible characters for one input, we can walk through the list to find the wanted. Pressing - and = can go forward or backward. Of course you could define your own hotkeys. Besides, you could use the acronyms to input more characters for one input. jttqbc brings the possible sentence 今天天气不错. So you don't have to input jintiantianqibucuo. If the acronym is ambiguous, a ' is used to make it clear. wan brings 完 晚 and so on. w'a'n brings 我爱你.

Answer 6

If you want to choose 苹 just press "8" on the keyboard.If the character you need didn't show, press "+" on the keyboard to load next ten characters.

Answer 7

Most of the time, with Pinyin, you have to input two syllables to ensure you get the character you want or rely on your IME to remember characters you use often. For instance zhuozi for 桌.

Consider Cangjie as a better alternative.

Cangjie 倉頡/仓颉 input method can input around 70,000 characters including traditional, simplified, ancient variants, japanese variants, and even chu nom characters, etc.

It's very accurate. (The most accurate in my opinion. See further examples towards the end.)

For instance:

苹 tmfj 　

No other character corresponds to tmfj.

I just saw that character and typed it. No memorization required.

Contrary to what another user said, there really isn't any memorization required.

You learn the 字母　basic characters, 輔助字形　auxiliary shapes, and a set of basic rules for how to decompose characters. There are a few weird ones you might have to memorize at first. But once you understand their decomposition, memorization is no longer required. All that is required is that you remember the character's shape. And Cangjie's decomposition method is an excellent tool for helping you do this. I found myself able to remember how to write many more characters after learning Cangjie.

Cangjie really shines when it comes to typing names with rare characters.

You don't need to search through lists, as with phonetic inputs.

Many cangjie inputs have a pinyin tool so you can lookup how to write a word you can't remember how to write using `pinyin for 拼音. And many also have a tool for looking up the pronunciation and tone of a character you've just typed if it's new to you. (such as CTRL+ALT+E)

It really is an ideal method and tool for students.

I've studied many shape based input methods. Here are some examples of Cangjie's superior accuracy.

1. 
行列輸入法　(Array input method)

人入八　(all represented by k)

Cangjie codes:
人o  入　oh 八 ho　

2. 嘸蝦米輸入法　(Boshiamy input method)
輸输蝓　　(all represented by caur)

Cangjie codes:
輸 jjomn 输 kqomn 蝓　liomn 

五笔字形　wubizixing has similar accuracy problems but I can't remember examples off hand.

I should mention that there are some cases where one Cangjie code might yield 7 candidates, but usually 6 of them are obsolete ancient variants.　

For simplified, you may rarely run into this problem. 飛 nohto 飞　no3 (I had to select the 3rd candidate). But you can set your cangjie to not change order so you always know no3 gives 飞.

Again, generally no memorization is required once you learn the basic shapes and rules. Your fingers are just typing out what you see on paper or in your head.

Also, once you've used it a while, muscle memory kicks in. I don't think of how to type 是．I just think of the character in my head and my fingers automatically type it out. Honestly, I only have to think about a character's shape decomposition now if it's one I have never seen or haven't used in a while and can't remember how to write. But that doesn't often happen because Cangjie helps me remember.

I learned Cangjie in about a month.

cangjieinput.com (gives you version 3)

cutt.ly/oiar (http://chinesecj.com/ime/cj5.php) (gives you version 5)

Version 5 is the best version right now.

Another interesting thing is that learning Cangjie allows you to use abbreviated cangjie (known as Sucheng 速成　or JianYi 簡易）　

For instance, to type 題 aombc you are abbreviated 是 amyo into it's first and last components on the left side.

So after you've used Cangjie a while, if you're feeling a little lazy, you can use simpleinput.com to type phrases with less key strokes.

for instance:

輸入法 jnohei 
我們的　hionhi
我是　　hiao

You can even add these to your own cangjie table for when you're feeling a little lazy.

I'm telling you, you won't regret studying Cangjie.

Anyway, hope that helps.