Help! Mac Software to type chinese more convenient ????
gesang
March 29, 2008, 06:04 PM posted in General DiscussionHello!
I am looking for a way to type chinese faster on my Mac Powerbook. There is already a programm installed, but its very complicated.. There are always up to 40 possible characters to choose in the little pop up after typing the pinjin (syllable by syllable)...and they are terrible tiny, too!!!
if i want to write in chinese characters now, i always use an "type chinese online" applet. in this applet the more frequent characters will come up first and it even recognises words with more syllables (type laoshi in one word and get 老师 as first match..think most of you know what i mean...)
So my question is: Does everyone know a programm to install on Mac computers where typing will be as convenient as in those applets? for free :-)?? so i wont have to copy and past every word i want to type...?
Thanks for help, Gesang
azerdocmom
April 14, 2008, 05:58 AMHi, AuntySue. Thanks for trying to help. I am not computer savvy enough to understand what you are suggesting I do. But, I did manage to get QIM installed on my Mac thanks to Calkins (THANKS MUCH!!) He sent me the following link and I somehow got it to work. I hope it might help others. It's a really, really cool app : ) http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/30035
calkins
March 29, 2008, 06:52 PMGesang, I have QIM on my PowerBook and it's much more intuitive than the built-in IME. And it is free - I think you can pay for tech. support, but you don't need it. Go here to download: QIM for Mac
gesang
March 29, 2008, 06:59 PMThanks again, i will try this later for sure, its 8pm now in switzerland..time to leave the desk and get ready for the (yes, little poor in this sweet little city) nightlife in bern ;-). thanks for helping!!!
lostinasia
March 30, 2008, 01:45 AMCalkins, are you sure about how it can be free? I think you're limited to 10,000 characters or 30 days, whichever comes first. I know mine won't let me type traditional anymore. (Haven't got around to buying it yet, but will soon.) It is a great tool. Used it lots six weeks back when I had more time to study, and will do so again when the current school semester calms down a little. Gesang, there are lots of different options for typing Chinese on the Mac buried within menus and submenus, but I couldn't find anything as good as QIM.
calkins
March 30, 2008, 02:36 AMLostInAsia, you are absolutely right...不好意思. My apologies Gesang and Guineapig. I guess mine will run out at some point and I'll have to pay. I definitely think it's worth the $19.99.
billglover
March 30, 2008, 10:37 AMI've tended to stick with the built in ITABC only because I didn't know there was a better way. You prompted me to go and have a hunt around for a couple of alternative solutions. http://fit.coollittlethings.com/ http://openvanilla.org/ I haven't tried any of these but am installing Fun Input Toy now (I had to translate the page using google to find the download link). For typing pinyin with tone marks, I haven't been able to find anything better than Biaoin2. http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/pages/romanization.html
gesang
March 29, 2008, 06:43 PMyes, its already better...and there is still much to read about in your link :-)! thank you very much!
gesang
March 30, 2008, 04:10 PMI just installed the QIM testversion. i like it, but for swiss keyboard its little tricky...compare to the american keyboard the z and y key are inverted. so now if i like to write "peng you" i have to type "peng zou" which is kind of confusing... just as information for other users who think about installing QIM. I have another question about the built in ITABC: thanks to the help from this conversation i managed to improve some options there and its much more convenient to use now. But: As i had problems with characters in email before, i send a test mail from my computer mail programm (typed with ITABC) to my googlemail online account, and there where odd spaces in the text...ie: the 汉 in 汉语 and 电 in 电子 just get lost... doing the same typing with QIM was fine... Anyone who knows what and where i have to change which settings anywhere in my computer to solve this problem??
guineapig
March 30, 2008, 07:47 PMgesang, I just tried QIM on my German MacBook. "Y" and "Z" are correctly mapped in QIM. When I type "peng you" it is correctly interpreted by QIM. In the QIM preferences, it says "German keyboard layout", and in my version this cannot be changed.
gesang
March 31, 2008, 05:54 PMThank you so much guineapig, i found this keyboard layout button and i could choose! after re-starting my computer it changed! 谢谢你，现在写汉字很方便！
azerdocmom
April 09, 2008, 11:17 AMOkay. I've pored over this thread and others like it, but just can't do it: I can't get the "trial" QIM to work and I can't type the tone marks. HELP! Uuuggghhh! I have an iMac G5 OSX 10.4.1
AuntySue
April 10, 2008, 10:57 AMIf you want traditional characters, the built in Hanin is very good and lets you type quickly, correcting past characters according to their context in the sentence as it grows. Configure it for pinyin first.
sebastian
March 30, 2008, 11:06 AMI also use QIM on my Mac. It is really worth the money. I especially like it, because it lets you switch between traditional and simplified Chinese with a simple key combination (shift + space)
guineapig
March 29, 2008, 06:14 PMThis website should help you: http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/ especially the page about input method editors: http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/pages/input_methods.html QIM is as far as I know the best for the Mac, but it costs some dollars.