Getting simplified characters on a mac

mm52
 August 18, 2007, 04:21 PM posted in General Discussion

Could a mac user please help me with entering pinyin to get simplified characters only.  I can only get traditional characters on my mac  (a MacBookPro).  I have turned on the simplified Chinese in the Input Menu.

Do I need to download something?

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daizi
 August 18, 2007, 04:32 PM

Open International. Select ITABC. Deselect Wubi Xing and Wubi Hua.

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tvan
 August 18, 2007, 04:40 PM

This website (http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/index.html) has excellent advice on setting up a Mac for Chinese, including various input methods. After trying several methods, I settled on a shareware program, QIM, which supports both traditional and simplified input.

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tvan
 August 18, 2007, 06:31 PM

mm52, What input method/program are you using?

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AuntySue
 August 18, 2007, 10:33 PM

If you're using OSX (which you are unless your Mac is an antique) and it's a standard installation of the operating system, then the whole system oozes with input methods and fonts for Chinese. You definitely won't need to mess around with extra programs! You just have to find and use what you've got. Most of the advice on the net is for earlier Macs that didn't have all of this. Beware of unnecessary complications. If it's not dead easy, you're trying too hard. When you go into the language prefrences, make sure that ITABC is the only Chinese you have selected. It's a very good input method, and it's incapable of producing anything except simplified characters. If you have ticked others as well, you might be using one of them by accident. If you're still not getting it, please give us a few more details so we can spot the problem for you.

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mm52
 August 19, 2007, 07:28 PM

I found the answer. The key to my problem was to press the space bar and not the return key! I found the answer in http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/index.html, thanks to tvan. It appears to have a lot of other useful information, most of which goes over my head as I am just a beginner. Many thanks to all of you who responded for your advice.