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Japanese word processors

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  • 31-08-2003 10:26pm
    #1
    simu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭


    How exactly do Japanese keyboards and word processors work?

    I imagine there would be a way to fit all the hiragana and katakana characters onto a keyboard but what do ppl do with kanji (ideograms), given that there are thousands of different ones?

    Is there some program that automatically converts certain combinations of hiragana to their kanji equivalent?


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    #2
    Kenshin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 189 ✭✭Kenshin


    I was looking at a Japanese keyboard at work the other day actually, it's pretty funky :)
    It looks like a normal querty keyboard, with all 26 letters of our alphabet, but each key has like 2 hiragana and/or katakana drawn on them, including the keys from 1-10, etc.
    They have more keys where the spacebar is (The spacebar is as long as a shift key, they don't usually need spaces to write in Japanese). I think I saw a key beside alt to switch between hiragana and katakana input.

    As for Kanji, there are programs that let you type it easily enough... you can try downloading the Japanese IME for windows from microsoft.com to see what it's like... basically when you type... "ka" for example, a list with all the possible kanjis pops up, and you can chose from there.


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    #3
    simu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    Thanks for the info, Kenshin!

    My Japanese isn't quite advanced enough yet for me to be needing a word processor but it's interesting to know how it works!


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