Apple Chinese Language Kit - Manual (Page 11)

About the Chinese Language Kit 11
Sound-Based Input Systems
Sound-based, or phonetic, input modes allow you to write the Chinese characters based on
how characters sound in Mandarin Chinese. There are two types:
m
Typing specific keys for Chinese phonetic symbols ( bo po mo fo)
To use the Chinese phonetic symbols effectively, you need to know how to speak Chinese
characters and transcribe them into the phonetic symbols.
m Typing Roman characters to spell the Chinese characters using the Pinyin phonetic
transcription system
Pinyin is popular with users who do not know how to write Chinese characters and may
have limited knowledge of how to pronounce Chinese words.
Because Chinese words are distinguished by subtle tonal variations that are difficult to
transcribe phonetically, many different Chinese characters have the same phonetic
spelling in Pinyin. When you enter the Pinyin for a Chinese character, the input system
often identifies many characters with that spelling and you must choose the character you
want. For example, 34 Traditional Chinese characters are transcribed in Pinyin as “ren” and
appear as alternatives if you enter these Roman characters.
Note: The Traditional Chinese Pinyin input mode allows you to enter a number for the
tonal variation to narrow the list of alternatives.
Although entering Chinese using Pinyin requires several steps, it allows people who are
not fluent in writing the language to create a Chinese-language document.
Other Features of the Chinese Language Kit
In addition to allowing you to enter Chinese characters, both the Traditional Chinese and
Simplified Chinese input methods provide other important features:
m
an input mode that allows you to type Roman characters
m an input mode for entering AppleShare passwords
m a dictionary in which you can define your own words and phrases
m palettes for looking up the input keys for characters, punctuation, and symbols
m an option to show the key combinations to enter characters in the selection palette
m an option to display other characters frequently associated with a character you enter