Paul & Nihil -
Re: Japanese language word processor
The word processor works as follows:
First, you boot up the system into Japanese windows, and open MSFT word - Japanese version.
To type a Japanese character, you type in the appropriate English language letters. (ie., the sound/character "ka" would be typed "k" and "a").
The word processor can be set to recognize and display this as a romaji, a hiragana, or a katakana character (romaji leaves the letters as typed, while hiragana and katakana are the two Japanese phonetic alphabets).
You continue typing until you've finished a word. Upon completion you press return to let the computer know the word is complete and move on to the next word (two returns would both end the word and add a carriage return). If you press return at this point, the word stays as displayed in either romaji, hiragana, or katakana.
Alternately, upon completion of the word you can press space. This tells the computer to substitute a kanji or series of kanji characters (chinese pictograms) for the appropriate romaji, hiragana, or katakana characters. If there are multiple kanji characters or series that work with that word, then they are displayed and the user chooses the appropriate one (this can really get you in trouble if you don't know what you're doing!). After choosing the right kanji character, the user presses return to accept it, and return again to lock in the word.
Although there may be a Japanese character set layover for the standard English keyboard, I have never seen one. All the Japanese I know use this system to type. There ARE computers available in Japan where the keys are labeled with the Japanese alphabet (so you could type "ka" with only one keystroke), but you still have to go through the space bar and return routine above. These computers are not common or popular, and would not be seen in business settings.
The main limitation to the word processor is the breadth of its Kanji dictionary. Although there are tens of thousands of Kanji characters in the full Japanese alphabet, the number actually used in normal discourse is much smaller. In most cases the standard Kanji dictionary is sufficient, and when the appropriate Kanji isn't in the dictionary you can still be understood by using hiragana based on context.
Aaron |
