Individual Presentation -

Using Chinese on a Macintosh

(In the User Area)
by Ngai Chi-ho

Preface

Most of us CU students must have the helpless feeling of waiting for a PC in the User Area. However, at the other end of the User Area, many Macintoshes are left unused. Knowing how to use a Macintosh keeps you from waiting and waiting. This page is aimed at showing you how to use Chinese on a Macintosh - especially in the User Area, for its special configuration.

Chinese Language Kit

In the User Area, every Macintosh is installed a Chinese Extension called the Chinese Language Kit (CLK). It is an extension which is added onto the English system software, so that you can handle Chinese and English at the same time.

You can determine whether CLK is installed by looking at the right end of the menu bar. A blue diamond, which indicates that the system is in English mode, is inserted between the Help menu icon and the Application menu icon, if CLK is installed. It's called the Keyboard menu.

Input Methods Available

CLK provides the following input methods:

The Cangjie input method uses the Roman characters on the keyboard to represent certain strokes and radicals used in Chinese characters. A maximum of five Roman letter keystrokes is used to enter each Chinese character. If you have to type Chinese frequently, you should be very familiar about it.

Similar to Cangjie, the Dayi input method uses also the Roman characters to represent the strokes and radicals. A character is specified using a maximum of four Roman characters, three for the first three strokes or radicals used in the Chinese character and one for the last stroke or radical. Seldom used in Hong Kong.

The Pinyin input method uses the phonetic code, which is in the form of Roman characters, to represent Chinese characters, a bit like Zhuyin.

The Zhuyin input method uses the Zhuyin signs, also known as bo po mo fo, to represent characters phonetically. Seldom used in Hong Kong.

The Parrot input method allows you easily to enter Roman characters while still in the Chinese environment.

Simple Operation

To use Chinese, first launch a CLK compatible word processor, such as SimpleText, WordPerfect 3.0 or above, and ClarisWorks 4.0. (For reference, the popular word processor Microsoft Word 6.0 is not CLK compatible.) Whenever you wish to type Chinese, just select an input method you'd like to use from the Keyboard menu, and start typing. An input window will pop up automatically. This input window acts like a buffer and stores inputted characters for you, until you press the [Return] key. Then all the characters will be transferred to the document window.


The Input Window

Selection Window

If you're not too familiar with the Cangjie input method, you can press [Option]-[Tab] for hint. A selection window will pop up, showing you the characters you can choose at that moment. If you find the one you want, just click on it and it will be put into the "buffer"; otherwise you must have typed the code incorrectly. Try another combination or use the Pinyin input method to get this character.


The Selection Window

Coding Clash

Some of the Chinese characters share the same code under the Cangjie coding scheme. In such case you'll get the ones which are more frequently used as default. To get the less frequently used ones, type an [X] (重) before typing the code or get it from the selection window using the method mentioned above.


Dealing with Coding Clash

Punctuations

Inputting Chinese punctuation marks is especially convenient on a Macintosh than on other platforms. If you can memorise the shortcuts you can always get rid of using the mouse to select. Only those rarely used symbols such as Greek letters, Zhuyin symbols and mathematical units need looking up from the selection window. In such case, type the Backquote ([`]) key followed by the [Tab] key, and the selection window will pop up full of symbols. Again, click on the one you'd like to retrieve it.

CLK Shortcuts (not exhaustive)
Action Keystroke
Toggle between Chinese and English Command-Space
Cycle through different input methods Command-Option-Space
Hide / Show selection window Option-Tab
Look up symbols Backquote (`) + Tab
Punctuations
Type Backquote (`) twice
Option-Space
Period (.)
Option-;
Option-] and Shift-Option-]
Option-[ and Shift-Option-[
Option-\ and Shift-Option-\
Type the corresponding English punctuation


The Symbol Table

Precautions for Using Chinese in the User Area

Fonts Problem

The following Chinese fonts are installed on the Macs in the User Area:

Apple LiSung Light
Apple LiGothic Medium
*HeiMedium*
*KaiMedium*
*MingHeavy*
*MingLight*
*Taipei*

But unfortunately, some of them are not good for use, or even not usable at all:

So, use fonts with caution.

Reference: Chinese Language Kit -
Traditional Chinese Input Method Guide.