Tuesday, January 20, 2009

How to type Japanese on your computer (1)

Installing the IME in Windows XP

1) To install the Japanese IME, start by opening the Control Panel (Click the "Start Menu" and choose the "Control Panel"). Then click the "Date, Time, Language and Regional Options" icon.

2) Then select the "Add Other languages" task.

3) You should see the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box.

4) Click on the "Install files for East Asian Languages" check box
(This ensures that the correct fonts are installed).


5) Then click the "Details" button.
You should then see the "Text Services and Input Languages" dialog box.


6) In "Text Services and Input Languages" dialog box we need to add the Japanese IME and the Japanese Keyboard components.

7) Click the "Add..." button.

8) You should now see the "Add Input Language" dialog box.

9)
Choose "Japanese" in the "Input language" combo box.
Still in the "Add Input Language" dialog box, in the "Keyboard layout/IME" combo box and choose "Microsoft IME Standard 2002 ver. 8.1".

10) Finally click the "OK" button.

11)
You should end up with a "Japanese" entry under "Installed Services".
Be sure that there is also a keyboard entry under "Japanese" and that it is the "Microsoft IME Standard 2002 ver. 8.1" and NOT just "Japanese".

12) Finally click the "OK" button.

You may be asked to put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive so that the relevant files can be copied across to your hard drive. NOTE: You can not install the IME without the CD.

That's it. After rebooting you should now see the IME icon in your task bar that has a Japanese option when it is clicked.

* To change between English and Japanese, simply press "shift" + "alt". Or "alt"+ "~ " button (the one next to ! mark) when in JP mode.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Chat Room

Added Chat Room. You can chat in Japanese with other Japanese speaker. A good way to practice hiragana, katakana or kanji. Have fun!! ^_^

*Next post will be about how to read and write japanese on windows. Learn how to install japanese font in your Windows operating system.