279722, 11:28 AM CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese Menu Chinese input methods: A guide for second language learners =" all ae = Making Chinese characters appear on the screen ofa phone or computer is second nature to experienced users, and most people don't chink about input methods unless they switch to another method or something doesn't work properly. For people who know litle or no Chinese, including beginner students of the language, its not at all obvious how Chinese characters are entered on a computer, however Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podeast to listen to the related episode: Agudetor tip Available on Apple Podcasts Google Podcast, Overcast Spotify and many other platforms! Chinese input methods: A guide for second language learners This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about tis in our privacy policy. Read more an hitpsswww hackingchinese.com/chinese-input-methods-a-guide-or-second language-leame279722, 11:28 AM Chinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese Instead, there are several categories of input methods: + Phonetic typing - Type how something is pronounced and the computer will ry to guess what characters to use, There are many different methods in this category depending on the transcription system used and the purpose of typing, + Non-phonetic typing - Instead of relying on pronunciation, these input methods ‘make use ofthe components and composition of Chinese characters, bulding up the character through a sequence of strokes, Modern versions still use standard keyboards, of course, + Handwriting - Modern touch-screen devices support handwritten Chinese, You rite characters directly on the screen with your finger or a stylus, and the computer gives you its best guess for what you mean + speech recognition — Voice controlled assistants have become more popular in recent years, and phones are now quite good at transcribing what you say into Chinese characters, at least provided that your pronunciation is clear or your utterance contains enough context ‘There's a lotto say about each of these input methods (and Ihave written about some of them before, which I will refer to when relevant) ts important to keep in mind that these input methods are largely developed for native speakers with no thought given to second language learners. Benefits for learning vs. time and effort required In this article, therefore, I want to focus on input methods from the perspective of a student learning Chinese as a second language. This involves balancing two factors! 1. Impact on learning The input method you use has an impact on your learning For example, ifyou rely only on handwritten input even when writing long emails, ‘your handwriting ability will benefit more than ifyou type Pinyin and just assume the computer gives you the correct characters. On the other hand, handwriting characters does not require you to recall pronunciation in the same way that typing Pinyin does. 2, Time and effort required - Writing practice is best done in a communicative context, and in real life, speed and convenience matters at least as much as how much you learn. Most people opt for the easiest method available, even ifit has serious downsides for their learning. For example, even though I could write long emails in Chinese by hand, I almost never do so because it takes five times longer than typing. Let's have a look atthe different categories of input methods and see what they have to offer for language learners! What are the pros and cons with typing, handwriting and speech-to-text? ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy policy. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! ane279722, 11:28 AM hitpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-inputs CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese here is to provide the basic information and insights and let you draw your own, conclusions about what works best for you. Phonetic typing ‘This is by far the most commonly used type of input method for Chinese, both on computers and phones. It requires you to know how to spel the spoken word to be able to type it, which is fine for most people as most people anchor their written language in the spoken language anyway. ‘There are several different types of phonetic typing methods depending on which ‘phonetic transcription system is used. Pinyin-based input methods Pinyin is of course the most commonly used system, and there are dozens of different input methods that rely on it, Keyboards in China typically use a Qwerty layout and the ANSI standard should be familiar to most Americans, but somewhat awkward to us European 180 lovers. Exactly which keyboard layout is used is only of peripheral interest here as ican often bbe customised (I type Chinese using Pinyin on an ISO board with a special Swedish version of Dvorak, for example). Ifyou need help with Pinyin-based input methods, I strongly recommend Pinyin Joe's Chinese Computing Help Desk, which has saved my sanity several times over the years. Pinyin dat's ee Chinese Computing Help Desk serena abice on Conese argue seu in Maso Windows, Ubu Lr, are ‘oni devs, Pj &Zhuy nat eed (ME), Cher onan engage PAS, Pints Spar Chines tere FAC & hae There are also very fast input metods used by professional typists, which are very hard to learn and out ofthe question for most second language learners. As these methods require a ton of practice to master and have almost no extra benefits for learning the language, I wll gnore them in this article. For those who are interested, search for 85% ‘#1 for one example (here's a short documentary in Chinese) Pros of typing in Pinyin: The biggest pro with using a standard Pinyin-based input _method as a student is that it connects the spoken language with the characters. It requires you to think about pronunciation and constantly verify that you got it right. However, standard methods do not require you to input tones, which is a drawback. Some input methods have this as an option, so check if yours does, This both helps you review tones and shortens the list of word candidates atthe same time. ‘Another upside with typing Pinyin is that you can keep your typing speed from other language using the Latin alphabet. You will also be able to use public computers or ‘friends’ computers since this is the standard in China. Cons of typing in Pinyin: the downside of using this type of input method is that it ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read more. rethods-a-quidefor-eecond-language-leamers! ane219/22, 1:24 AM hitpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-inputs CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese ’be able to do, you need to learn and maintain that skill elsewhere. In Japanese, there's even a term for being able to type characters but not write them by hand: 7 —7 8, which translates to “word-processor idiot” Zhuyin-based input methods ‘Zhuin (or Bopomofo) is the standard transcription system used in Taiwa. Itrelies on special symbols for initials, medials and finals, and so naturally requires you to learn those symbols to be useful Beyond that it shares most ofthe pros and cons with other phonetic typing methods in that it connects speaking and writing, but that character processing is very shallow at best ‘As discussed in my series of articles about transcription systems, learning Zhuyin, might have some benefits for pronunciation, but i's not very practical for language learners when it comes to typing, and you can reap the benefits without using as your ‘main input method for Chinese characters. In summary, Zhuyin adds the hassle of having to learn a new keyboard layout without ‘raving any major advantages when it comes to entering text on phones and computers. ‘You might want to learn it for other reasons, though. Non-phonetic typing From a typing perspective, the main disadvantage of phonetic typing is that its. ambiguous. ‘Typing rare characters is a good example ofthis, especially ifthe syllable in question is common: Ifthe shi you want is number 89 on the lst of options, you're better of typing a word it's contained in and then delete the extra character. This works, but is clearly inefficient! Non-phonetic typing instead relies on the components Chinese characters are built out of. There are many different ways of doing this, but the easiest way to think about itis that each key represents several possible components, and by combining several keys, ‘the computer will then output a speeifie character. As this process is perfectly predictable, you don’t need to wait to see what the computer spits out before proceeding: you can be sure it's right provided you hit the right keys In contrast, what characters show up when you type in Pinyin is based on context, including your personal typing background, which is often a good thing, but can also lead to slower typing as you need to monitor the output more closely. Here's an example ofa keyboard showing legends for the Wubi (full name: BIS P40 58) input method: eh el ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy policy. Read more. rethods-a-quidefor-eecond-language-leamers! ana,219/22, 1:24 AM hitpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-inputs CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese emp camp mine op ame ey asp Zz ea C. Vv ; EF Na ajc vy PB od Noe Image credit: https For traditional Chinese, there's also Cangfie, which is more universal, and Zhengma, but these systems generally share the same pros and cons, so 1 will discuss them ‘together here. Ifyou have insights to share about any of these, please leave a comment bel Pros with using non-phonetic typing: The biggest advantage for learners is that you ‘need to know the character to type it, which requires deeper processing and therefore is better for retention. ‘Another advantage is that typing isnot related to pronunciation, so it can be used even ifyou don't know how a character is pronounced, or to type ina dialect-neutral (or even language-neutral) fashion, ‘Cons with using non-phonetic typing: Naturally, the downside is that non-phonetic typing takes a long time to learn, much longer than most students are willing to invest. also doubt its merits for long-term learning, In my experience, humans are capable of completely automating even very complex motor sequences to the point where we ‘might not even be able to untangle individual moves in the sequence. For example, [know many algorithms for solving certain situations on a Rubik's cube, Dut some of them I can't do slowly. I can do the full 12-move sequence (or whatever) ‘quickly in a flow, but I would struggle to write the steps down, Similarly, I suspect that people who really learn non-phonetic typing metods will end up not really thinking about the characters that much. SUI, getting there requires alot of paying attention to components, which is bound to ‘have a positive impact on your knowledge of them. Also, it would only be the most common characters that get fully automated, and those you probably know anyway. In any case, rule these methods out forthe vast majority of second language learners because it’s inconceivable that the time spent learning the input method would lead to better learning results than simply investing that effort into learning characters in any other way. {can still see why some people are drawn to these methods (I feel the urge sometimes myself, but unless you feel a very strong attraction indeed, I think it's better to stay away, Handwriting input #8 is ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read more. rethods-a-quidefor-eecond-language-leamers! siz279722, 11:28 AM CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese ‘While few native speakers under 60 use handwriting input, itis a viable but rather slow ‘method of inputting Chinese characters, mostly on mobile devices (you can connect your phone and use i to write on your computer, to0, though), Strange as it may seem to foreign learners of Mandarin, older native speakers aren't very comfortable with Pinyin, so handwriting is a convenient alternative. Nowadays, though, voice recognition has become so good that handwriting has become even rarer, ‘but more about this ater. ‘When writing by hand, the software will try to determine what character you want to write and will show you the best candidates for you to choose among, You can even see this best guess updated live while you add strokes, which is pretty cool Provided that your stroke order and stroke count are correct, this input method is quite reliable, and you can even join strokes together and still get the right result. Pros with using handwriting input: The advantage here should be obvious: You are actually writing characters, which requires much deeper processing than anything else mentioned in this article ‘This is not necessarily the same as writing on paper, but it’s pretty close, and you also often get confirmation that you've written the character correctly and will see a computer-rendered version of itwhen you're done. Naturally, this does not protect you against writing the wrong character. Handwriting characters. A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand tine butyou alse need to main ht Ua I eFicent way to remember how townte 3 ‘Chinese characters in the long term. BB secting eiese ‘ Cons with using handwriting input: Handwriting is very slow compared to the other methods, even if you know all the characters. Asa learner, you're likely o run into characters you don’t know how to write, which will slow you down dramatically. OF course, this could be viewed as an opportunity to learn, but as an input method, this is still a big disadvantage. However, as Kristin pointed out in a comment, on a phione, typing is not very fast to begin with, or atleast not as fast as on a full-sized keyboard. That means that with enough practice, handwriting can actually in some cases be faster, which removes the ‘main disadvantage! Naturally, the more you write by hand, the faster you will get, so ‘this input method also becomes more practical the more you use it, Speech recognition and speech to text ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy policy. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! enz279722, 11:28 AM Chinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese {have investigate this question before and weote two articles about my findings: ‘The first one asks the question of whether or not speech recognition is good enough to correctly transcribe clear, native speech. The answer is that it does very well. exceptin some specific situations. 2, The second article investigates how well speech recognition does with audio produced by second language learners, The answer is mixed, Another way of looking at the same data i to say that if you say something, and your phone gets it ight (displays the characters you intended), you can't be sure that your pronunciation is okay. However, if you say something, and your phone gets it wrong, ‘you can be pretty sure that your pronunciation is off ‘This means that speech recognition can work as a low-threshold check for pronunciation. It you're pronunciation is really bed, you'l know, but it wort tell you if you're mediocre ar good, So what does this mean for language learners? It means that the feedback you get on your pronunciation is not good enough to be useful. Your phone or computer will understand things you're saying, even if you rangle some tones and your initials and finals are a bit off. That essentially means that les just a bit better than talking to yourself in terms of speaking practice, which has its benefits, but slso obvious limitations. Pros of using speech recognition: The main benefit of speaking instead of typing is thar you skip Pinyin and go directly to the spoken language. It also includes some minimum amount of feedback inthe sense that if you're completely off, it probably won't display the characters you had in mind, This requires you to actually monitor your output to spot inconsistencies, though. Cons of using speech recognition: Even though speech recognition at first looks appealing for language learners, I think the downsides clearly outweigh che upside, The fact that your phone will recognise what you want to say even if you miss tones, initials, or finals means that you could be reinforcing incorrect pronunciation by relying on speech to text. Ifyou use this method, be aware that your phone is much more lenient than any teacher would be, so unless your bar is really low, you can't trustit for feedback. Conclusion Ac the end of the day, phonetic typing wins because it’s the most convenient and also connects your writing with the spoken language. This is even more true if you enable ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! m2279722, 11:28 AM Chinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese input method? The other methods, non-phonetic typing and voice recognition, are only useful In specific contexts, some of which I might have overlooked, Finally, some questions for you: + What input methods do you use? + What effects do you think this has had on your learning so far? ‘+ Which input methods are you interested in checking out? Why? POEUN Tei 3 aN aay ‘Tips and tricks for how to learn Chinese directly in your inbox I've been learning and teaching Chinese for more than a decade. My goal is tohelp you find a way of learning that works for you. Sign up to my newsletter fora 7-day crash course in how to learn, as well as weekly ideas for how to improve your learning! Email Address * First Name ‘Subscribe QlleLinge | Wecnescay.Apriliéth.2071 | Seorerts. 5 comments ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! ane219/22, 1:24 AM CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese {use handwriting almost exclusively, as I actually find it faster than pinyin and more helpful for learning as I speak alot more than I write, 30 { noed more review of writing than pinyin, I use pinyin in specific situations ~on the occasion Pm using my computer rather than my phone, ‘or when Fonly have one hand free (more common in the last 6 weeks since ad a baby), or, very occasionally, when just cane get the ‘character | want with handwriting. [find pinyin actually takes longer as Ihave to look forthe right character and make sure the one that ‘comes up isthe one I want. Maybe its a matter of practice, and since I use handwriting a lot more 'm better at that. My husband i one of those rare natives under 60 (he's 32 who also prefers handwriting. Ie is Somewhat of a purist though. He's been teaching our 5-year-ola (who speaks Mandarin by hole despite living in an English speaking country with only one native Chinese parent) to write characters but hast’t ‘mentioned pinyin yet (his probably makes more sense with a child than with an adult learning a second language, and I suppose pinyin wail ‘come up eventual Rens @..... Your comment highlights something I didnt realy go into much in the article, namely that typing on phones is obviously much slower than on computers, especially for some people. I can type at 120 words per minute in English, ana while it's hard to compare, I can easily {ype Chinese a above 100 characters per minute even witha falrly bad input method. That is cearly not possible when writing by hand (thats almost rwo Chinese characters a second), owever, on a phone, this quite diferent don’t type very fest at al so the step to handwriting Is actually much smaller, and could be, atleast in some cases like you say, even be faster! Il ada comment to this effec in the article, a8 1 hink its something I should have mentioned, but didn’. Thank you! Realy Combay says: ‘After years oflearning Taiwanese Mandarin with Pinyin and Bopomofo 1 found myself struggling to remember the rarer characters as wells actively recalling any characters outside the few most common ones oI started experimenting with Boshiamy OSSPX), a shape-based IME, ‘rm not very proficient yet, but already noticed how it forces me to remember character components, and nov Fm having a much easier time actively recalling characters from memory. For some characters, its because of being able to remember the character itself more easly, and for the others Iam able to remember its code and then reconstruc the character based on the code Boshiamy s somewhat similar to Cangie, Bt has optional shortcuts rather than having to always type the fll sequence. According to some ws Boshiamy to have the average combination code length of 2.5 compared to Cangie's 45, and for that, reason consistently wins at speed typing competitions. Cangjedifers alot between operating systems and versions, while Boshiamy seems fairly consistent from what 've seen so far. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, many keyboards come with Cangiie symbols printed on them, but that’s not really neded for Boshiamy and you can use any QWERTY keyboard, as most components are more or less logically assigned to 2 latin sources onthe interne, th leter. ‘The main drawback of Boshiamy is that is a proprietary product, even though the codes ean be found for fre end used with ibus. Also, some ‘codes are loosely based on components’ Mandarin or Taiwanese pronunciations or their meanings in English, which can be ‘confusing/undesirable for some people, but for me is quite interesting Compared to Cangiie, there are more overlapping codes and more ‘characters that share the same code, but that doesnt seer iffcult to get used to. some examples: 8 (OAO) components look ke letters OA (BLO) B and (2 ook ike B and 0, 37s from "i" [RE (NDE F means Hand, /\ and 7) are pronounced “ba” and “dao” F (WO the character looks lke W from an angle, Is just ler representing the last stroke because the code is shorter than three characters (S) numbers 1-10, a5 wells some other most common characters like, have one letter codes ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy policy. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! one279722, 11:28 AM Chinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese @ OlieLingesays: Tanke you for sharing This is very interesting indeed, but do fnd the mix of similarity with English letters and actual components abit confusing: maybe it makes more sense when you get into it more. It would be interesting to take a deeper dive into diferent non-phonetic ‘yping systems, but it almost requires personal experience to say much about them from a learner perspective, whlch isnt something sts like yours even more valuable, so thank you again for sharing! aT really have time todo, That makes com Beclye Dan Strychalskisays: Everybody in Taiwan learns Zhuyin Fuhao in the fist grade, so it's as natural a choice here as QWERTY for English speakers. Majoring in Chinese in the US. inthe early 1970s, Learned Zhuyin in a third-year course that covered miscellany from oracle-bone forms to simplified characters and Hanyu Pinyin, It came in handy when the first good dictionary since Mathevs’ came out — the Wade-iles index had errors but the Zhuyin index was excellent. “The order ofthe symbols in Zhuyin is based on linguist prinlples, and ther placement on the keyboard mostly folows that order. Ifone can :nows the Zhuyin symbols, It is ay to use right from the beginning (well, It WAS unt they screwed it up by making it touch-type English and “inveigent”) Replys Leave a comment ‘Yur email address will not be published. Required feds are marked * Your comment ae CT URL raat Pest Comment "his site uses Akismet ¢o reduce spam, Learn hove your comment data is processed. ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read more. hntpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-input-mathods-a-guide-or-secondlanguage-leamers! sone219/22, 1:24 AM CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese ‘Search J ra. timp ou Chie hanatig ap eginner Intermediate Speaking Reading Writing Vocabulary. tenmersion and integration Distnstively Chinese Learning in class [Learning outsde class Key study hacks ‘Aticude and mentally Sponsors and affiliates Unlocking Chinese ‘The Ultimate Guide For Beginners + ste videos "tad haractors = + Hoi sentences wrth Mae ars 1 Sorin dicount FELHHTRT ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. hitpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-inputs Read mor rethods-a-quidefor-eecond-language-leamers! ane279722, 11:28 AM hitpsswwwchackingchinese.com/chinose-inputs CChinese input methods: A guide for second language leamers | Hacking Chinese 4 eee Ta Pere FRUeeaeeiesi nr matic Hacking Chins BALA, ARRALLA. ‘This website uses cookies to improve your experience, You can read more about this in our privacy poly. Read mor rthods-a-quidefor-eecond-language-leamers! sane