How to Input Chinese Characters in Vista

Microsoft Vista automatically displays Chinese characters in documents and built-in Vista applications. Higher-end versions of Vista, such as Vista Ultimate, also allow menus and icons to be displayed in Chinese using built-in Multilingual User Interface Packs. To input Chinese characters, you must enable a Chinese Input Method Editor (IME).

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Click on the "Start" button and select "Control Panel."

2. Select "Clock, Language, and Region"; then click on "Regional and Language Options."

3. Click on the "Keyboards and Languages" tab and select "Change Keyboards."

4. Click "Add" and select Chinese (version) in the "Add Input Language" area. Check the version you want to add (e.g., Chinese (Traditional) - New Phonetic) and click "OK."

5. Highlight "Chinese" and select "Properties" in the "Text Services and Input Languages" window.

6. Click on the Keyboard tab and select the desired layout from the drop-down menu (e.g., Hanyu Pinyin of Taiwan Pinyin). Click "OK."

7. Click on "EN" in the taskbar to switch to other keyboard layouts (CH indicates Chinese). The shortcut to switch back and forth is (Alt+Ctrl).

References

• Windows Help and How-to: Type in Chinese, Japanese, and other character-based languages
• Pinyinjoe Vista Chinese Language Features
• Vista Chinese Character Setup