How to Type in Bengali

Thanks to Unicode, you can type in Bengali on a standard computer keyboard.

Bengali, or "Bangla," is an Indo-European language spoken by almost 230 million people in the world, primarily in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Karacha. It is the seventh most spoken language in the world. Thanks to the implementation of Unicode for computer programming, which interprets characters from nearly every written language in the world, changing your PC's settings to make typing in Bengali possible will only take a minute or two, as long as you have a recent operating system. If you have a Mac you can still do it easily; you'll just have to get two small downloads.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Windows 7 or Mac OSX operating system
• Internet access (for Mac users)

Instructions

Type in Bengali Using Mac OS X

1. Download Ekushey Unicode Bangla Solutions for OS X from ekushey.org/?page/mac_download. Download each part separately by selecting the red words "Click Here" in the two respective sections. (If you have already downloaded the Bengali fonts and Bengali keyboard layouts, skip ahead to Step 3.)

2. Navigate to your "Downloads" folder, decompress the .zip file named "EK-OSX-Fonts.dmg.zip," and double-click the desk icon. An installer will open, and you will need to double-click "Unicode Bangla Font Installer." Follow the instructions of the installer process, clicking "Continue," reading the Read Me, clicking "Continue," and agreeing to the License Agreement, to select the location to where you'd like to install the file (if you don't change the selection, it will install to a default location). Hit "Install."

3. Go again to your "Downloads" folder (installing the keyboard layout follows almost exact same steps as for the font), decompress the .zip file named "EK-OSX-Keyboards.dmg.zip," and double-click the desk icon. The installer will open. Double-click "Unicode Bangla Keyboard layout Installer." Follow the instructions of the installer process, clicking "Continue," reading the Read Me, clicking "Continue," and agreeing to the License Agreement, to select the location to where you'd like to install the file (if you don't change the selection, it will install to a default location). Hit "Install."

4. Head to your computer's System Preferences by opening the rainbow-colored Apple menu, and select "International."

5. Open the "Input Menu" screen and fill in the box for Bengali.

6. Mark the box labeled "Show input menu in menu bar" to dock it to the menu bar so you will be able to switch between languages easily in the future.

7. Find the flag on the menu bar (an American flag if you're in the U.S.). Click it to find a list of symbols associated with all the languages you've chosen to be able to type in. Select Bengali.

Type in Bengali Using Windows 7

1. Open the "Control Panel" from the "Start" button and click on "Region and Language."

2. Click the "Keyboards and Languages" tab at the top of the box that just opened and then hit the button "Change Keyboards."

3. Hit the "Add" button and check the + in a box for the Bengali drop-down menu (you'll have to decide if you want the India or Bangladesh versions), open the Keyboard drop-down menu, and click "OK."

4. Move to the tab at the top entitled "Language Bar." The language bar is an icon you will be able to access quickly to switch between languages. Check to have it either docked to the taskbar or floating on the desktop.

5. Click on the the two capital letters (EN for English if you're in America) that have either appeared on your taskbar or floating on your desktop, and you will find BN Bengali. Select it, and you are all set to type in Bengali whenever you want. To go back to English, just go to the language bar and switch back.

Tips & Warnings

• Apple users: In the Input Menu Screen make sure the Keyboard Viewer is accessible by checking its box. This will allow you to see which keys on your keyboard produce which letters in Bengali if you do not have access to a keyboard with Bengali symbols on it.

• A restart may be needed after installing the font and keyboards before they will work.

• Windows users: Hitting alt + shift will swiftly switch the language input between languages added to your language bar. To set a different key sequence, go back to the Text Services and Language Inputs box where you added Bengali to the language bar, and select the tab "Advanced Key Settings." Highlight "Between input languages" in the "Action" column, and click the button "Change Key Settings" to make the change.

References

• Ekushey: Download Ekushey Unicode Bangla Solutions for OS X
• Ekushey: Technical Information for Using Bangla on OS X
• Microsoft Windows 7 Help: Add or Change an Input Language in Windows 7

Resources

• Freewebs: Description of Unicode