Keyboard Shortcut for Chinese Water Symbols
Windows allows you to use English-language keyboards to input Chinese character symbols, such as the one for water and variants of it. It isn't necessary to use a keyboard shortcut to form any Chinese character as you would for European-language accent marks or special currency symbols. All you need to do is adjust Windows' settings to activate Chinese-language input mode for your keyboard.
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Examples of Water Characters
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The written Chinese language comprises tens of thousands of characters, so several possible characters for water exist. In Mandarin, the most widely-spoken Chinese language, the simplest example is "shui," the modern form of which suggests the image of a flowing river or stream. Another common water character is "hai," which literally means "sea." An everyday usage of "hai" is in the name of the large Chinese city "Shanghai," which means "above the sea."
Adding Chinese Input
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The first step to forming Chinese characters on your computer is enabling Chinese input within the Windows Control Panel. Enabling Chinese language input within Windows allows you to select a Chinese character that corresponds to the "pinyin" romanization, or translator, you enter for a specific character. Select "Control Panel" from the Windows Start menu, then click "Change Keyboards or other input methods" under the Clock, Language, and Region heading. Click "Change keyboards" and then "Add." Browse through the Chinese-language options and click the one you want. It is neither necessary nor possible to use the "Alt" key and a combination of numbers to form Chinese characters for water.
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Simplified vs. Traditional Chinese
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Selecting a Chinese input method in the Windows Control Panel specifies whether you want to use simplified or traditional Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, whereas mainland China and Singapore use simplified Chinese characters. Make your selection based on where the person with whom you want to communicate lives or resides.
Inputting Characters
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After you have enabled Chinese language input within Windows, type the "pinyin" romanization -- in other words, the English spelling -- for the character you want to form. If you want to type the basic word for water in Mandarin, for example, type in the word "shui," then press the number key that corresponds to the character on the screen that matches the character for "shui."
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