4.2.1 Displaying Chinese Characters
If you can view the following sentence in characters (and not just random symbols), then your computer is already enabled and you don’t have to do anything.
我学习汉语
If this shows up as boxes or other symbols, follow the process below:
For Windows XP users:
1. Open your Control Panel, select “Regional and Language Options”. Go to the “Languages” tab; under “Supplemental Language Support”, select “Install Files for Asian Languages,” Then “OK”, “OK”. Wait for the files to install, then restart your computer.
2. Return to “Regional and Language Options” and the “Languages” tab. Under “Text Services & Input Languages”, “Installed Services”, select Add.
In “Add Input Language” dialog, choose “Input Language”, “Chinese, PRC,” “OK”.
3. Go to ‘advanced’ tab. Under “Language for non-code programs”, choose “Chinese, PRC,” then Apply.
For Windows 2000 users:
1. Open Windows Start menu > Settings > Control Panel.
2. Select the Regional Options icon.
3. On the General tab under "Language settings for the system," click Simplified Chinese, and then click Add (if there is such a button). When you click OK, your computer may demand the Windows 2000 or Office 2000 CD-ROM so that it can copy font files to your hard disk.
4. Click "Input Locales." Click the "Add" button and, under "Input Locale," choose "Chinese (PRC)."
5. Under "Keyboard Layout" choose "MS Pinyin". In the lower part of the dialog, you can set "Switch between Input Locales" to either control-shift or alt-shift. "Switch to English" can be left at "none,".
6. Be sure to choose the "Enable indicator on taskbar" box.
For Mac users:
1. Open ‘System Preferences’>’International’>’Input Menu’
2. Turn on ‘Simplified Chinese’ and/or ‘Traditional Chinese.’
3. Make sure ‘Show Input Menu in Menu Bar’ is checked.
4. Close the ‘System Preference’ window.
5. Go to the ‘Input Menu’ (if you are using a US system, it should be a US flag icon) and select Simplified Chinese and/or Traditional Chinese.
6. Click on the ‘Input Menu’ again, you should see a list of 8 input methods at the bottom half of the pull down menu. You should choose Pinyin unless you are more comfortable with another system.
For other devices and operating systems:
Please search the internet for more information.
4.2.2 Inputting Chinese characters
Before you can type in Chinese, your computer must be able to read Chinese characters. If you can view the following sentence in characters (and not just random symbols), then your computer is already enabled and you don’t have to do anything.
我学习汉语.
If this shows up as boxes or other symbols, please go to the Technical Questions > Displaying Chinese Characters page.
To switch between English (or other languages) and Chinese, follow the directions below:
Windows Operating System:
To switch between English and Chinese, simultaneously press the left or right “Shift” and “Alt” keys. You should see a menu bar or a small CH in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Click on it, and choose “Show the Language Bar”.
Typing in Chinese is quite simple. First of all, the default setting uses predictive software to predict an entire phrase or sentence. For advanced users with a good grasp of grammar this is very useful; however, for novices, it is recommended that you change the settings to word by word prediction.
To do this, go into the ‘Context Menu’ of the Chinese menu bar. Select properties, then change the conversion mode from Sentence to Word.
If you are typing Chinese into a word processing document, you will need to enable your word processor to write in Chinese. For Microsoft Word, click on Tools on the menu bar, the Language Settings, and check “Chinese Simplified” (the writing system endorsed by the People’s Republic of China) and/or “Chinese Traditional” (the writing system endorsed by Taiwan).
To begin inputting, type the Pinyin for the character you wish to see. Press space bar. You will see a list of possible characters like this:
Select which character you wish to use by pressing the corresponding number, or using the arrow keys.
You can type the Pinyin for either individual characters or phrases. This means to write 学习 (xuexi, study) you can write xue, and then pick the character 学 and then xi, and pick 习 , or write xuexi, without stopping, and then pick 学习。
For words using “u,” such as woman, nu (女) , type v instead of u.
Macintosh Operating System:
To change languages, click on the flag icon on the top right of your screen and select Chinese. As a shortcut, you can also press command (the apple key) and space to switch between languages in your list. To begin typing, write the Pinyin for the character you wish to see. Press space. You will see a list of possible characters like this:
You can type the Pinyin for either individual characters or phrases. This means to write 学习 (xuexi, study) you can write xue, and then pick the character 学 and then xi, and pick 习 , or write xuexi, without stopping, and then pick 学习。
For words using “u,” such as woman, nu (女) , type v instead of u.Select which character you wish to use by pressing the corresponding number, or using the arrow keys.
4.2.3 Flash Players
In order to access some of the contents of ourmandarin.com, you must have the appropriate Macromedia Flash Player installed for your operating system and browser. Click here to download the latest Flash Player from the Macromedia website.
4.2.4 RSS feed
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) has the ability to distribute specific content to you when and where you want it. OurMandarin.com integrates RSS to the website to deliver the podcasts along with discussions straight into your computer.
Text, images, audio and video can all be incorporated into RSS. For example, when a new podcast is published on the site, the RSS feeds can automatically notify you of the changes. RSS feeds help keep you up-to-date on podcasts, news, information and blog posts, making you more knowledgeable and productive, both at work and at home.
Understanding RSS can be a little daunting at first but it is relatively easy to learn. You can spot a RSS by its universal symbol: . Our website employs two types of RSS feeds: text and audio (podcasts).
For the OurMandarin.com public podcast feed as well as your own personal RSS feed, we recommend you use what's called a podcatcher. One of the most famous podcatchers available is iTunes. All you need to do is click on the RSS symbol for those feeds: and grab the RSS feed’s URL and paste it onto iTunes' "Advanced > Subscribe to podcast" section and watch as your podcast section gets populated by your chosen podcast lessons.
It is important to note that the public OurMandarin.com RSS feed that you get through iTunes or any podcatcher (i.e. Juice and Odeo) will usually give you the latest 10 podcasts. However, you have many other options for having other mixes of podcasts delivered via RSS.
On the other hand, to view discussion feeds, you can survey the different RSS readers available on the net such as Google reader. Many internet browsers such as Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer also now come with built in RSS readers as well.
4.2.5 Cookies
A "cookie" is very small text document which our website places on your computer, if your browser settings permit it. Cookies help us recognize you and tailor your experience. It is important to note that cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you.
Like most other websites, OurMandarin uses a standard technology called "cookies" to collect information on how the website is used, and make usage more convenient for the user (cookies allow us to provide the personal homepage, for example).