trad to simpl converter - why I am getting question marks??

[volga_volga]

I am using this online converter (as recommended elsewhere here) to make traditional text into simplified, but for some characters I get 'question marks', meaning the tool could not recognise the character (or could not find the equivalent simplified character?)

http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/converter-tradsimp.html

I am puzzled as I thought this is just a mechanical conversion and every trad character has one and only equivalent in simplified... why not??

I am posting an example here from my conversion:

original text (typed by a Hong Kong Chinese so I guess traditional):

我們歡迎每位有興趣了解及幫助孤兒與窮困家庭小孩的朋友來探訪私我們的孤兒院。我們位於香格里拉(中甸)县西北方50公里。

converted using the above tool:

我们欢迎每位有兴趣了解及帮助孤儿与穷困家庭小孩的朋友来探访私我们的孤儿院。我们位於香格里拉(中甸)�ο�西北方50公里。

since I am a newbie to Chinese I'd like to make sure my conversion is 100% accurate although I cannot pick the relevant simplified character myself... pls help?

here is the full trad text I am converting into simpl:

我們歡迎每位有興趣了解及幫助孤兒與窮困家庭小孩的朋友來探訪私我們的孤兒院。我們位於香格里拉(中甸)县西北方50公里。

孤兒院是由兩位藏族人多吉與桑吉於2004年成立的，並且得到當地政府的支持。這是當地唯一的孤兒院。

孤兒院小孩的年齡由7歲至13歲。他們都是從甘孜州巴塘地區最窮困的家庭中選出來的。所有的小孩全都上同一所小學並住在學校里由負責人照顧。

我們特別強調小孩在藏族文化、歷史及語言上的學習。

[HashiriKata]

I don't use Chinese-tools.com so I don't know how it's supposed to work but from your example, I can only guess that the reason the software got stuck with 县 is perhaps because this character is already a simplified and is not a traditional character, whereas the software was expecting only traditional input.

Anyway, I hope the conversion below (done via Wenlin) is ok for your purpose:

我们欢迎每位有兴趣了解及帮助孤儿与穷困家庭小孩的朋友来探访私我们的孤儿院。我们位于香格里拉(中甸)县西北方50公里。

孤儿院是由两位藏族人多吉与桑吉于2004年成立的，并且得到当地政府的支持。这是当地唯一的孤儿院。

孤儿院小孩的年龄由7岁至13岁。他们都是从甘孜州巴塘地区最穷困的家庭中选出来的。所有的小孩全都上同一所小学并住在学校里由负责人照顾。

我们特别强调小孩在藏族文化、历史及语言上的学习。

By the way, I tried clicking on the link in your signature but it didn't seem to work (?)

[againstwind]

You'd better install some sofware like NJstar which can convert Simple into Trad. Very useful!

[volga_volga]

HashiriKata,

thank you so much for the conversion!

I don't know how to make the link in my signature a proper URL link... but if you cope/paste the URL address in your webbrowser it'll get you into the right webpage. It's working, I have just checked it.

thanks again

Olga

[mandarinboy]

Question marks and or squares are most likely due to font problems. Not all fonts support both simplified and traditional characters. If the character is not found in the font you will have a question mark or a quare instead. Try to use a different font e.g "arial unicode ms"

I just tested the tools at http:www.chinese-tools.com and yes, they do have a error in how the encoding is handled and not just a font problem. Instead, use this tool:

http://www.mandarintools.com/ His tool dimsum is fixing your text correctly( have just tested).

[Lugubert]

Question marks and or squares are most likely due to font problems. Not all fonts support both simplified and traditional characters. If the character is not found in the font you will have a question mark or a quare instead.

Another outcome might be that you get the majority of characters like you want them, but some here and there in the other system.

[djwebb2004]

Can I add to what someone said about Wenlin: it does translate between siimplified and tradiutional, and where there are ambiguities, ie where 1 simplified character corresponds to 2 traditional, it flags these up for manual resolution...