Which Chinese input software do you use?

[tooironic]

Was just curious...

Which do method you use for inputing Chinese on your PC and why?

And please let us know any other methods you use!

Cheers.

[character]

Pinyin or writing the characters with a pen (on a tablet PC) into Wenlin or the tablet input panel.

[imron]

I mostly use Wubi, but will also occasionaly use pinyin. I use Wubi because I find it's a good way to help learn and remember characters.

[yonglin]

I use sogou (搜狗) pinyin, and only sogou pinyin. It is very, very good in my opinion.

Moreover, they've recently improved their traditional input so that it actually comes out as 那裡 and 頭髮 rather than 哪里 and 頭發, which is convenient whenever I'm chatting to cute Taiwanese guys.

[skylee]

I use pinyin on pcs, stroke input on my handset, and handwriting recognition on my pocket pc.

[gato]

I use shuangpin (double pinyin) because it's just about as easy to learn as pinyin but as fast as Wubi.

I posted about it before:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=104454#post104454

Double pinyin (双拼)

[tooironic]

I use Wubi because I find it's a good way to help learn and remember characters.

Can you please elaborate? I'm curious about the input system myself.

[Shadowdh]

I use pinyin input and sogou on the pc and HWR and transcriber/letter recogniser on the PPC...

*edit* I should also mention that I use d-ear input and the CE Star software on the ppc too...

[ipsi()]

I use Pinyin via SCIM. Much as I would like to learn Wubi, it's not exactly easy to buy the software to learn it with from outside of China . And I'm not sure how well it will run under WINE. On the other hand, it's not exactly hard to download the demo copy...

The software is called 五笔快打, by the way. Thanks to Imron (I think) for pointing it out.

[imron]

Can you please elaborate? I'm curious about the input system myself.

There are several threads about it on the forums, and a search for Wubi should turn them up. The definitive guide to Wubi for speakers of English can be found here.

The software is called 五笔快打,

Yes, that's an excellent tool for practising. For actual input methods, on windows I would recommend freewb.

[atitarev]

I use handwriting recognition on my pocket PC - PenPower; Windows IME with Hanyu Pinyin input on Windows and because I use Wenlin, I also use the program as an input method - Hanyu Pinyin and character recognition for unknown characters.

[imron]

Oh, one more I forgot. For typing pinyin with tones, I use Pinyinput

[atitarev]

Imron, you are so good with programming. Pinyinput is great! I actually use Wenlin for the same purpose, since I have it but it is an expensive choice for inputting pinyin. Could you develop another input for Zhuyin Fuhao - ㄅㄆㄇㄈ with tones, please.

[badr]

I use pinyin input through FIT on the mac and google IME on the PC. works fine for me...

[imron]

Could you develop another input for Zhuyin Fuhao - ㄅㄆㄇㄈ with tones

I'll think about it. Actually, it might not be too difficult to incorporate this into Pinyinput, but I make no promises

[atitarev]

I'll think about it. Actually, it might not be too difficult to incorporate this into Pinyinput, but I make no promises

I wasn't expecting you to make promises. Thanks for considering it. I thought might be easy for you if you have a template, although, I don't know about possible hurdles.

[flameproof]

Can you please elaborate (about Wubi)? I'm curious about the input system myself.

In brief, for those too lazy to search:

Wubi uses the stroke order to select the character. If you have a PRC Chinese phone it most likely has the 5 wubi characters on the 1-5 keys. With Pinyin you learn better about the sound, with Wubi you learn better about the character and how it's written. Wubi is much faster too (edited: potentially much faster for for PC use for those who know it well - plus yet another good way to "think" actively about characters)

PS: I use Pinyin. Wubi (at least for me) is for the more advanced users.

[muyongshi]

Wubi is much faster too.

I disagree. It's faster for many native speakers who are not good at pinyin but for most learners pinyin is faster.

[imron]

Wubi on the computer and wubi on the phone are two completely separate input systems. The computer one is based on character shapes (wubizixing) and the mobile phone one is based on strokes (wubihua). I would argue that Wubihua (ie. the on phones) is slower than pinyin input.

[muyongshi]

Clarification I was referring to wubihua on the phones...