Cantonese Input

[DrWatson]

I used http://www.cantoneseinput.com/ to input: 有冇.

How would I go about that with a regular IME? I'd rather not have to remember the pinyin of a character just to input it, and I'm interested in how Cantonese is input into a computer. My platform is Mac OS, by the way.

What do natives of Cantonese language use for Chinese input? I've only studied Mandarin thus far and pinyin IMEs for my computer and mobile phone have been more than enough. I wonder though, what is used for computers and on mobile phones?

[skylee]

What do natives of Cantonese language use for Chinese input?

I myself use sougou pinyin input method on my pc (windows xp). My laptop which runs on windows 7 comes with a Cantonse input method (based on jyutping as far as I know), which I don't use (for no particular reasons). If I ever need to input in Cantonese, I use the jyutping method provided by mdbg (read my blog).

Using my mobile I can choose between handwriting input (using a stylus) and stroke order input, and I use both, although I prefer the former.

People I know (in Hong Kong) either 1) have no idea how to type Chinese or refuse to do so; or 2) use cangjie input method or its less complicated variants; or 3) use a writing pad. The younger generations who love texting on their phones use the two methods I said above. I think input methods based on romanisation are very unpopular in HK because most people don't know much about pinyin and even less about jyutping.

[gato]

That's good. Not using romanization-based input method makes it less likely that they will forget how to write characters. There is a silver lining here.

But I guess it also means that it's harder for kids to text as they have to know how to write and not just recognize. Might not be a bad thing, I guess.

But (another but) kids must be studying Mandarin and pinyin pretty early in HK nowadays. Are kids then more likely to use pinyin to text and type emails (which means that they would be inputting in Mandarin)?

[abytong]

I think the romanization-based input methods dont really have that much to do with whether you will forget how to write characters. Using radical-based IME doesnt mean you will think of how to write a character when you type it. It may be so when you are learning that IME at the beginning, but as soon as you get fluent with it, you just type as you type. I remember someone here in the forum said before, when you are familiar with something, you ended up performing it without thinking about it. totally agree with that. I am a wubi user and I (sadly) sometimes cant rebember how to writer a character too.

[DrWatson]

Interesting thoughts there, gato. Will Mandarin become the standard for not only communication in China but also computer input? That is interesting especially with the age of the PC looking to come to an end...relative to mobile terminals like tablets and phones. Will simplified-style character input methods with the hand become the way of the future...?

From what I've read about Hong Kong (caveat: in academic writings), even with English and Mandarin in schools, the children tend to fall back on Cantonese for peer-to-peer communication. I don't know much about Cantonese yet, but I wonder if you learn the Mandarin pronunciation for Cantonese-only characters in school? I guess in HK you probably would...but I wonder still. Or do you just write in standard Mandarin but talk in Cantonese?

With English, young kids like to text in common language and slang. Of course with English it is the same 26 letters. But I wonder if young people in Cantonese speaking communities prefer to write in Cantonese rather than standard Mandarin? I would imagine it would be somewhat more restrictive to use Mandarin to expressive such language, especially if Mandarin is not your native language.

[skylee]

but I wonder if you learn the Mandarin pronunciation for Cantonese-only characters in school?

I am not sure I understand the concept of Mandarin pronunciation for Cantonese-only characters. Something like English pronunciation of French words?

[Hofmann]

A better analogy would be English pronunciation of German words, such as "hight" and "heißen." But of course saying "How hight you" in English is wrong.

Anyway, a Cantonese phonetic IME for Windows is CPIME.

[DrWatson]

I am not sure I understand the concept of Mandarin pronunciation for Cantonese-only characters. Something like English pronunciation of French words?

Yes, I suppose that is an awkward statement. I was thinking of characters like 唔 and 冇 that I have not come across in Mandarin and would have no idea how to input with pinyin. But as a learner perhaps I just have not been exposed to them in my studies yet.

I guess it goes back to whether or not youngsters have become keen on pinyin and whether or not people text/blog/write in a conversational style. Having never lived in Guangzhou or HK I cannot remark on that. As you said Skylee, stroke order input is common. I was just trying to further postulate on some of the things that gato was thinking about.