I'm tired of typing so slowly in Chinese, it's pathetic

[ma3zi1]

I remember when I was in 4th grade, we went to this computer lab every week to use a program that would teach us to type, rate our words per minute, typing error rates, etc... I remember there were typing games too.

Anyway, the program started with an image of your hands on the keyboard at first, and you had to copy a random string of words below. Later, the image of the keyboard went away, and things got harder, like using capitalization, numbers, symbols, so on and so forth...

So can anyone recommend a program like this that I can buy for learning 倉頡 ("Cangjie")?

[gato]

Well, Cangjie is the problem. It takes too long to learn. You should try double pinyin 双拼, which takes only a few hours to master for those who know pinyin. With 双拼, you'll be able to type at least twice as fast as you would be able to with regular pinyin.

Most pinyin IMEs have a 双拼 setting.

Here is a game that helps you learn 双拼.

http://www.cnblogs.com/typingfaster/archive/2008/04/11/1147679.html

双拼练习 （set your IME to Latin characters）

[anonymoose]

Or just use an IME that allows you to only input initials and it automatically selects the characters for you. I use NJStar, and I can type quite quickly with that. For example, if you want to write 图书馆, all you need to input is "tshg".

[DrWatson]

Cangjie is the problem perhaps. But if you don't know how to pronounce what you want to type, pinyin/zhuyin/phonetic IMEs are your problem. What specifically is causing you trouble? Is it that you cannot type what you want to say fast enough? Or is the problem recalling the structure of characters?

[jasoninchina]

I use an IME that came bundled with QQ. It's the only one I've ever used but I think it is quite nice. It is fairly adaptive and will remember which words you use often. You can type in long strings of words, even complete sentences, and it will figure out which specific characters you want to use. This function works probably 95% of the time. If you're typing in one character then pausing to choose which one, I'd say you ought to adjust your method. Assuming you already know how to type, I don't think there's any reason to learn any thing else.

[Glenn]

This is the first time I've actually seen what 雙拼 is and how it works. Thanks for that game, gato! It's going to take me a while to learn and get used to it, though. I may just end up sticking with pinyin. Sogou is pretty good, after all.

[gato]

glenn，try the game for about half an hour. See if you can get to almost being able to remember the keys. 双拼 only requires memorizing about 20 short cut keys. That's quite minimal for the speed gain to be made.

Here is a mnemonic for one of the 双拼 layouts. The Microsoft 双拼 layout is slightly different.

http://www.allwiki.com/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E7%84%B6%E7%A0%81%E5%8F%8C%E6%8B%BC%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88

* Qīu, Wua,ia, Ee, Ruan,üan, Tüe, Ying,uai, Ush,u；

求 蛙鸭 鹅， 软 踢越， 赢外 鼠；

* Ich,i, Oo,uo, Pun,ün! Aa, Song,iong, Duang,iang；

耻 哦， 屁蚊(晕!) 啊，送蛹， 得旺羊；

* Fen, Geng, Hang, Jan, Kao, Lai！

奋 耕 行， 即安——靠赖！

* Zei, Xie, Ciao, Vzh,ui,ü, Bou, Nin, Mian。

贼 携 次药 追鱼， 必呕，您 眠。

[ma3zi1]

@gato: Thank you! I had no idea 雙拼 was so useful, and that game was really helpful. My only slight issue is that there is not a 雙拼 setting for 繁體字 on Mac. There is only a 双拼 setting for 简体字 on mac. I use Windows as well though, so it is not a huge issue I suppose.

@DrWatson: The problem is 挑字, that process is just too slow. Also, I tend to think of characters more in terms of what they look like than what they sound like.

Regardless of what others may think, I still want to learn 倉頡. My colleague and I were just talking about this some more, and he recommended I try this free Windows program: http://www.hkworkshop.com/soft/soft.asp?id=4693

I think I will try to use 倉頡 for 繁體字 and 双拼 for 简体字 in the future. Thanks for all your help everyone!

[Rellik]

You can try this one. This is the most popular IME for native Chinese speakers. All you have to know is the pingyin of the characters and you can type in words and even sentences. The IME can "guess" what you are trying to type and show the most suitable characters.

搜狗输入法 http://pinyin.sogou.com/ It seems to only support Windows platform.