Inputting third tone nasal accent on words like 旅行支票

[rideforever]

Hi there,

I'm trying to figure out how to input third tone nasal marks as in 旅行支票 (lǚxíngzhīpiào). I'm stumped on how to do this in both the regular windows character input as well as the pinyin input described in this branch. I'm using Microsoft New Phonetic IME 2002a with legacy functionality activated. Any ideas on how to do this, or references to refer to?

Best Wishes.

RF

[imron]

What do you mean by third tone nasal marks?

[rideforever]

I mean the two dashes over words like lǚ and nǚ in addition to the third tone mark. I've cut and paste these last two from an online dictionary but I've no idea how to add them in when typing either in Pinyin or using Microsoft's IME system.

[anonymoose]

I'm not familiar with pinyin input, but I know you can get ü by pressing ALT+0252, so maybe try inputing this first and then do whatever you usually do to get the 3rd tone.

[fanglu]

You could try Pīnyīnput. I hear it's the easy way to type pinyin with tone marks.

[imron]

The letter v is usually used as a substitute for ü in most IMEs. So to type 旅游 you would enter lvyou and then select from the list. To type pinyin with tones, then natually, I too would recommend Pinyinput It also accepts v for ü.

[rideforever]

The letter v is usually used as a substitute for ü in most IMEs.

That was exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks a bunch. I too use Pinyin input, and have for some time. Yesterday, I came across Google Pinyin IME. Has anyone got any experience in using that program? How does it stack up against Pinyin Input? Thanks again.

[imron]

They are completely different. Pinyinput is only for typing pinyin with tone marks. The Google Pinyin IME is for typing Chinese characters based on the pinyin pronunciation of those characters. It's similar to the Microsoft IME except that it's better at guessing the correct characters when you type in a long sentence. You might also consider looking at the Sogou Pinyin IME which is one the most popular IMEs in China.

[rideforever]

I see. Thanks a lot for all your help. I'll bear Google Pinyin in mind next time I have to do any more dreaded translation exercises for Chinese Class.

[Hofmann]

(My pessimistic side guesses that a native speaker told him that the two dots nasalize vowels.)

The two dots in Pinyin makes the close back rounded vowel more front into a close front rounded vowel, probably based on the German umlaut spelling which makes vowels more front or close. This is only when there is ambiguity between a close back rounded vowel and a close front rounded vowel.

[rideforever]

@hofmann, thanks a lot for that feedback. I can't remember if someone told me it was the nasalization of a vowel, or it was just something i'd assumed. It's interesting to find out what the umlaut actually means. Thanks for the links.