How to input pinyin u: using MS IME

[Jockster]

Hi,

It turns out that I'm incompatible with Microsoft's PinYin IME 3.0. I can't figure out how to input u:, as in 女 nu:, or 旅行 lu:3 xing2. There must be a really simple solution ; I looked in the help file and on the net, but no luck.

Thanks in advance,

Jockster

[gato]

Type 'v' for the ü, young man. There's no 'v' sound in Chinese pinyin, so some clever fellow found a use for it.

[Jockster]

谢谢您！Like I suspected, a very simple solution, once you *know* it. Stupid me, didn't think of that, of course "u:" is represented by "v". Thanks, Microsoft.

[perjp]

In fact, using v to mean ü is almost universal in all sorts of Chinese input methods. Many young Chinese whose only exposure to pinyin is through various computer and cellphone input methods seem to think that v is in fact the standard way of writing ü. I've seen people use v when writing pinyin on paper as well...

[Alveranter]

yeah.. that's the question

using the ms IME ordinary input.. (although I use taiwan hanyu input), how to write for instance 女? I have tried so many combinations.. am I as stupid as it seems? n + y doesn't work, which I find pretty strange..

[trevelyan]

try "nv"

[Alveranter]

worked fine.. thanks

[citambulos]

How do I type the lü like in lüyou with intelligent pinyin???

thanks

[imron]

lv

[roddy]

Merged with just a small selection of the previous versions of this question

[citambulos]

谢谢！

[ParkeNYU]

I think that 'v' should just replace 'ü' in Hanyu Pinyin altogether. After all, 'v' and 'u' were historically allographs, so the reassignment is visually intuitive. Thanks to Unicode diacritics, it is possible to add tone marks to 'v': V̄ V́ V̌ V̀ v̄ v́ v̌ v̀. This arrangement is more legible than the current one, which is difficult to read in small fonts due to the density of components: Ǖ Ǘ Ǚ Ǜ ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ. The common practice of replacing the cumbersome 'ü' with 'v' isn't even limited to input methods; 'v' (in place of 'ü') can be seen on official signage in the PRC as well.

[imron]

Not just signage, passports also.

[liuzhou]

I can't remember which input systems, but I have also seen some which require 'uu' to get 'ü'.

 

In the old NJStar days both, 'nv' and 'nuu' worked.

[ParkeNYU]

I think I'll just stubbornly use 'v' for all instances of 'ü' just to see if any native speakers fail to understand (highly doubtful). Although I can't provide any hard evidence, it seems that toneless Hanyu Pinyin inputs are currently the most popular IMEs for writing Chinese in the world (by a significant margin). If this is indeed the case, most of these pinyin users will find the 'v' substitution to be quite natural.

[Auberon]

 

I think that 'v' should just replace 'ü' in Hanyu Pinyin altogether. After all, 'v' and 'u' were historically allographs, so the reassignment is visually intuitive.

 

Why not actually make u and ü phonetic too, while you're at it. Replacing ü with v but not doing the same in in words like 'qu' where the sound is the same would seem a wasted opportunity.

Personally, however, I find ü more visually intuitive (overlooking the fact that nobody knows how to type it on an English keyboard), because it represents the same sound in German.

[ParkeNYU]

It's not so much the typing issue as it is the doubled diacritics necessary to write a toned 'ü'.