Pinyin keyboard keeps switching settings

[cbfunky]

Hi all,

 

I have the Microsoft pinyin Chinese simplified keyboard installed (PC) and so far it works okay. But the keyboard itself seems to have two settings: a 中 setting and a 英 setting. The former is on by default and it is what I use to type, I'm guessing the latter is used if you want to type English.

Sometimes it happens that the 中 setting changes to 英 and I have no idea why! Luckily I have discovered that I can switch back using Win-Shift, and initially I thought I was hitting that combination by accident somehow, but by now I'm certain that this is not the case.

 

Does anyone have any clues if there is a different keyboard shortcut that I might be hitting by accident or if there is some unknown condition that changes this setting?

I'm switching between my default German keyboard and the pinyin keyboard a lot using alt-shift (hence my initial thought that maybe I hit win-shift by accident, but I'm really not!) and that's usually not a problem.

 

Alternatively, do you have any idea how I can disable the 英 option of the keyboard?

 

Thanks!

[Luxi]

5 hours ago, cbfunky said:

Does anyone have any clues if there is a different keyboard shortcut that I might be hitting by accident

 

There is. The default is Control + Space, but it may not be the same in your PC. To check in Windows 10 go to :

 

Settings / Time & Language / Language Options and click: Chinese and then Options / Keyboard / pinyin, and finally Options / Keys.

The shortcut in English/Chinese Mode Switch will show the key combination that toggles 中 / 英, and give you a few options to change it. 

 

In the latest Beta update for Windows 10 it is possible to toggle by just clicking the 中 or 英 on the notification area of the taskbar, but I have no idea when did this option appear, it may be new. Click and check if it works for your version of Windows. If not, wait for the next Windows 10 update which is some weeks away (allegedly).

 

6 hours ago, cbfunky said:

any idea how I can disable the 英 option of the keyboard?

 

I don't think there's a way, at least no easy way.

 

[Demonic_Duck]

8 hours ago, Luxi said:

The default is Control + Space

 

Not on recent versions of Windows. For me on Windows 10, either `Win+Space` or `Alt+Shift` switches IMEs, and I haven't changed the shortcuts.

The 中/英 thing is probably different, though. Most Chinese IMEs also contain a Latin-alphabet input mode that can be activated without switching out of the IME, useful for typing sentences like "我还没 get 到这个点". I think the most common shortcut for this is `Shift`, used as a stand-alone key — press once to activate and then again to deactivate. At least, that's the shortcut used by Google Pinyin, and I think Microsoft IMEs are the same.

[Luxi]

@Demonic_Duck  looks like we're addressing different questions.

 

The OP already has IME and knows how to switch it on and off from their primary German keyboard. The issue is that when within IME, the input sometimes turns to English. The OP wanted to know how this happened, and asked whether there was a hotkey that toggled between Chinese and English from within IME. Note that toggling IME itself on and off will switch between Chinese and German, not English (unless there is also an English keyboard installed from Languages settings).

 

9 hours ago, Demonic_Duck said:

The 中/英 thing is probably different

 

That's right. When in IME, one can invoke an English alphabetical keyboard. It's useful but can also be a nuisance, as the OP's question shows. One can choose from a few hotkey options to turn this on and off from Settings, following the rather lengthy sequence in my answer above. The default is Ctrl+Space but other key combinations may have the same effect.

 

That is probably about to change (if it hasn't already changed), hopefully in the next release of Windows 10. I have the Windows Next versions of Windows10 (20H2) which is where I see that the IME can be switched to alphabetic mode without leaving IME by  pressing the 中 symbol on the Notifications area of the Taskbar (right hand side). Right-clicking that button will also bring up several IME settings, quite like how it used to be in Windows 7 and / or even XP.  There are other changes that seem to be ready (in the DEV channel previews) and might be brought over soon. 

 

There's a lot of information about IME here (not an easy read, but interesting)

https://documentation.help/Microsoft-IME/ 

 

 

[cbfunky]

19 hours ago, Luxi said:

The default is Control + Space

 

Aaaah, omg yes, you are correct. Windows+Shift changes it, but Ctrl+Space also changes it in the same way - So I was definitely hitting that! Thank you so much!

 

19 hours ago, Luxi said:

In the latest Beta update for Windows 10 it is possible to toggle by just clicking the 中 or 英 on the notification area of the taskbar, but I have no idea when did this option appear, it may be new

 

That doesn't work on my Win10, so let's hope that it gets pushed to main in the future. But I can live with the keyboard shortcuts, so at least that's something

 

11 hours ago, Demonic_Duck said:

I think the most common shortcut for this is `Shift`, used as a stand-alone key — press once to activate and then again to deactivate

 

Aha, actually this plays a role as well for me! Since German capitalizes a lot of words, I instinctively hit the Shift key quite often, so that would explain a lot.

 

Thank you both very much!

[TaxiAsh]

good question, I'll sub to this, as mine does this too. Damn annoying! I can't even see what the ying symbol does! (other than annoy me!)

[Demonic_Duck]

3 hours ago, Luxi said:

That's right. When in IME, one can invoke an English alphabetical keyboard. It's useful but can also be a nuisance, as the OP's question shows. One can choose from a few hotkey options to turn this on and off from Settings, following the rather lengthy sequence in my answer above. The default is Ctrl+Space but other key combinations may have the same effect.

 

Oh I see, you're right. I guess that's yet another option for changing input mode. So it looks like there are three options:

 

1. While in any IME, any mode:
   Switch between "parent" IMEs (`Win+Space` or `Alt+Shift`)
    

2. While in Chinese IME:
   Activate/deactivate "silent" Latin-alphabet input mode (`Ctrl+Space`). This hides the IME control panel.
    

3. While in Chinese IME, non-silent mode:
   Activate/deactivate "quick" Latin-alphabet input mode (`Shift`). This keeps the IME control panel visible, but switches the icon between 中 and 英.

 

My understanding is that OP is talking about #3, rather than #2, unless Microsoft Pinyin's UI behaviour is significantly different from Google Pinyin's.

[Luxi]

2 hours ago, Demonic_Duck said:

 I guess that's yet another option for changing input mode.

 

That makes sense. Even a mediocre typist like me wouldn't hit Ctrl+Space as often as the input mode switches itself to English. 

 

3 hours ago, TaxiAsh said:

I can't even see what the ying symbol does

 

I don't know whether it'll be the same in your version of Windows, try clicking it.  Does it turn to '中' and lets you write back in Chinese? If it does, it is a handy way to toggle the Pinyin / Alphabetic  input modes in IME. If it doesn't do anything for you, it's something coming up in a near future release of Windows10.

[TaxiAsh]

14 minutes ago, Luxi said:

don't know whether it'll be the same in your version of Windows, try clicking it.  Does it turn to '中' and lets you write back in Chinese? If it does, it is a handy way to toggle the Pinyin / Alphabetic  input modes in IME. If it doesn't do anything for you, it's something coming up in a near future release of Windows10.

 

I went into settings and changed my keyboard switching...

So I use Cntrl+Shift to switch, however, sometimes the ying character comes up instead of zhong. So I have to manually click on the little icon. It's annoying though when I want to type things quickly in both english and chinese, which obviously i often do.

 

Hopefully the update will fix it. I can't actually see what the ying symbol actually does... it doesn't bring up the options for my pinyin typing, and seemingly doesn't do anything!! (other than annoy me! haha)

[KylieWilson]

Thank you very much for the information, I have been looking for a long time! Love you all!

[Luxi]

On 2/1/2021 at 5:10 PM, TaxiAsh said:

 

Hopefully the update will fix it.

 

I've been testing further the pinyin input in my Windows10 PC. I can confirm that the (presumably) 'shift' input switch within IME no longer occurs. I typed quite long texts without the Chinese toggling to English. I also tried clicking 'Shift' as I typed, to no effect, the 中 on the Notification Area stayed put - the only way to use the switch was clicking on the 中 on the actual Language Bar to make 英 appear. I never had this much control on language input before. I also found a couple of delightful new features that were totally unexpected and I'm sure you'll welcome too.

 

What I don't know is whether it was a recent Windows10 update, or me tweaking some settings, or both - I believe it is actually Microsoft's updates because I would have noticed them last week when I posted in this thread. 

 

But it is possible that some of the improvements have already been released and everybody with a recent version of Windows10 can already use them. I have a Pre-release Windows10, Version 20H2, OS build  19042.789, Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.2020.0. The last update was last week.

 

 Here are my settings, just check if you can already already tweak your language input settings and if that solves the unwelcome 'Shift' switch.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Display Language >English (UK)

This has an 'Input Language Hot Keys' link to override Language Input Methods.Looks like a legacy feature, but just in case I have set most of the Key sequences to 'None' or to Ctrl+Space and in 'Change Key Sequence', I have both Input Language and Keyboard Layout switches as 'Not Assigned'

PREFERRED LANGUAGES 

Chinese (Simplified, China) > Options > Add a Keyboard: 

- Pinyin   
- Wubi   
- 谷歌拼音输入法 -------> Surprise surprise ! 

(This is the Google Pinyin input, probably an old one that I already had in the system. if activated, the Google input will show the Google Pinyin blue icon on the taskbar. You can toggle between Microsoft and Google by clicking on that icon. In my PC both Microsoft and Google were active by default after last week's update, but if not it may need Google pinyin downloaded separately.

PINYIN> OPTIONS

 

1.GENERAL    

- Pinyin Style : Full pinyin    

- Choose IME default mode: Chinese    

- Choose a character set: Simplified Chinese    
(note: the other option here is Traditional Chinese. If selected, it allows typing traditional characters using pinyin!). Nice surprise nr 2, though it may not be a new feature, I never looked there.     

Note at the bottom of this page:   
Microsoft Pinyin has upgraded to a new version but not all features are compatible with it...    
[there's a button to return to the old version, if pressed Microsoft will ask you why]    

 

2. KEYS    

Chinese/English mode switch: Ctrl + Space (the other 2 choices are daft)   

[I've no idea what the 'Candidate Navigation' or 'Input based on a phrase' options do yet. The other options are self explanatory]    

Results: a perfectly stable input (fingers crossed).   

I know nothing about the other pages (3.Appearance, 4.Lexicon and 5.Advanced), they look interesting. I didn't change any of these settings.

 

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A cautious note: make sure you have a good, thorough and sound backup before letting Microsoft update Windos10. There have been some horrific disasters in the near past.