- How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Free
- How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Download
- How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Os
Typing in Mandarin using Microsoft Word To use Mandarin characters and Mandarain tones in Microsoft Word: Go to the bottom toolbar and click on the “EN” icon. This will open up a menu in which you can select from English (EN), Mandarin characters (CH), and Chinese tones for roman characters (JP). Microsoft Office Word 2003 provides support for writing in various languages. You can configure Word to allow you to write in languages that use ideographic characters such as Japanese as well as languages that are written right-to-left such as Thai.
Page Contents
Script Basics
The Chinese script is a logographic script structured so that each character
represents a single concept; characters are then combined
to form compound words.
Note: The script does also have a phonetic component.
Although there are several distinct varieties (or 'dialects') spoken in China including Mandarin and Cantonese (Hong Kong),they can all read many of the same 'written words' because the script is more based on meaning, not on sound.
See the links below for more information
Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Pinyin
There are several variants of the the Chinese script used in different contexts.
- Chinese Traditional is the older form of the script and is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other locations outside of China, including various 'Chinatowns' in the West. Chinese Traditional characters are more complex and more numerous.
- Chinese Simplified was developed in Mainland China (and adopted in Singapore) as a way of simplifying the older system in order to increase literacy. As part of the of the simplification, several Traditional characters were collapsed into one character in Simplified. Although it is relatively easy to convert from Chinese Traditional to Chinese Simplified, the reverse is not always true. As a result, most systems support both Traditional and Simplified Chinese in parallel.
- Pinyin is the term used to refer to the system of writing Chinese words in the Latin (English) alphabet. This was developed in the 1950’s in Mainland China to help increase literacy.
Example Traditional vs. Simplified Chinese
The table below shows how the name for Mandarin Chinese changes between scripts and even nationalities. Note though that the characters in the form from China are the same in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
National Variant | Trad. | Simpl. | Pinyin |
---|---|---|---|
Singapore ‘Chinese language’ | 華語 | 华语 | Huáyǔ |
Taiwan ‘national language’ | 國語 | 国语 | Guóyǔ |
China ‘common speech’ | 普通話 | 普通话 | Pǔtōnghuà |
Language/Dialects
See the Other Language/Dialects section for information on forms like Cantonese and Wu.
Test Sites
If you have your browser configured correctly, the Web sites above should display the correct characters. If you have difficulties, see list below for font and browser configuration instructions.
- Simplified Chinese – BBC News Chinese Language
- Traditional Chinese – Yahoo Taiwan News
If these sites are not displaying correctly, see the Browser Setup page for set up information.
Font Recommendations
Both Windows and Mac (and mobile platforms) provide a set of Japanese fonts, but more decorative versions may be found through font vendors or font download sites.
Traditional Chinese Fonts by Platform
- Windows – MingLiU, PMingLiU, Microsoft JhengHei
- Mac OS X – AppleLiGothiic Medium, Li Hei Pro, Apple LiSung, BiauKai, LiSongPro
- Mac System 9 – Taipei, others
Simplified Chinese Fonts by Platform
- Windows – SimSun, NSimSun, SimHei, Microsoft YaHei, others
- Mac OS X – Hei, STHeiti Light and Regular, STFangsong, STKaiti, STSong, Kai
- Mac System 9 – Beijing, others
Activate Input/Typing Utilities
Different Input Options
In Windows, Macintosh/iOS and Droid, input options for both Simplified and Traditional Chinese are available.
You can also activate different input options for each script. Typical options include
- Phonetic/Pinyin – Users can type a syllable in pinyin and then select the correct character.
- By Radical/Stroke – This allows a user to search and enter characters by radical or stroke forms.
- Handwriting – Some systems allow users to write a character on a trackpad.
- Additional standards may be supported.
Activate Input Utilities (Windows and Mac)
Yabla How to type Chinese using Pinyin gives detailed instructions for activating Chinese pinyin input on both Windows and Macintosh as well as iPhone and Droid.
You can also view generic documentation for
Tone Marks in Pinyin
Macintosh
If you activate the Extended (ABC) Keyboard on the Macintosh, the following codes allow you to type different accent codes.
ACCENT | SAMPLE | TEMPLATE |
---|---|---|
Macron | Ā,ā | Option+M, X |
Circumflex | Â,â | Option+6, X |
Acute | á,Á | Option+E, X |
Grave | À,à | Option+`, X |
Umlaut | ü,Ü | Option+U, X |
Windows
A more limited set of accent codes are if the Windows International keyboard is activated. The long mark (macron) is not available there.
Web Development
Historical Encodings
Unicode (utf-8
) which corresponds to GB18030 (mandated in the People’s Republic of China) is the preferred encoding for Web sites, but the following older encodings may be encountered.
- Use Unicode (
utf-8
) whenever possible - Simplified Chinese Historic Encodings:gb18030, gb2312, gbk, Others
- Traditional Chinese Historic Encodings:big5, euc-tw, Others
Language Tags
Language Tags allow browsers and other software to process Chinese text more efficiently. Below are the recommended codes for different scripts
- Chinese:
zh
(the most generic tag, but rarely used) - Mandarin Chinese, Simplified Script:
zh-Hans
is preferred, butzh-CN
may be found on older sites. - Mandarin Chinese, Traditional Script:
zh-Hant
orzh-Hant-TW
(Taiwan) is preferredzh-TW
- Pinyin (Mandarin):
zh-Latn-pinyin
for Mandarin. If the text is not Mandarin,use one the dialect codes below. - Cantonese (Hong Kong):zh-HK
Vertical Text
See the Vertical Text page for information on vertical Chinese text
Other Chinese Languages/Dialects
About Chinese Dialects/Sinitic Languages
Different regions of China speak in varieties which are traditionally called 'dialects', but they are so far apart that spealers from different regions may not understand each other. Linguists usually consider these dialects to be separate related languages and sometimes use the term 'Sintic languages'.
The standard form of modern spoken Chinese is called Mandarin Chinese, but other forms include Cantonese/Yue (Hong Kong), Wu (Shanghai) and Hakka.
Language Codes
For these varieties, there are currently two standards available, the IANA standard which adds 'variety' tags to the base zh
tag or the SIL ISO-639-3 standard which treats dialects as separate languages.
Note: A — indicates no IANA or ISO-639-3 code registered.
Variety | IANA | ISO-639-3 |
---|---|---|
'Chinese' | zh | zho |
Mandarin | zh-guoyo or zh-cmn | cmn |
Cantonese | zh-yue or zh-HK | yue |
Gan | zh-gan | gan |
Hakka | zh-hakka | hak |
Huizhou | — | czh |
Jinyu | — | cjy |
Min* | zh-min | — |
Min Bei | — | mnp |
Min Dong | — | cdo |
Min Zhong | — | czo |
Min-Nan | zh-min-nan | nan |
Pu-Xian | — | cpx |
Wu | zh-wuu | wuu |
Xiang | zh-xiang | hsn |
* Min includes Fuzhou, Hokkein, Amoy, Taiwanese
How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Free
Script and Language Tag
Most non-Mandarin Chinese documents are written in either Traditional Chinese (or Simplified Chinese with additional characters), pinyin or some other Western phonetic form. To distinguish the forms, one can use a script tags like wuu-Latn-pinyin (Wu Chinese in pinyin) or wuu-Hant (Wu Chinese in Traditional Chinese)
Links on Chinese Dialects
- China Language Com – Out of Singapore. Detailed information in Hakka and Cantonese
Links
Chinese Computing
Windows
- Pinyin Joe – Includes updates on Windows 7 and Windows Vista
- How to display and edit Chinese on English Windows systems – includes e-mail, Dreamweaver, etc.
- Chinese Windows How To – Initial Setup instructions
Macintosh
Mobile
- Chinese How To: Smartphones – Includes Droid, Blackberry, Windows, iOS
How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Download
Linux/Unix
- Pinyin Joe – Includes updates on Ubuntu Linux
- Linux Chinese How To – Guide to Linux set up and common Linux/Unix problems. Out of Taiwan.
- www.linux.org.tw – In Chinese
How To Write Chinese Characters In Word For Mac Os
Chinese Language
Script Basics
Chinese Dialects
- China Language Com – Out of Singapore. Detailed information in Hakka and Cantonese
Web Development Tips
- Reading and Writing Chinese Characters and Pinyin on the Web Using Unicode – Tips for writing Chinese text in Unicode.
- Creating
Chinese Web Pages (Chinese Computing) – Covers general guidelines
Technical Issues
- Encodings on Chinese Web Pages – part of a PHP tutorial