Chinese user setup

[Avraham Hanadari]

Loïc Martin wrote:
> Avraham Hanadari wrote:
>> Loïc Martin wrote:
>>> The keyboard is another matter, there's no "Chinese" keyboard per see. 
>>> Most use an English keyboard, but just set up the one that correspond to 
>>> your layout, and it will work too, unlike Windows where even with a 
>>> different layout the Chinese input method forces you to use an English 
>>> layout (even if your layout is different). Keyboard layout just don't 
>>> enter into the equation with modern input methods, so you don't have to 
>>> relearn one.
>> That paragraph is Mongolian for me. Windows defaults to the US keyboard
>> mapping for keying pinyin. Do you mean I have to map a keyboard from
>> scratch?
> 
> It means Windows force you to use an English layout when inputing 
> Chinese, even when your keyboard (and default layout in Windows) is 
> different (German, French, etc...), which mean you have to learn "by 
> heart" the English layout, since the keyboard doesn't match. It also 
> mean, when writing mixed language documents, you have to mentally switch 
> layouts in your head each time you switch from Chinese to your own 
> language (since English layout doesn't work if your language use 
> accented letters and such).
> 
> In Linux in general, and Ubuntu in this case, you can just type Chinese 
> with the same layout you use at the time, be it Spanish, German, 
> whatever. For example, if you're using SCIM pinyin method, and an AZERTY 
> layout, you'd press the top left letter for the letter "a" in "jian" (in 
> Windows, you'd have to press the "q" key, since it would correspond to 
> the letter "a" on an English layout), etc... If it's a QWERTY layout 
> you're using, you'd press the leftmost middle row letter to get the "a" 
> in "jian".

Thanks for the explanaion. Now I understand.
现在我明白了。That was a great effort. I'll stick to English, for now.
> 
>> I don't need the letters showing on the keys. I use several different
>> mappings: US, Hebrew, French, German. Arabic is supported in the same
>> way. It's just that it falls off the edge, like Victor Borge. Ubuntu
>> allows only four keyboards, so for the moment Arabic is waiting in the
>> wings. Maybe someone knows how to tweak the settings to allow for more
>> keyboards?
> 
> I don't have a clue. It seems to allow you to select whatever layout you 
> want when logging into your session though, provided you installed the 
> support for the language beforehand.
> 

I think SCIM also allows for other systems like Arabic. Maybe that is 
the way to go.

Avraham