Setting up a Workspace

Use your PC to Master Japanese and Chinese

You may be going through this tutorial again some time in the future, and the Japanese project may be non-existent, or modified by yourself or another person. In any event, let's take a quick check of the user preferences critical to the next section.

Start with an Active Window

Smart Characters preferences come in two kinds: project or user preferences that affect all the document windows, and preferences that affect only the current document window, and are saved with the document. Having an active window open allows the menus and dialogs to report on your document preferences. The user dictionary(4- 7) window preferences are particularly significant, because automatically generated lists are displayed according to these preferences.

Press Alt+W then 2 (look at what you are doing so that you can use the mouse the next time) to activate the user dictionary window.

Alphabetic and Kanji Input Modes

Unlike English word processors, in which pressing the "A" key types the letter "A," Chinese and Japanese typing using a standard keyboard requires a way to control and indicate what the keys mean when you press them. Smart Characters distinguishes between two kinds of text input: alphabetic and kanji (hanzi in Chinese). Alphabetic input mode is controlled by the Keyboard menu, while the Chinese character input method is controlled by the Translate menu.

Check the Keyboard

Alphabetic input converts your keyboard typing into alphabetic text such as English, hiragana, or katakana according to the active alphabetic input mode (or keyboard) setting. You can switch keyboards using the Keyboard menu, the speed menu (press the Right Mouse button), the keyboard function keys, or by typing a control key.

Select Keyboard | Setup to invoke the Alphabetic Input Mode Preferences dialog, which displays a list of alphabetic input modes and their characteristics.
With the Input Mode control selected, press Up and Down to scroll through the list of input modes. Pay attention(5- 1) to the input modes Notes, English, Hiragana, and Katakana. Each should have Access set to F12, Side + -, meaning that the F12 key and side gray keypad Plus and Minus keys on the side of your keyboard rotate through these input modes. Otherwise, you can always access any mode by typing a control key, or by pressing the Right Mouse button.

Restricting input mode access is important for rapid text entry. If every alphabetic input mode had access through F12 or the side keys, it would take too long to skip over modes you didn't care about for the F12 key to be useful.

Select OK or press Enter to quit the dialog. Adjust the window size or View | Zoom if necessary to display some text and the insertion point.
Test the setup by repeatedly pressing the Side + and - keys (F12 and Shift+F12 for laptop users) to rotate through the input modes. Observe the insertion point and the status bar input mode indicator(5- 3), the input mode text at the far right of the status bar at the bottom of the main frame window.

Check the Input Method

Kanji character input requires selecting a correct kanji or kanji compound from a list of kanji that match what you are typing.

Select Translate | Auto Input Method to invoke the Chinese Character Input Method dialog, which displays a list of front end processors.

A front end processor (abbreviated FEP) converts keystrokes into Chinese characters, and is the way most Chinese and Japanese computer operating systems implement Chinese character input methods. Taking a more general approach required for a multi-lingual word processor, Smart Characters comes with two internal input methods and the capability to install external front end processors.

The internal input methods On Request and Incremental Match provide rapid text entry for users who require language assistance. Fluent users who do not require language assistance can install their own preferred input method.

All methods create and select from a list of kanji that match the pronunciation you have just typed or selected. On request creates the list at your request (using the menus or function keys). Incremental match creates the list automatically, with a variety of options for display and selection. External FEPs can operate in either fashion. We will begin the tutorial demonstrating the on request method:

Select On Request, then OK to close the dialog box.

If the list window had been minimized, it will now appear with the title Adjust Position and Size. This window is used to select Chinese characters, and, for speed, should not overlap the window containing the document you are typing.

Start out by positioning the list window on the right of the main frame window, at full height, and about 1/4 to 1/3 of the window width.

Check the Required Dictionaries

Smart Characters dictionaries are used to lookup and translate between English (or another roman language), alphabetic text, and Chinese characters. The internal input methods use these dictionaries in the text entry process.

Select Translate | Select Dictionaries to invoke the Select Dictionaries dialog, which displays a list of dictionary types and file names according to the active dictionary language set(4- 7). Verify that the dictionary language is set to Japanese, and that there are entries for at least Syllable, Word, and User dictionaries.

Optional Dictionaries

You may have entries for Translating and Reverse dictionaries, which accelerate English word and Chinese character queries. Both the Radical and the Stroke dictionaries support input methods for users who cannot or will not learn standard pronunciations, but are willing to learn and use even more complex systems for entering Chinese characters. All Japanese learn a standard system for pronunciation, so these dictionaries are generally not used for Japanese text entry.

On the other hand, a radical and stroke(4- 8) dictionary makes a handy rapid reading tool, and is typically installed into Smart Characters as a Reference dictionary.

Select OK to close the dialog box.
If you have not installed a Japanese word processing dictionary (an large optional dictionary that consumes disk space), you may get a Dictionary Not On-line notification message. You can still follow these tutorials by setting the Word and Phrase dictionary to Jpn100wd.dic, a small student dictionary.

Need more info? Go to the Customer Service Page. Questions or comments? E-mail to Apropos Customer Service

Apropos Customer Service home page 617-648-2041
Last Modified: March 23, 1996