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Reading/Writing Chinese in Windows XP

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This an FAQ: How to read and write Chinese (Simplified or Traditional Chinese) in English Windows XP. Many people thought people can do it only in Chinese Windows XP/2000. It is wrong. Since I reinstalled my English Windows XP, let me show you how to enable Chinese on English Windows.

Please note: This article assumes readers have only basic knowledge about the language of Chinese

By Default, You Cannot Read Chinese

This is how http://news.sina.com.cn looks like on English Windows Xp, before Chinese language package was installed.

screen-sina-without.chinese.png

Steps

Now You can Read

Going back to http://news.sina.com.cn, and it works now.

screen-sina-with.chinese.png

Steps to be able to Write in Chinese

The steps above only enable people to read Chinese. These are the steps to setup Chinese IME (Input Method Editor).

screen-chinese.ime.png

Now you can input Chinese now. Here is a test.

Entering Chinese

This is the simplest usage of IME. Really input Chinese is much more harder.

Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at August 21, 2006 11:15 PM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20060821_readingwriting_chinese_in_windows_xp.htm

Related Entries: Microsoft
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  3. Bill Mao July 8, 2004
  4. Transferred to Microsoft Consulting Service July 6, 2004
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Comments

if you have mac os x you can read from the moment you installed os x
if you want to write/input just go to system preferences: international: input menu /Users/Quinn/Desktop/Picture 3.jpg and check simplified chinese and check ITABC for pinyin others i don't know what they mean

Posted by: qh on August 22, 2006 3:53 AM

I think that Shanghaiist.com is the best site for foreigners to learn about Shanghai. The topic here are boring and nonsense.

Posted by: money on August 22, 2006 5:26 AM

Dan's article in Budgettravelonline.com.
http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060800942.html

Posted by: money on August 22, 2006 5:42 AM

I done both, but some programs still does not display chinese characters properly, for example the QQ chatwindow.

Any idea how to solve those?

Posted by: killarkai (external link) on August 22, 2006 12:20 PM

killarkai maybe it's not unicode?

Posted by: Johnko on August 22, 2006 6:20 PM

killarkai, the application you run may not be Unicode application, so it depends on something called "locale" to work. Locale is the default translation of codes to characters. By default, the English Windows XP's locale is English. You should change the setting for non-unicode application from English to Chinese to enable those Chinese applications work properly. Here are the steps:

1. Start -> Run -> Intl.cpl
2. Switch to Advanced Tab, and choose "Chinese (PRC)" for Language for non-Unicode Programs and click OK.

You will be promoted to restart your computer. After restart, your Chinese applications should work.

Basically, after the steps I provided above, your English Windows XP is basically a Chinese Windows XP, except the English interface.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on August 22, 2006 11:01 PM

I thought it was a common sense...

Posted by: Fermi (external link) on August 23, 2006 1:25 AM

Not to those of us who can sort of read Chinese, but cannot write in Chinese.

Posted by: Dave G. on August 23, 2006 5:20 AM

Hi JS

Thanks for sharing the above details information. To be able to read chinese text, I normally go View bar --> pointed at encoding, select either Chinese simplified (if it is China URL or email sent by friends from China) or select Chinese traditional (if its Taiwan URL or email sent by friends from ROC).

Cheers!

Posted by: Michelle on August 23, 2006 4:40 PM

thank you jianshuo! That solved my problem.

Posted by: killarkai (external link) on August 24, 2006 12:01 AM

Thanks JianShuo!! Would you happen to know how to use Pin Yin inputs to type Traditional Chinese?

BR,
Sam

Posted by: Sam on August 24, 2006 1:47 PM

Sam, 你好!

> Would you happen to know how to use Pin Yin inputs to type Traditional Chinese?

No problem, even with Simplifies Chinese and Pinyin input method installed, you can switch over to
tradiditional chinese characters, eg.

媽媽罵麻嗎?

小卫/衛

Posted by: Xiao Wei (小卫) on August 25, 2006 6:58 PM

Thank you for you valuable information. It is very good.

Posted by: Guest (external link) on September 4, 2006 3:55 AM

Jian Shuo:

You got a great blog. I actually subscribe to your RSS feed, and read it quite often. Keep up the good work.

I actually have a slightly off-topic question for you. Do you know where I can find an authoritative source of English -> Chinese IT term translation? I need to give a talk to a group of IT folks in China soon, and would like to know the Chinese translation of some of these IT terms. For example: Portal, B2B, B2C, ETL, OLAP, .NET, organizational chart, design patterns, Service Oriented Architecture etc...

I know I can use Baidu do find the Chinese translation of some of these terms, but it's a chore for all the words I need. Do you know a site where I can find these terms in Chinese?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by: EAGuy (external link) on September 4, 2006 3:17 PM

OK...how do I turn my CHINESE computer language on Windows XP Pro to ENGLISH?? I'm teaching English in China and speak NO Chinese! HELP!

Posted by: margojnolan on September 5, 2006 3:36 PM

hi,

i have just downloaded QQ for the purpose of learning mandarin. Problem is when i enter the group chat room, i am not able to read the characters written.

anyone ever encountered the same problem and knows how to solve it?

i am able however to view other chinese sites other than QQ chat room. Any inputs would be very much appreciated

Henry

Posted by: Henry Xie on October 27, 2006 11:50 AM

Hi,

I am running Windows XP and I have already installed Chinese IME, however I find that I still cannot display any chinese text when I am trying to display the playlist in Realplayer. I can input the characters, but cannot display correctly. Can that be solved?

Ana

Posted by: Ana on January 26, 2007 10:35 PM

I have also problem with qq.. I can view all chinese web pages but I cant send chinese text in qq or see what people write even I tried many different versions of qq.. If anyone can help me I ll be happy.. cauz. I need to learn chineseee!!!!!! :)))

thankss

Posted by: alper on February 11, 2007 6:58 PM

try to install AppLocale from microsoft it's free and it works for me

Posted by: Marco on February 21, 2007 2:22 AM

When I tried to set up my computer following your instruction above, so I can read and write Chinese. I come across a problem. Under the Input language I click (Chinese (PRC)) then under Keyboard layout/IME box, I only have ( Chinese ( Simplified-US Keyboard) instead of Ping-yin.

What should I do to be able to wrote Chinese????
thanks

Posted by: Lydia Lau on April 8, 2007 4:11 PM

how we can know what language of windows OS was installed in the system by using c#.

Please reply back.

Posted by: saiprasad on April 16, 2007 6:11 AM

如果我要type Chinese in online game how?

Posted by: 6-3 on April 24, 2007 10:35 PM

I found a old PC with Winxpsp2. Its in great shape, execpt, everything is in chinese, I am american and I cannot read chinese, ( wish I could ) OK I tryed to UNcheck the checkbox in regional settings, for "Install files for East Asia Languages". but the box is greyed in and I cannot uncheck !! and of course all the cgoices for lanauges are in chinese so I can't try to choose english... I am pretty sure this is not a chinese xp verision , it was just configured from english to chinese. ANY AND ALL HELP APPRECIATED ! AND tHANK yOU!

Posted by: hOWIE on April 27, 2007 1:34 PM

The configuration there does not help you to change the interface. I am afraid you MAY have a Chinese Windows XP. If you are so sure that you have seen English interface before, maybe you have installed a multi-language pack - which is very rare. If it is the case, look for the configruation in your Start menu, instead of in the control panel. I believe there is some configuration places parallel to where Microsoft Office shortcut in the Start menu.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on April 29, 2007 12:02 AM

RE:Jian Shuo Wang ,

Thanks for the insight, Is their anything I can do so that i can change the language to US English? So that i can use the PC. For example if this is a Chinese version of XP, Isn't their a way to make it usable in English, just like their is a way to take an US XP and make it usable to a Chinese person? Thanks again For The Clarification! Regards, Howie.

Posted by: hOWIE on April 30, 2007 12:17 AM

Hi, I've read all of the above comments regarding QQ, but none of it applied to Windows 2000. Does anyone know how to make programs like QQ display chinese characters correctly in Windows 2000? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Posted by: Winter on May 7, 2007 10:31 AM

Hi, I'd like to ask something. I used to use njstar to input chinese words, both in simplified for Singaporean friends and traditional to Taiwanese. But it hangs my system so i used your method to input chinese. It works fine but how do i use pinyin to input traditional chinese? And when i send simplified chinese to my Taiwanese friend via email, it came out all nonsense letters. Is it gmail's bug or the encoding on their side? Pls reply via email to me if possible. Thanks for all your help.

Posted by: Winnie on May 25, 2007 3:26 AM

How about if I dont have the windows xp home edition cd is there anything I can do ?????????
please send me a email to noxturno@gmail.com wit what ever help you can give me ^^
thanks alor ....

Posted by: Noxturno on May 30, 2007 5:12 AM

这样好教学文章I'd like to say Thank you very much!

Posted by: Robert H. Xu on June 1, 2007 7:25 PM

what if i dont have the Windows XP installation CD???? what should i do??? thanks

Posted by: veronica on August 5, 2007 12:42 AM

veronica, I am afraid there is no way for you to do that.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on August 5, 2007 1:14 PM

I would like to be able to read Chinese Emails to me (in English)

AND THEN maybe learn to reply with some sort of a converter from English to Chinese

eventually Americans are going to need to learn some Chinese and Spanish too

thanks for any help; any help must be presented to me at an elementary/simple level or it will appear as Greek to me!

Richard

Posted by: richard on August 13, 2007 8:10 AM

I have installed the Asian language pack and even Applocale and, for the most part, I can read and write in Chinese。 But random characters do not show up when I type them in Chinese. For instance "jian" (from zaijian) or "ci" ("word"). Anyone know how to solve this?  

Posted by: Annie on September 19, 2007 2:06 AM

Hi,

I follow the exact procedure to enable language in Chinese ( PRC) on regional set up, however I still can not read the Chinese in QQ: example , the icon and all characters as ?????? and not the Chinese characters!

What should I do ? Please kidly hep.

你好,
我按照您的说明,在 contol panel -regional setting,加上CHINESE (PRC), 但是还是不能阅读QQ信息上的中文.而且所有文字,如果不是??????,要么就是:


[¹«¸و]جى½µ؛ل²ئ»î¶¯£¬؛أشث¹ِ¹ِہ´!
[ذآخإ]دہزهµہIIةٌضف½لزهذآ°و¼´½«حئ³ِ
[¹«¸و]ةùر¶168»¶ہض¶¹³نضµا‏µہب«أو؟ھئô
[»î¶¯]±¦±¦µع¶‏آضأâ·رشùثح½ّذذت±£،
[¹«¸و]ز،ز،ہضIV 11شآ³¬¼¶حو¼زأâ·رحو!

请问我该怎么才能阅读QQ登陆前和登陆后的中文?
希望您的帮助,谢谢您
CARL 敬上

Posted by: carl lim on November 14, 2007 12:05 PM

I am using English Window XP SP2, and want to view simplified chinese characters.

I can view simplified sites like baidu.cn, but when I downloaded some of these software, the instructions are messed.

I tried to run intl.cpl as you mentioned, but the box "install files for East Asian Languages" is dimmed.

Please give me some advices. Thanks.

Posted by: dyeung on December 27, 2007 1:43 PM

All of your help was great, THANK YOU!! I now have a different problem. I have an English XP SP2 system with Chinese interface support (works great, I can see Simplified characters and input Pinyin no problem). My problem is with some programs with both Chinese or English interfaces that start up thinking that my system is Chinese, so I only get a Chinese interface (which I can't read without translating using TranStar).

For example, a printer driver installation program sees that I have Chinese support (even though it is an English version of XP Pro SP2), and starts up with a Chinese interface only. There is no option to select another language. If I remove Chinese support, that same program will start up with an English interface.

How do I keep Chinese language support on my system, but force programs with multiple language interfaces to start with an English interface by default?

Thank you in advance, and thank you for the time you put into this blog!

Posted by: Steven Douglas on February 10, 2008 3:26 PM

i came across this kind of said-to-be chinese which i can't read even though i've already had the chinese language pack installed and can read chinese newspapers and websites on the internet.

can i ask what is this and how can i read it? thanks.

[quote]

-------------------------------------------------------
¡´°¨ÁɧJ¤u¨ã GMask version 1.70 ¾Þ§@»¡©ú®Ñ ('00 4/3)
-------------------------------------------------------

µL¦w¸Ëµ{¦¡¡C½Ð¦U¦Û±N¸Ñ¶}«á¤§ GMASK.EXE ©ñ¸m¨ì®à­±©Î¶}©l
¿ï³æ¤W¨Ó¨Ï¥Î¡C

¥»³nÅé¤ä´©¥H¤U¤§°¨ÁɧJ³B²z¡C
Áa¡D¾î¤§¤ò¬Á¼þ¼Ë³B²z¡C
¥¿­t¤ù¤ÏÂà¡C
XOR 0x80 ³B²z¡C
RGB­È§ó´«¡C
¤W¤U¡D¥ª¥k¤§µe¹³¤ÏÂà¡C
MEKO°¨ÁɧJ¤¬´«³B²z¡C(¤­¤Q´P ¬v¤G¥ý¥Í§@)
WIN°¨ÁɧJ¤¬´«³B²z¡C(¥~§ø °ª³¹¥ý¥Í§@)
FL°¨ÁɧJ¤¬´«³B²z¡C(¢Õenesis ¥ý¥Í§@)
Q0°¨ÁɧJ¤¬´«³B²z¡C(ÆõÇpÆõÇp ¥ý¥Í§@)
CP°¨ÁɧJ¤¬´«³B²z¡C(¤º³¥¥ý¥Í©M¢Õenesis ¥ý¥Í§@)

°Ê§@Àô¹Ò
Windows 95/98/ NT4.0 ¤é¤åª©¡CB

[unquote]

Posted by: richard on March 24, 2008 8:32 PM

Can any one tell me the simplest way to learn common chinese words?

Posted by: imran ali (external link) on March 25, 2008 7:28 PM

can you tell me how to intall my computer to help me display chinese on my computer.
I knew that intall the east asia language, but i dont have Windows XP CD, how can I do it?
thank you very much.

Posted by: mimi on March 31, 2008 4:15 PM

Hi! Is there anyway to sort my chinese files in a folder by hanyu pinyin? like words with A(阿) first then B(白) then C(菜) and so on? For example for my chinese songs so i can find them easily. It is possible in KTV software so i believe it is possible in XP...thank you!!

Posted by: Lester on May 6, 2008 4:01 AM

I have done all the steps, installed prc selected it and i can type fine everywhere exept in an online game called dekaron. its a chinese game so i dont understand what i am doing wrong. when ever i type there it gives me question marks eg. ???? ?? ???. but i can type fine here。

糊塗
我學習漢語 我會說一點

Posted by: Garrin on May 8, 2008 4:30 AM
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