Chinese Computer Input Methods

In order to understand the nature of Chinese computer-based writing, this section introduces Chinese computer input methods. For the purpose of this discussion, the “input methods” refer to the use of the QWERTY keyboard.

Because Chinese is logographic, it is difficult to have a one-to-one match between the keys and the characters. Therefore, Chinese uses complex and multiple input methods. There are two different kinds of Chinese computer typing. One is based on the shape of characters such as CangJie 仓颉 and Wubizixing 五笔字型. The other is phonetic-based such as Pinyin 拼音 and Zhuyin Fuhao 注音符号. Zhuyin Fuhao is a phonetic system that transcribes sounds in Mandarin Chinese with symbols that are not based on the Roman alphabet; instead, they look like simple components or Chinese characters. For example, 大 “big” is transcribed as dà in Pinyin but it is transcribed as ㄉㄚˋ in Zhuyin Fuhao, with ㄉ to transcribe the syllable initial consonant, ㄚ the vowel, and ˋthe tone diacritic. Zhuyin Fuhao is mainly used to educate Chinese and Chinese learners in Taiwan.

Shape-based input methods such as Cangjie have keys remapped on the QWERTY keyboard for the components of characters that would be input in sequence to yield the complete character as the output. Basic components of characters are shown in The QWERTY Keyboard Layout of Cangjie.

Users of shape-based Chinese input systems must know how each system divides a character into different parts. For example, in the case of the Cangjie input method, the traditional character 車([chē],  car) is divided into three components 十[shí], 田[tián] and 十[shí]. The corresponding key for 十[shí] on the QWERTY keyboard is J and that of 田is W. Therefore, the keys for 車[chē] are JWJ as shown in figure. Shape-based Chinese input systems use different ways to encode each part of the characters, requiring hours of training before one is familiar with the typing. For this reason, Chinese learners seldom choose the Cangjie method.

The Pinyin-based input method is the most popular among computer users in the P.R.C. and Chinese language learners who learn Chinese using Pinyin.

In order to type Chinese with Zhuyin Fuhao, users need to memorize the location of phonetic symbols. As opposed to Zhuyin Fuhao, the Pinyin Romanization system uses the letters of the Roman alphabet. As a result, users do not need to memorize the layout of the symbols on the keyboard if they use the QWERTY keyboard and know how to type English (or other languages that use the Roman alphabet). However, Chinese computer typing is different from typing alphabet-based scripts. It normally involves three steps: Step 1: Pinyin-typing (the Romanization system of Chinese pronunciation), Step 2: character recognition, and Step 3: character selection from a drop-down panel that presents a list of suggested characters (see figure with an example using你([nĭ], you) in Chinese typing).

Unlike paper-based Chinese writing, these three steps require different language skills. Therefore, scholars should not use a static approach to analyze writing. In addition to studying the students’ final written product, they should investigate all the writing steps and the processes that learners have taken to produce their composition. New methods that investigate the entire Chinese writing process must be developed in order to understand the nature of learners’ writing errors.