How to type Chinese in Windows 2000

This guide will show you how to add Simplified Chinese characters to Windows 2000, so you can type documents in Chinese, send e-mails or instant messages in Chinese, or type anything else in Chinese.

Using these methods, you can also add Traditional Chinese characters, Japanese, Korean, Thai, French or any other special character set that Windows 2000 supports. Make sure to have your Windows 2000 install CD nearby in case you have to install additional files.

First, click the Start menu in Windows. Open the Control Panel.

Open the Regional Options.

Put a check mark next to all the Chinese characer sets (or whatever else you want). Then click Advanced and again put check marks next to the Chinese fonts. Select all of the Chinese fonts, as you may come across a webpage or document that uses the more obscure character sets. Click Apply.

Next, set your Locale to Chinese(PRC) if you plan to use Simplified Characters. Our lessons mostly use Simplified characters. Click Apply.

Select the Input Locales Tab, then click the Add button. Select Chinese(PRC). You can have multiple input methods on your system at once- Simplified Chinese, Thai, Portuguese, et cetera.

The default setting for Chinese(PRC) is to type Simplified Characters using PinYin. If you want change the Romanization system/keyboard scheme, you click Properties for more options. The default US Keyboard option will let you type Chinese using Pin Yin. Click Apply.

Go back to the General tab and set your location back to English(USA) or whatever you had in the beginning.

Now you will have an icon in your toolbar in the lower right hand corner that indicates which language you are typing. If you click this icon, you can select English, Chinese, etc.

In the Input Locales tab, you can set up a keyboard shortcut to cycle through the languages you have installed.

When you type in a valid syllable in pinyin, Windows will give you a row of possible matching characters. You can then select the correct character by typing the corresponding number or by clicking on the character with the mouse. If you continue typing, Windows will insert the most commonly used character.

Pressing the Shift button will toggle to and from English, but beware the English is in the Sim Sun font. Using this feature is not recommended for beginners. It is better to click on the language icon in the Windows tray and select EN, English, to get the right English input method. This sounds more complicated than it is. Experiment with it.

Now you are ready to type Chinese! Open up a word processor or web browser, and give it a try.