How to type Chinese in Windows XP – A Very Brief Guide

- shuozhongwen.com staff

This guide will show you how to add Simplified Chinese characters to Windows XP, 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 XP supports.

Make sure to have your Windows XP install CD in case you have to install additional files.

First, click the Start menu in Windows. Open the Control Panel. Then open the Regional Options.

Check both boxes under Supplemental language support to install all the Asian language files.

Next, click the Details button , and then click Add. Select Chinese(PRC) to type simplified Chinese characters using Pinyin.

Then you should have this:

Next, click the button for Language Bar Preferences. Put a check next to Show Language Bar on the desktop. 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 Advanced tab, put a check next to Extend support of advanced text services to all programs.

Now you are ready to type Chinese! There are many options for customizing Chinese input on Windows. This guide should be enough to get you started. Poke around and you might find settings that fit better for your case.

To select Chinese typing mode, click on the Language Bar icon. It should read EN by default. Select CH to type Chinese. Open Microsoft Word or another program and try typing “ni hao” – you will see the pinyin spelled out and when you type the space bar after each word, the most common character that matches the pinyin will be inserted. If you want to change the character, press the left arrow key, and a bar will pop up with all the possible characters. Type the number that corresponds to the character you want.

Have fun!