Talk:Japanese input method

Keyboard differences

The recent edit summary said that "not all keyboards are the same". As far as I know, they are all the same, though; provide a reference for the differences: the "henkan" button etc. are the same on every Japanese keyboard I've seen. Also, the editor's mis-naming to "Japanese industrial standards" and the typos etc. don't inspire confidence. --DannyWilde 13:14, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

I spotted a bunch more errors in the edit; a lot of it was just wrong. Please be much more careful in future.

1. Sophisticated kana to kanji convertors, (known collectively as an input method editor, or IME), - wrong, IME is the name of a Microsoft product.

Please see Input Method Editor

I just looked at it again. What is your point? IME is the name of a Microsoft product, is it not? --DannyWilde 13:42, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Maybe, this line On the other hand, the term input method editor generally refers to the actual program that allows an input method to be used (for example MS New Pinyin, PRIME, or SCIM), or the actual editing area that allows the user to do the input. combined with the accepted usage at the top that IME is a simple abbreviation for Input Method Editor??

1. Also, some IME programs display a brief definition of each word in order to help the user choose the correct kanji in the case of unusual terms - wrong, they do this for everyday words.
2. If katakana is required, it is usually presented as an option along with the kanji choices. - wrong, the converters aren't clever enough to do that consistently. I doubt someone who writes this has much experience of typing Japanese.

Weird. Whenever I type anything, the katakana and romaji encodings are always listed at the end of the choices. Hiragana to katakana is not a difficult problem, so I don't see how the converter needs any extra cleverness.

I smile a little at this. Do you have to type Japanese a lot? "At the end of the choices"? Tee hee. --DannyWilde 13:47, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Mostly at work, and occasionally yahoo auctions, etc. I have to use Linux at work, and the IME on it is awful. I like Kotoeri (came with OSX on my iBook), and I consider the MS IME that I use occasionally at work to be somewhere in the middle. I know people who curse Kotoeri and install a 3rd party IME as soon as they get a new computer (the name slips my mind). So, it's a matter of preference. But the point is that while there can be a good deal of encylopedic information about Japanese input methods, I don't think that the specific information (like keyboard layout locations) is always useful. Neier 13:54, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

1. use arrow keys to scroll through - this is OK, but why delete "using the space key" - this is the usual method, is it not?
2. other symbols can be added by other buttons in the same way. Are there really such variations in these matters? I'd be interested in discussing this point further.

Yes. My Vodaphone starts AIUEO on 2, and KA, etc on 3. The 1 has punctuation, and the * has more.

Thanks for that clarification. --DannyWilde 13:47, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

1. Finally, a keyboard may have a special key to tell the OS that the last kana entered should not be converted to kanji. Sometimes this is just the Return key. This repeats something already stated. Further, it's the "enter" key as far as I know.

And, see the examples below for the Return/Enter debate.

http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/hhkeyboard/kb_collection/images/xmint.gif (Xmint)

http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/hhkeyboard/kb_collection/images/applekb2.gif (apple)

http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/hhkeyboard/kb_collection/images/mb6880.gif (Hitachi)

That's just three examples, although to the best of my knowledge, no Apple keyboard has ever had a Henkan button. The JIS link is identical to the redlink on the Japanese Industrial Standard page. As for typos, that's why this is a collaboration. I meant to clarify the article, not to inspire or inflate anyone's confidence. Neier 13:32, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for these interesting references. --DannyWilde 13:47, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Given the above discussions, I restored your edit, although I can't understand what you mean in the second-from-top paragraph. Can you reread it and try to clarify if you have time? Excuse me for being paranoid. I recently had some highly unreliable editors editing some other pages I am involved in. --DannyWilde 14:00, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

I moved the paragraph into the keyboard section, where it makes a little more sense (hopefully). Regards. Neier 22:33, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Help needed with Image:KB Japanese.svg

I've created Image:KB Japanese.svg. It was based on a png version by another user, which was also unfinished. Some feedback might help me to improve it. I don't know if it could/should then be used in this article. —StuartBrady (Talk) 11:45, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Also, would a katakana version be worth creating? (It shouldn't take me long.) —StuartBrady (Talk) 11:46, 14 August 2006 (UTC)