How to type Chinese characters

Typing in languages with an alphabet is easy. You have a keyboard with each letter and there you go, it’s simple. There are thousands of Chinese characters so it is natural to wonder how do Chinese people type? Well, as you probably guessed, Chinese people don’t use a keyboard with thousands of keys. Instead they use typing methods that allow them to specify characters either based on sounds or character stroke order. There are a number of popular methods for typing Chinese characters. Vocab hacker is here to walk you through them.

The Pinyin Input Method

Pinyin is the most popular method of typing Chinese characters. Pinyin literally means “spelled sounds”, and is a system used to transcribe the sounds of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet. Basically, it is a system where each Chinese character’s sounds are spelled out using the Latin alphabet.

你好 = nihao = hello

谢谢 = xiexie = thank you

水 = shui = water

The Pinyin system makes typing Chinese characters easy. Using a typical Latin alphabet keyboard, users type the pinyin for a character and the software suggests possible characters that match the pronunciation. For example, if the user types the pinyin for hello “nihao”, the computer suggests the corresponding character 你好. This works on computers and phones and offers the same sort of predictive text capabilities that you get when typing in Latin languages. Some characters have similar sounds and therefore the same pinyin. In these cases the software offers you a list of characters to choose from or just makes a best guess based on the context of what you are typing.

Pinyin typing can be used for both Simplified and Traditional characters, and is the method used by most Chinese speakers especially in mainland China. If you are planning on learning Chinese this is the method you should use and you can stop reading unless you are curious about some of the other methods used.

The Zhuyin (Bopomofo) Input Method

Zhuyin, also know as Bopomofo, is a phonetic notation system primarily used in Taiwan. It consists of 37 characters and five tone marks, which allow all the sounds of Chinese characters to be transcribed. It is used when teaching children Chinese in Taiwan and predates the Pinyin system which is more popular in mainland China.

Zhuyin requires a special keyboard which consists of these unique symbols representing the sounds of Mandarin. As with the pinyin system, the input software suggests possible characters based on your input. This works the same on both computers and phones.

Zhuyi is primarily used for typing traditional Chinese characters as it is an older method and predominantly used in Taiwan where traditional characters are still used.

The Wubi Input method

The Wubi Input method differs from the two other systems we have discussed as it isn’t based on the sounds characters have but rather is based on their structure. Interestingly, this makes it possible to input characters you don’t know the pronunciation of which you can’t do with the Pinyin or Zhuyin methods.

With the Wubi method the keyboard is divided into regions representing various character strokes. To write a Character you type the characters strokes in the same order that they would be written by hand. Once learned, Wubi can be one of the fastest ways to type Chinese characters. That said, it has a steep learning curve and requires more knowledge about character structure than Pinyin or Zhuyi which require only knowledge about Characters’ sounds.

The Wubi input method is primarily used for simplified Chinese characters but support for traditional characters does exist. It was more popular before Pinyin became widely adopted but still has a dedicated user base particularly amongst those for who the ability to type fast is important.

The Cangjie Input Method

The Cangjie input method is another stroke-based input method similar to Wubi but it is more commonly used for traditional Chinese characters. It is named after a legendary ancient Chinese figure who supposedly invented Chinese characters.

It works similar to the Wubi method in that keys represent various strokes and radical components. But in order to use the Canjie method you need to know the names of radicals, their shapes, and rules about how characters breakdown into their constituent parts. For this reason the Canjie method is criticised as being very difficult to learn.

The Cangjie Input method is less common that the other methods discussed and is primarily used by older generations in Hong Kong.

To Sum Up

To type in Chinese you don’t need a very long keyboard with a key for each Character. The majority of Chinese speakers use the pinyin method which makes typing Chinese characters really easy. If you are learning Chinese are want to start typing characters you should use the Pinyin method. You will be using Pinyin already to help with reading and understanding character sounds so it is a no brainer. The only reason to consider the other typing methods is if you have some special circumstances like are planning to attend school in Taiwan or need to be able to type at the fastest possible speed.

If you want help installing the pinyin keyboard software, check out these guides for iphones, android, macbooks and windows.

When it comes to learning chinese characters checkout our web app which makes learning chinese characters easy. It is still in development but if you sign up to the waitlist you will get free early access.

Till next time, VocabHacker