Working with Foreign Language Keyboards

Macintosh and Windows

Setting up a Foreign Language Keyboard on your Computer

word processing web encoding sending e-mail insert accent marks setting up a keyboard

These instructions are general and should work for any language that the operating system provides for. This includes, but is not limited to Russian, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, and Korean. Select your operating system to continue.

If for some reason these instructions do not work, please post to the Computing Questions conference in FirstClass.

General Instructions

Macintosh OS 9 Windows 98
Macintosh OS 10.1 Windows 2000
Macintosh OS 10.2 Windows XP
Macintosh OS 10.3 or higher  

Language Specific Instructions

Macintosh OS 9

  1. Insert your Mac OS software install CD.
  2. Double-click on the Mac OS Install icon (you are not going to install the entire OS again, just an extra component).
  3. In the Install Macintosh Software window, click Continue.
  4. In the Select Destination window, make sure that the Macintosh HD (or whatever you may have named your hard drive) is selected and click Select.
  5. A pop up window will appear. Click Add/Remove.
  6. In the Custom Installation and Removal window UNCHECK all the boxes that have check-marks. If you leave any of these checked other things will be installed, or rewritten onto you computer.
  7. CHECK the box that says Language Kits.
  8. Click on the pull-down menu next to (on the right) the Language Kits option, and choose Customized Installation.
  9. A window will appear that asks you to Select Language Kits features to install.
  10. Check the box for the language software that you want to install. All of the other boxes should have no checks.
  11. Click OK.
  12. You will be brought back to the Custom Installation and Removal Window. Make sure that the Language Kits is the only option that is checked off and then click Start.
  13. You will be warned that your computer will automatically restart after the install. Click Continue.
  14. The software will install and your computer will restart automatically. When the computer has restarted, take the CD out of the computer.
  15. You should see a flag in the menu bar at the top of your screen. This is a menu you can click on to select a different keyboard. When you want to toggle back to English, just select the American flag.

 

Macintosh OS 10.1

  1. From the Apple menu choose System Preferences.
  2. Double-click on International.
  3. Select the Keyboard Menu tab.

    Note: If you have OS 10.2, you must choose the Input Menu tab.
    It is the same as the Keyboard Menu tab for OS 10. and10.1, but with a different name.
  4. Check the language that you would like to set up.
  5. Click on the Options button.
  6. Uncheck the box for Keyboard Menu Shortcuts.
  7. Make sure the box for Font and Keyboard Synchronization is checked.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Close the International Window.
  10. Quit out of the System Preferences.

A flag menu will now appear next to the Help menu on your desktop. This is a menu you can click on to select a different keyboard. When you want to toggle back to English, just select the American flag.

If you do not find the language you would like to set up in the list on the Keyboard menu tab, you may be able to download the necessary files from Apple. For more information go to:

Macintosh OS 10.2

  1. From the Apple menu choose System Preferences.
  2. Double-click on International.
  3. Select the Input Menu tab.
  4. Check the language that you would like to set up.

    Notes:

    Some languages offer more than one keyboard. The QWERTY option given for some languages is a phonetic keyboard and may be easier to use. We suggest selecting both keyboards and trying them out.

    If you would like to have a map of the keyboard (so you know which keys produce which characters) check the box for Keyboard Viewer as well as the language you would like to set up.

    If you would like a palette of all of the characters available at a given time, check the box for Character Palette, or for Japanese, the Japanese Kana Palette.
  5. Click on the Options button.
  6. Uncheck both checkboxes.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Close the International Window.
  9. Quit out of the System Preferences.

A flag menu will now appear next to the speaker icon at the top of your desktop. Click on this menu to select a different keyboard. When you want to change back to English, just select the American flag.

If you would like to see the keyboard map, go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities and open Key Caps.

If the language you would like to use is not selectable from this menu, it means the application you are using does not support typing in this language.

Macintosh OS 10.3 or higher

  1. From the Apple menu choose System Preferences.
  2. Double-click on International.
  3. Select the Input Menu tab.
  4. Check the language that you would like to set up.

    Notes:

    Some languages offer more than one keyboard. The QWERTY option given for some languages is a phonetic keyboard and may be easier to use. We suggest selecting both keyboards and trying them out.

    If you would like to have a map of the keyboard (so you know which keys produce which characters) check the box for Keyboard Viewer as well as the language you would like to set up.

    If you would like a palette of all of the characters available at a given time, check the box for Character Palette, or for Japanese, the Japanese Kana Palette.
  5. Click on the Options button.
  6. Uncheck both checkboxes.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Close the International Window.
  9. Quit out of the System Preferences.

A flag menu will now appear next to the speaker icon at the top of your desktop. Click on this menu to select a different keyboard. When you want to change back to English, just select the American flag.

If you would like to see the keyboard map, choose Keyboard Viewer from this menu.

If the language you would like to use is not selectable from this menu, it means the application you are using does not support typing in this language.

Windows 98

To Install Language Support

  1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Click the Windows Setup tab.
  4. In the Components list, check the Multilanguage Support checkbox, and then click the Details button.
  5. Select the check boxes next to the languages that you want to use and click OK.
  6. In the Add/Remove Programs Window, click OK.
  7. Click No to avoid restarting.

To add Language Keyboard

  1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Keyboard.
  3. Click the Language tab.
  4. Click Add and select languages (Make sure you leave the default at English).
  5. Click OK.
  6. In the Keyboard Properties Menu, click OK.
  7. Restart.

When the computer restarts --



Note: If you do not find Chinese, Japanese, or Korean in the Multilanguage support menu, you may need to download their IME's, which can be found on the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/recommended/ime/install.asp . Download with the Language Pack.

Note: To use Japanese Kanjii you must click on the Input Mode button in the toolbar to select which character style you want to type in. Direct input will give you English.

 

Windows ME

To Install Language Support

  1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Click the Windows Setup tab.
  4. In the Components list, check the Multilanguage Support checkbox, and then click on the Details button.
  5. Select the check boxes next to the languages that you want to use and click OK.
  6. In the Add/Remove Programs Window, click OK.
  7. Click no to avoid restarting.

To add Language Keyboard

  1. Go to windows Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Keyboard.
  3. Click the Language tab.
  4. Click Add and select languages (Make sure you leave the default at English).
  5. Click OK.
  6. In the Keyboard Properties Menu, click OK.
  7. Restart.

When the computer restarts --

Windows 2000

To Install Language support

  1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panels.
  2. Open the Regional Options control panel.
  3. On the General tab, under Language settings for the system, check the language that you would like to set up. (Uncheck *everything* else. Scroll down to find more languages in that menu.)
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click No to avoid restarting.

To add Language Keyboard

  1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panels > Keyboard.
  2. Select the Input Locales tab and click Add.
  3. An Add Input Locale window will pop up.
  4. From the Add Input Language pull-down menu, choose the language that you would like to set up.
  5. Make sure that the Keyboard Layout/IME is set to that language.
  6. Click OK.
  7. In the Input Locales Menu, check the box next to "Enable indicator on taskbar."
  8. Press OK.
  9. Restart.

When the computer restarts --

Note: To use Japanese Kanjii you must click on the Input Mode button in the toolbar to select which character style you want to type in. Direct input will give you English.

 

Windows XP

  1. Choose Start > Control Panel.
  2. Select Regional and Languages Options.
  3. Click on the Languages tab.
  4. Click Apply (the files will install).
  5. When asked to restart, click Yes.
  6. When the computer restarts choose Start > Control Panel.
  7. Select Regional and Languages Options.
  8. Click on Add other languages (this will open the Regional and Language Options Control Panel).
  9. In the Text Services and Input section click Details
  10. Click OK and then Apply.
  11. Click on the Language Bar button.
  12. Check Show language bar on desktop.
  13. Check Show text labels on language bar.
  14. Check Show additional language bar icons in the task bar.
  15. Click OK.
  16. Click OK again.
  17. Restart the computer.

When the computer restarts --

Note: For East Asian languages you will need to adjust the size of the toolbar to see all of the options. To do this, right-click on the toolbar and select Adjust Language Band Position. You can do this after you switch back to English to shrink the toolbar again.

Note: To use Japanese Kanjii you must click on the Input Mode button in the toolbar to select which character style you want to type in. Direct input will give you English.

 

How to type Urdu on an OS X Mac

  1. Click here to download the Urdu font.
  2. On the Font Book window that appears, click on Install Font.
    (Note: If the Font Book window does not appear, double-click on the book with the letter F on the dock.)
  3. Font Book > Quit Font Book.
  4. Go to Apple > System Preferences > click International > click Input Menu.
  5. Check Arabic and Keyboard Viewer, then close the International panel.


  6. Go to Macintosh HD > Applications, find and open Text Edit.
  7. On the top right corner of the desktop, to the left of the sound icon, there should be an icon that looks like an American flag (if you are still in English system). Click on it and choose Arabic. Click on it again and choose Show Keyboard Viewer.
  8. On the Keyboard viewer, click on the drop-down menu next to Font:, choose Urdu Nastaliq Unicode (you may have to look hard). Now you can type Urdu in Text Edit. Unfortunately you cannot do this in Word versions that are previous to Word 2004, because they do not work with Right-to-left languages.