Chinese Character Input...

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Hi!

Good question and good news on the way:

I have a MDA II with PPC 2003 phone edition german version (BTW: Great
machine with PDA, phone, Internet and Mail in one machine).
I looked for a chinese-language software so that I could:
- view chinese texts
- write chinese texts, and
- have a good english-chinese and chinese-english dictionnary at my
fingertips.

After a loooong search I came up with a very good solution:

The main software I use now is "CE star suite" with the corresponding
pocket dictionnary from www.mobem.com - you can download there a trial
software. It is not so easy to install, because all the settings on the
PDA are in chinese (unless you are very fluent with the chinese
PC-vocabulary it is a bit challenging and needs some trial-and-error). I
bought the software later at handango - and first had some difficulty
installing all the functionnalities, but with the help of handango I got
some help.
The software is terrific - I could do all the things I wanted to do and
most important of all, is the ease of imput: you can choose either
pinyin input or writing directly a chinese caracter on the screen. The
caracter recognition is excellent (if you know the general rules of how
to write chinese caracters)and so it is much much faster to retrieve the
translation of an unknown caracter than using a normal paper-based
dictionnary.
This software is just great and helped me to make a big leap forward in
my chinese readings.
But the software has also some shortcomings: there are some errors in
the pinyin asigned to some caracters and the range of the vocabulary is
sometime a bit limited (for instance no translation of the beverrage
espresso)

For that reason I bought a second dictionnary from www.ppclink.com. The
dictionnary is huge (here you find a translation of espresso), but is
only showing old caracters (fanti caracters) and in the chinese to
english dictionnary there is no indication of the pronounciation. The
dictionnary has no own recognition software of chinese caracters but
works well with the caracter recognition of the ce star suite from mobem.

Best is first to try out the trial version of CE star.
Most postings on the subject of chinese software on PPC are until now
written from the perspective of native speakers - but the needs of the
users of chinese as a foreign language are different. So once you have
made your choice, post your experiences about it!

Good luck!

Chris

DS schrieb:
> I have a brand new Dell x30, with 2003 se...
>
> I heard that the chinese version of the windows mobile, or pocket pc,
> whatever, has a chinese character recognition software - where you can draw
> multiple characters on the screen and the os will recognize the
> characters...
>
> Is this available to install on the english version??
>
> thanks
>
> DS
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Thank you for the indication of www.pleco.com - the product description
sounds great (the input possibilities seem to be similar than those of
CE star) but I found for instance the possibility to magnify the
caracters very interesting - especially for unknown complex caracters
where the normal resolution of a PPC makes it sometimes relly difficult
to see all the strokes. And the reputation of the dictionnary is certain.
Good to know that a PPC version is coming - I have already bookmarked
the site!

DS schrieb:
> Interesting to hear about the CE Star Suite. Hear about that one and the
> Monster Chinese a lot.
>
> As for dictionaries, keep your eyes on www.pleco.com It's a dictionary only
> for Palm right now, it they are going to be developing a PPC version of the
> dictionary in the next year. I am converting from Palm, and this dictionary
> was inseperable from me for almost 3 years as I studied the language and
> fumbled my way around china.
>
> Right now, they have the CE Dict, ABC (Wenlin) dictionary, and the Oxford
> Chinese English dictionary.
>
> Hands down best dictionary available... English lookup, pin yin lookup
> (with or without tones), Stroke / radical input, and character draw input...
> Need I say more. Oxford dictionary was limited, but the addition of the ABC
> dictionary jazzed things up a bit. Still no Espresso in either dictionary
> though.
>
> My palm died, and I refuse to purchase another one of their @#@#$ products.
> Had low respect for them before, even less now. Was hoping to keep my palm
> alive till the Pocket PC version was released, but I was forced into an
> early switchover.
>
>
>
> "chris" <xyscheu@yahoo.de> wrote in message
> news:4174098A.6080201@yahoo.de...
>
>>Hi!
>>
>>Good question and good news on the way:
>>
>>I have a MDA II with PPC 2003 phone edition german version (BTW: Great
>>machine with PDA, phone, Internet and Mail in one machine).
>>I looked for a chinese-language software so that I could:
>>- view chinese texts
>>- write chinese texts, and
>>- have a good english-chinese and chinese-english dictionnary at my
>>fingertips.
>>
>>After a loooong search I came up with a very good solution:
>>
>>The main software I use now is "CE star suite" with the corresponding
>>pocket dictionnary from www.mobem.com - you can download there a trial
>>software. It is not so easy to install, because all the settings on the
>>PDA are in chinese (unless you are very fluent with the chinese
>>PC-vocabulary it is a bit challenging and needs some trial-and-error). I
>>bought the software later at handango - and first had some difficulty
>>installing all the functionnalities, but with the help of handango I got
>>some help.
>>The software is terrific - I could do all the things I wanted to do and
>>most important of all, is the ease of imput: you can choose either pinyin
>>input or writing directly a chinese caracter on the screen. The caracter
>>recognition is excellent (if you know the general rules of how to write
>>chinese caracters)and so it is much much faster to retrieve the
>>translation of an unknown caracter than using a normal paper-based
>>dictionnary.
>>This software is just great and helped me to make a big leap forward in my
>>chinese readings.
>>But the software has also some shortcomings: there are some errors in the
>>pinyin asigned to some caracters and the range of the vocabulary is
>>sometime a bit limited (for instance no translation of the beverrage
>>espresso)
>>
>>For that reason I bought a second dictionnary from www.ppclink.com. The
>>dictionnary is huge (here you find a translation of espresso), but is only
>>showing old caracters (fanti caracters) and in the chinese to english
>>dictionnary there is no indication of the pronounciation. The dictionnary
>>has no own recognition software of chinese caracters but works well with
>>the caracter recognition of the ce star suite from mobem.
>>
>>Best is first to try out the trial version of CE star.
>>Most postings on the subject of chinese software on PPC are until now
>>written from the perspective of native speakers - but the needs of the
>>users of chinese as a foreign language are different. So once you have
>>made your choice, post your experiences about it!
>>
>>Good luck!
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>DS schrieb:
>>
>>>I have a brand new Dell x30, with 2003 se...
>>>
>>>I heard that the chinese version of the windows mobile, or pocket pc,
>>>whatever, has a chinese character recognition software - where you can
>>>draw multiple characters on the screen and the os will recognize the
>>>characters...
>>>
>>>Is this available to install on the english version??
>>>
>>>thanks
>>>
>>>DS
>>
>
>

Hello All,
Sorry for such an elementary question, but I am new to the PDA world and have been looking for a translator that will allow me to input Chinese characters with a pen. I have found translators that cost about 100 US. Is it worth buying a PDA and downloading the software? Is it difficult to download and use? Any help is greatly appreciated.
-RG