Re: Apple][ J-PLUS

["Gil Myers" <gmeyers@logan.net>]

Geoff Kaiser <SuperKais@MacConnect.com> wrote in article
<3398A196.21F4@MacConnect.com>...
> "> >I always wondered how computers worked in Japan.
> > >If there are hundreds (thousands) of different characters,and each one
is a
> > >word instead of a individual letter,how do you type?"
> --------------------------------
> 
> That's always been a challenge. I believe the Chinese have something
> like 1400 possible characters in their typing! 
> 
> One of the more recent successes from Apple is their Chinese Dictation
> Kit which allows folks to use Apple's PlainTalk to speak to the
> computer, combined with some typing. Apparently it saves tons of time
> and headache over just typing ten million key combos all the time...
> 
> Additionally, the MacOS comes in Japanese versions (as well as Chinese
> and manu others) so they can see their familiar characters in the menu
> bar, for instance, instead of "File Edit Special" etc. etc. Almost the
> whole interface can be scaled to fit the appropraite language....pretty
> cool!
> 

Don't forget that the Japanese (at least) also have a smaller alphabetic
writing style
that can rather easily be used on a conventional keyboard.

I do remember seeing a keyboard for an old computer,  probably an Apple,  
TRS-80,
or the like, for chinese use.  It had a keyboard with a couple hundred
keys.  
It wouldn't be fun to use,  that's for sure.

Also,  in reference to programming at least,  many programmers over seas
use 
the English character set for programming.  In fact many use the same
products 
as used in the US. (GUI apps usually have plugin components to convert the
menus,
etc. to the local language.  This applies to most modern OS's)