Setting Up Your Computer to Type Chinese

Typing in Chinese

The ability to type Chinese characters on a computer is an essential 21st century skill for anyone studying the Chinese language. Fortunately, it is now easier than ever to learn to type Chinese characters as most operating systems come pre-equipped with ways to type in Chinese.

One of the most common input methods is called pinyin, which allows a user to type in the pinyin for a character and select the desired character from a list of characters with matching pinyin.

Mac OS

1. Open the System Preferences (accessible through the Apple Menu or the Dock).
   
2. Click “Language and Region.”
   
3. Underneath your list of preferred languages, you will see a plus (+) sign. Click the plus sign to add a language.
   
4. Scroll through the list of languages until you see “简体中文 (Chinese, Simplified)” or “繁體中文(Chinese, Traditional)” according to your preferred character set. Select your chosen character set and click “Add.” The rest of the instructions will refer to Simplified, but if you choose Traditional, you will see the options for Traditional and can follow the same steps.
   
5. You will see a dialog box reading “Would you like to use Chinese, Simplified as your new primary language?” Click your existing primary language (e.g. “Use English, US”).
   
6. You will see a button reading “Keyboard Preferences.” Click this button.
   
7. You will be taken to the "Input Sources" selection screen. Click the plus sign (+) to add an input source.
   
8. On the left, click "Chinese, Simplified." On the right, you will see input options including "Pinyin - Simplified." Click "Pinyin, Simplified."
   
9. Click "Add" to save your choice of Pinyin.
   
10. You will see the Keyboard menu. At the bottom, there will be a checkbox reading "Show Input menu in menu bar." If it isn't checked already, check this box.
    
11. Now you will see the input options in the menu bar! Check the icons in your menu bar. If your default language is set to English, the input icon may show up as a flag (e.g. a US flag for US English.) Click the icon and you will see your Pinyin input option pop up with a 拼 character and the words "Pinyin - Simplified."
    
12. Try it out! Type in Pinyin and you will see a menu of characters to choose from. When you see the characters you want to type, click them or press the corresponding number on your keyboard. When you want to switch back to your primary language, select it from the language menu.
    

Windows OS

1. Open the Control Panel (accessible through the Windows icon).
   
2. Go to “Clock, Language, and Region” and select “Change keyboards or other input methods”.
   
3. Click the Change Keyboards button.
   
4. Click the Add button.
   
5. In the new window, navigate to the Chinese section and choose the character set that best applies to you. We will use Simplified in these instructions, but the same steps apply if you would like to use Traditional. The menu will expand to show the input options. Select “Microsoft Pinyin New Input Style.”
   
6. Click the OK button to close the window.
   
7. Click Apply to save your changes.
   
8. Your new keyboard settings will be accessible at the bottom right of the screen next to the clock and other system icons. You will see a code representing your current language (such as "EN" for English.) Click on it to open the language menu. Click on the Simplified Chinese option to begin typing in Chinese.
   
9. Type in pinyin and you will see a menu of characters to choose from. When you see the characters you want to type, click them or press the corresponding number on your keyboard. When you want to switch back to your primary language, select it from the language menu.