Multilingual Support

This Help Note is intended for SSC Network users who are using Microsoft Windows 7. Multilingual support is built into Windows 7. Windows 7 lets you display, input, edit, and print documents, including e-mail and Web pages, in many languages.

  1. Add an Input Language
  2. Entering and Editing
  3. Browsing
  4. Proofing Tools

1. Add an Input Language

  • Choose Start > Control Panel > Region and Language.
  • Select the Keyboards and Languages tab.
  • Click on the Change Keyboards button.
  • Click Add and choose the appropriate Input Language. The Keyboard Layout/IMEwill be selected automatically, except in the case of Chinese and Japanese.  (see below).
  • Click OK three times.
  • Close the Control Panel.

Language: Chinese
Input Language: Chinese (Simplified, PRC) - There are several Chinese language alternatives to choose from but Chinese (Simplified, PRC) is the recommended one to will bring up the Chinese (Simplified) Keyboard choices.
Keyboard: Choose one of the Chinese (Simplified) - Microsoft Pinyin options.

Language: Japanese
Input Language: Japanese (Japan)
Keyboard: Choose Microsoft IME

2. Entering and Editing

After adding the input language, you should have an EN in your task bar when you are in an appropriate application, such as MS Word. Click on it and select Show the Language Bar. The Language bar will appear at the top of your screen. For more detailed information on any of the Input Languages, click on the ? in the Language Bar.

All Languages

Most language IME's use an alternate keyboard layout, with the exception of Chinese and Japanese (see below). You can find the appropriate keyboard layout on Microsoft's website. Be sure to select the QWERTY keyboard if you are given a choice.

  1. Click on the EN in the Language Bar at the top of your screen and select the language you installed earlier.
  2. Type using the appropriate keyboard layout from above.

Chinese

  1. Click on the EN in the Language Bar at the top of your screen and select Chinese (Simplified, PRC) which you installed in step 1 above.
  2. When the EN English language is displayed in the Language Bar, typed characters will default to alphanumeric text. When the CH Chinese (Simplified, PRC) Language is displayed, typed characters will resolve to Chinese characters. You may need to toggle the Input Mode on the Language Bar. 
  3. Type the Chinese characters phonetically, or in Pinyin. As you type, the IME displays the most common Chinese character for that sound.
  4. Press the space bar after each sound and the character will be displayed underlined with a light dashed line.
  5. If this is the correct character, press space or enter to continue.
  6. If you would like to select another character, press the Home key. Then select the correct character with your mouse or press the associated number on your keyboard.

Japanese

  1. Click on the EN in the Language Bar at the top of your screen and select Japanese which you installed in step 1 above.
  2. Click on the Input Mode icon in the Language Bar and select the appropriate language option from the drop down menu.
  3. Type the Japanese characters phonetically. As you type, the IME displays the most common Japanese character for that sound.
  4. Press the space bar after each sound and the character will be displayed, underlined with a light dashed line.
  5. If this is the correct character, press the Enter key. Otherwise, press the Space　bar and you will get the first sequence conversion. Press Enter to accept this or press the Space bar again to get a choice of possible conversions. Press the　Space bar repeatedly to scroll through the list or select one with the mouse.

3. Browsing

The files for Multilingual support were installed with Windows 7 in the SSC. Internet Explorer should recognize the language of any web page that you browse to and display it properly. If you are unable to view a web page properly, from the View menu choose Encoding and then select the appropriate language.

4. Proofing Tools

We can obtain the Microsoft Office Proofing Tools Kit as part of the Microsoft Campus License Agreement. The Proofing Tools are used to do things like spell check in a language that was not installed by Office. If you require the Proofing Tools, please contact SSTS at ssts-help@uwo.ca or at 519-661-2152.  .