The Penultimate Japanese IME Guide... well, almost. :)

[ニッキー]

The sequel was going to be the Ultimate Japanese IME Guide... now it's just going to be Penultimate and a Half.

You do realize that penultimate means second to last, meaning second worst don't you?

Except that last isn't a synonym for worst... Sometimes the winner/best is actually last, and not first. It makes perfect sense to me - it's supposed to be the last guide, because it'll be so good that nobody will ever need to make another one, except it's not quite there yet so it's not quite the last one.

[Infidel]

I guess you have a point there. Still, the word is usually used in a negative context.

[clay]

I almost forgot!

Here it is on WagaWiki

If someone has a second to clean it up a bit, go ahead. I think it is alright now, but maybe some of the bullets are misplaced.

[furrykef]

I guess you have a point there. Still, the word is usually used in a negative context.

It is? I almost invariably use "penultimate" in a neutral context, as in "penultimate syllable". (Though sometimes it gets a little awkward because often I find that the other person doesn't know what "penultimate" means, so I come off as pretentious.)

- Kef

[Infidel]

Alright, I guess whether the context is positive, negative, or neutral is more a matter of context than inherent to the word. Ahh well.

[simonb]

Nice IME guide. There is one more thing that I encountered regarding the underlying keyboard layout which you might add to the guide. To use the method someone should be familiar with editing the registry.

The problem is that the IME always seems to use the US keyboard layout for it's romaji and direct input. In my case however I use a german keyboard which means that not only y and z will switch locations, most of the symbol characters are in other locations as well. This is especially annoying when you like to use Jap as standard and just use direct input for your normal writing.

I never found a way to set the underlying layout over the UI, but you can edit a registry entry to make it work.

First you need to run the regedit command to open the registry editor and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\00000411 (for Vista)
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\E0010411 (for XP)

Then you need to change the value of the "Layout File" entry to the corresponding dll for your keyboard.
A list of these dll's can be found here: http://www.easydesksoftware.com/keyboard.htm

Source: http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?pid=27390#p27390

If it is still not working, you might need to change the value named "LayerDriver JPN" to the dll as well. Just do a search for it in the registry. See http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3 ... 24&x=9&y=8 for more information.

[Kurious]

Interesting. I wonder, wouldn't using Alt-Shift be easier? It would select the correct layout and would work the same as selecting the half-width alphanumeric input mode. Would that work?

[simonb]

Well but still z and y has their locations reversed which is quite annoying. Brackets are in different locations as well.

EDIT: Some people even use things like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard

[Kurious]

It is possible that you may have misunderstood my question, maybe you thought I was asking about Alt-` even though I was really asking about Alt-Shift? I apologize if that isn't the case. In the IME, pressing Alt-` goes back to half-width alphanumeric mode, and as you said, the keyboard would be interpreted as having an English layout. However, pressing Alt-Shift should switch away from the IME completely and into the German layout, and all the keys should work as they should in this case. I actually installed the German layout on my computer (German -> Germany -> German), and when I press Alt-Shift and "DE" appears on the language bar (indicating a German layout), pressing "z" on my keyboard actually yields "y" as it should. Anyway, I'll be editing the guide with this information, I simply ask to double-check one more time so that I know how to better phrase it all. Thank you.

[Hyperworm]

y and z would still be switched when in Japanese mode. You'd have to press the keys with "z" and "a" written on them to get "や", for instance. You can get used to this, but why should you have to? >_>
The problem is that by default it assumes that your keyboard can cope with being switched to a Japanese layout when you use the IME, when that may not be the case at all. If you just want the IME and not the associated layout change to a Japanese keyboard (also useful if you normally use Dvorak), the steps above are helpful.

[Kurious]

Ah, my bad. I thought that the layout problem occurred only while typing alphanumeric. I didn't realize that it would affect all IME input.

Alright, changes:
1. Added method that allows the proper use of the IME with a non-English (US) keyboard.
2. Credited both simonb and Hyperworm.
3. Edited both the thread and the WagaWiki.

[jcdietz03]

This guide tells you how to get to the IME pad. However, it doesn't have any pictures that tell you what an IME pad is.

This post viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13611#p156406 has a picture of the IME pad. それを全然分かりませんでした。

[CerpinTaxt]

This guide tells you how to get to the IME pad. However, it doesn't have any pictures that tell you what an IME pad is.

This post viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13611#p156406 has a picture of the IME pad. それを全然分かりませんでした。

それをたぶん説明する。。。。

Q:What is the IME Pad?
A: A tool that looks up kanji from your handwritten input.


1: So you got your IME all set out. It might be a bit different from mine since I disabled some options but there should still be the IME パッド button (Either in English or Japanese). So let's just go ahead and click that.


2. Now you should be brought to this menu. Now click 手書き or whatever it is in English and you should be brought to the next picture.


3. Success! You've reached the glorious IME Pad. It should look exactly like this when you open it up (unless it's in English). If it's in Japanese I've labeled some useful buttons. Now when you're looking up your kanji make sure you write always: Top to bottom, and left to right. If you don't I can't guarantee that you will find the kanji you're looking for.


Here's what looking up a kanji entails.

Problems?
Q: I click on the IME Pad but it's not opening up for me. Looks like the button is already clicked.
A: Make sure you have a text-entry field selected.

Q: I can't find my kanji why?
A: Try to write a bit more clearly and make sure you write it top to bottom, and left to right.

Q: Great I found the kanji, now what?
A: If your mouse is in a text area, just go ahead and click the kanji you just found and it should enter it.

Q: What are all these other random buttons?
A: Let's see... on the left there's Stroke Order look up, Radical look up, and I think Voice recognition? I don't know how to use any of them since straight 手書き look up is faster. And on the right I haven't bothered experimenting with those.


Hope that's detailed enough of a guide.

[theBryan]

Also, just like ろしあ　if you type in ぎりしゃ　it gives access to greek letters as well.

[phreadom]

Also, just like ろしあ　if you type in ぎりしゃ　it gives access to greek letters as well.

Whoa! I learn something new every day!