Please note: While you can directly enter Japanese
Katakana カタカナ and Hiragana ひらがな using our Katakana or Hiragana keyboard,
for entering Kanji 漢字, Chinese characters, and Korean characters, you also need to download
and install their language modules. In addition, you'll need to configure that language
module for a keyboard and enable Word Prediction in
MessagEase's Settings > Languages & Keyboards
This design gives you a lot of flexibility. For example, you can configure keyboards to write in English, and Chinese simultaneously. Or, you can have keyboards to write in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English, and easily switch between them with a drag-and-return-left on 123/abc button.
We also suggest you create your multiple keyboards in different colors, so that when you switch keyboards, their contexts become obvious.
Please Also note: When writing in these language with Word Prediction, the spacebar will have two duties: 1) to enter space character, and 2) to separate the previous letters from the next letters for character and word prediction. When a string of letters or characters are underlined, the first space character entered is used to unselect the selected string. Only when there is no string of characters selected, a tap on the spacebar would enter a space character.
Chinese
MessagEase has three commonly used methods to enter Chinese characters: Pinyin 拼音, Jyutping and Cangjie. Using any of these three methods you can enter Chinese Traditional or Chinese Simplified characters. You can use any of MessagEase's roman letter keyboards for this. To do so, add that keyboard in Languages & Keyboards (under MessagEase's Settings) and tap on the right hand side button to select your desired Chinese character method for that keyboard. Once you do that, you can enter roman letter abbreviations that would cause the corresponding Chinese characters to show up on top of the keyboard. Simply tap on the desired Characters to enter them.
Korean 한글,
There are two ways to enter Korean letters and words with MessagEase: 1) Using Romaja and a roman language keyboard, or 2) Using Jamos and MessagEase's Korean keyboard.
With Romaja, you use a regular roman keyboard and you enter roman letter abbreviations that will cause the Korean characters and words to show up on top of the keyboard for you to select. Please make sure you configure your keyboard to have Korean Romaja list and Word Prediction enabled.
To use Jamos you add a Jamos keyboard and use that keyboard to enter Korean characters. Then MessagEase will present the corresponding characters for you to select from. Please make sure that your Korean keyboard is configured with Korean Jamos list and make sure Word Prediction enabled.
Kanji 漢字 한글,
Hiragana ひらがな &
Katakana カタカナ
Both Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ keyboards are available in MessagEase. You can use one or both to enter Hiragana and/or Katakana directly. You can also use either of these keyboards to enter Kanji by spelling the Kanji characters in Hiragana or Katakana. MessagEase then would list the matching Kanji characters above the keyboard area for you to tap and select. Please use Settings > Languages & Keyboards to add one or both of these keyboards. We suggest you make these keyboards in different colors (tap on the keyboard icon) for clarity.
Instead of the traditional 5 by 9 grid, which ignores the character frequency, MessagEase's Hiragana and Katakana arrangements are letter-frequency based, therefore makes entering text faster, although a new user has to spend time learning the new character positions.
Common alternative forms of a character are entered by its alternative gesture: A
circle for the tap characters and a drag-and return for a drag character.
For example, on Katakana keyboard a tap on key 2 enters Tsu (ツ); a circle gesture on the same button enters the small form ッ. Likewise, on Hiragana keyboard, a drag up on key 9 produces え, a drag up and return produces ぇ.
Similar gestures are used for other alternative forms: On Katakana keyboard, a tap on key 1 enters ク and a circle on the same key produces グ. Similarly a, on Hiragana keyboard, a drag-down-left on key 3 enters ひ and a drag and return on the same position enters び.
You can also enter alternative forms of characters by using our combine method. For example, to enter び, enter ひ and then " (up left on key 8). Once you do that, they combine to enter び. Similarly, enter ひ following by ゜ (drag up right on key 9) to enter ぴ.
Yet another way to enter the alternative forms of a character is to enter the main form first, then perform a drag-up-left on key 1. By repeatedly doing that, you produce all forms of a character associated with the main one.
Once you have both Hiragana and Katakana keyboards added, you switch between them by a drag left on 123/ABC button.
Please write to us if you have any concerns or suggestions.