Has anyone had any experience with Japanese word processors and with NJStar in particular? The NJStar is reasonably priced ($99) where some of them go for hundreds of $$$. I read some reviews online for NJStar and they were very mixed.
A couple of years ago I had the NJStar 30-day free trial and didn't use it enough to know if it was any good or not.
Oh, by the way, it has to run on American Windows, not Japanese.
I asked a couple of our Japanese language techs at my work. They both mentioned that they use Word as their word processor. I think you have to install the multi-language pack which provides the Japanese support. You also need to configure XP to support eastern Asian language support and install the IME (keyboard input support) to get Japanese support. One was familiar with NJStar but didn't use it.
Japanese and Chinese are also available as part of my Word package. I don't pay any extra and the system is user-friendly. Always expect to type more slowly in Kanji or in Chinese than in a European/English alphabet. All those little strokes within a character make a system heavy and slow things down.
Originally posted by Americana in Parigi: Japanese and Chinese are also available as part of my Word package. I don't pay any extra and the system is user-friendly. Oh and always expect to type more slowly in Kanji or in Chinese than in a European/English alphabet. All those little strokes within a character make a system heavy and slow things down.
You also need to configure XP to support eastern Asian language support and install the IME (keyboard input support) to get Japanese support.
Marta, where do I go in XP to configure the Asian language support and install the IME?
And Parigi, where do I find it in Word?
Is all this going to booger up anything else? Last time I tried to add Japanese, the computer did funny things. I know that's not very technical, but I don't remember exactly what happened.
Click the Languages tab. Under Supplemental language support, verify that Install files for East Asian Languages is checked. It will install some files so it will look for the XP disk. If it doesn't find it automatically, look to see if you have a folder called i386 on your hard drive and browse to it. This will add the fonts. My guess is once you have the fonts installed, then you might see them under Word.
Once you have the files installed then on the same tab, under Text services and input languages, you can add support for other keyboards. This will load and IME for the language you want. Which Japanese language will you be using? Kanji? Other?
I can try this at work next week. I've setup a system before for an Asian language and I can try it again. I don't speak/read any of the languages so I'm never certain how to use it.
Marta, I followed your instruction. I got as far as being able to type katagana, though I don't know how to map the keys to particular katagana. I don't know how to switch to hiragana or kanji. I would like to be able to write a letter in Japanese using Word. I used a Japanese word processor called Ichitarou long time ago which converted highlighted hiragana word to kanji. Does the Word version work like that?
Posts: 164 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
Flennie, you've reached the limit on my knowledge of setting up XP to work with Asian languages. I googled and found this page - Inputing Japanese. It mentions the IME for Office XP. My coworker mentioned this and I thought it was the one that came with XP but it now sounds like an additional item that has more functionality. You might want to look this page over and see if it helps.
Marta, thanks for your suggestion. I tried it but unfortunately it works for Office XP (mine is Office 2007). I googled and found this link which worked beautifully. Now I'm able to write Word documents and Outlook email in Japanese using both hiragana and kanji.
Posts: 164 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
Just thought I would add an update here: I decided to purchase the NJ Star Japanese word processor, I installed it and it works just fine. However, when I got my new computer just a week or so ago with Vista OS, NJ Star is incompatible with it.
Go figure!
So I came back to square 1 (here) and followed the instructions for installing Japanese language capabilities and
(insert icon of crazy but happy woman doing cartwheels!)
I can input hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It isn't as powerful as NJ Star because you have to know the kanji you want in order to make the right selection, but I think it is going to be workable.
Now I just have to run a test to see if I can send and receive kanji in email.
Earline, it must be frustrating with Vista. I've used NJ Star in the past, though I don't remember how it worked. I can recognize kanji (though I may not be able to write some without reference) so the current setup is just fine for me. I've written emails in Japanese with kanji in Outlook so you should be just fine.
Posts: 164 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
I tried sending an email to one of my Japanese students. She responded and it is gibberish. I printed off the info from the link above and it tells me that I can change the encoding scheme, but it doesn't tell me how to do it.
Earline, I take it that you were able to see the Japanese written properly on the email you sent, but your Japanese student saw only gibberish on her email?
Posts: 164 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
Well, I don't know how mine came through to her because her answer was all gibberish. So I don't know whether mine came through OK but hers didn't, or what! She apparently answered in Japanese (kanji) since her reply was in gibberish (mojibake).
I've been using the Microsoft Word Japanese keyboard input to do some things. I was typing a list of Grade 1 and Grade 2 kanji to learn. Grade 1 came out just fine, but with Grade 2 -- man! I don't know what the problem is. I have typed in 160 kanji 2 times now, and it has just disappeared. The second time I did something stupid on the table and lost the 2nd column, so since I saved after about every 6 kanji, I thought I would be OK and I would just retrieve the document and carry on. However, when I looked in my "Recently Changed" folder, the only document there only contained about 30 kanji.
I am truly, truly about ready to pull my hair out over this. Do you know of any problems with the Word document not being able to cope with a lengthy table?
Originally posted by Earline: Well, I don't know how mine came through to her because her answer was all gibberish. So I don't know whether mine came through OK but hers didn't, or what! She apparently answered in Japanese (kanji) since her reply was in gibberish (mojibake).
Are you able to see Japanese words as you're writing your email? You should send an email to yourself to make sure your PC is set up to display Japanese properly. I was able to insert Japanse writing on this forum (without actually post it) and verified that it can be displayed.
As for long tables in Word, I have not encountered any problems.
Posts: 164 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
Yes, I can see what I have written perfectly. Also I asked my student about receipt of my e-mail and she said it came through just fine. The problem was when she sent me an e-mail.
She suggested that I open an account at yahoo.japan. I have been trying to do that all day (on and off) and finally have given up. I translated as much of the instructions as I could, but every time I submit it, it highlights several things that I did wrong. I finally just gave up! Have you ever tried to get a yahoo.japan mail address?
Many email softwares have only limited language capabilities, which may explain why you receive gibberish. Try to use attached word files instead of writing directly in a given language in your email.
Originally posted by Americana in Parigi: Many email softwares have only limited language capabilities, which may explain why you receive gibberish. Try to use attached word files instead of writing directly in a given language in your email.
Americana is right. it's your student's email client problem. yahoo mail is "famous" for that problem.
She apparently answered in Japanese (kanji) since her reply was in gibberish (mojibake).
