Language Input Method

[GrouchyGaijin]

Hi - I use English, Swedish and Japanese in Windows and am thinking of making the switch to Kubuntu. (It's a stupid reason but I'd rather use Kubuntu than Gnome because I like the way it looks better than Gnome.)

My problem is at one time I had really cool little flags showing US English and Swedish in the task bar (panel?) Some how I lost those and now have a thing on the desktop that says input method selection but does absolutely nothing most of the time. I can however change the method by changing the keyboard layout via a sequence I chose when I enabled the Swedish keyboard.

How can I get the flags back in the task bar and change methods by clicking the flags instead of remembering to hit a keyboard shortcut? (Yeah I know ubergeeks like the keyboard but I'm a visual person.)

After I get this fixed it's time to start playing with Anthy.

Thank you,

GG

[Yuri sss]

Re: Language Input Method

クブンツフォルムへようこそ、愛想の悪い外人さん！
私は百合と申します。よろしくね。

You can get the flags by opening Systemsettings and going to Input Devices > Keyboard > Layouts. There, click on "Show flag" and configure your layouts in the list.

You need the input method to input Japanese (see above). First install the packages ibus, ibus-anthy and language-selector-qt (you best do this with Synaptic, if you don't have it, install it by entering in a Konsole window: sudo apt-get install synaptic).

Then in Systemsettings, go to Locale, click on "Install New Language" and choose "Japanese". After the language files are installed, click on "Select System Language" and select "ibus" as Input Method. Close Systemsettings.
Next, open Keyboard Input Methods to setup ibus. On the "Input Method" tab, select "Japanese > Anthy" from the dropdown and click on "Add". Close the Preferences.

If you now want to input Japanese (e.g. like here in Firefox), select the text input field, then right-click on the ibus icon in the system tray (that's the keyboard) and select "Japanese - Anthy", and you can type away:
日本語は楽しいね。

To turn it off and write with gaijin letters again, right-click the ibus icon and select "Input method Off".

You'll most likely also want to install Kiten (package of the same name), which is a great Japanese <-> English and kanji dictionary and also allows looking up Kanji by Radicals or number of strokes.
For Firefox, you can install the add-on Perapera-kun, which is very helpful when you're trying to read Japanese texts in your browser (it also has plug-ins for Chinese and Korean).
http://perapera.wordpress.com/

[GrouchyGaijin]

Re: Language Input Method

出来ました。おかがさまで。
This is great but while I don't mind everything in Japanese all I really want is to be able to type in Japanese.
Thank you though - this really helps.


GG

[Yuri sss]

Re: Language Input Method

出来ました。おかがさまで。

That should be お蔭様で (おかげさまで)

This is great but while I don't mind everything in Japanese all I really want is to be able to type in Japanese.
Thank you though - this really helps.

Uhm... where do you get "everything in Japanese" with my instructions?
You only need to install the files for Japanese under "Locale". You don't need to add Japanese to the list after that (which would translate Kde into Japanese, once you hit "Apply").

[GrouchyGaijin]

Re: Language Input Method

おかげさまですみません失礼しました。

Well then obviously made an error in the setup because for a brief time until I backtracked and figured out how to put my system back into English I had all the menus in Japanese.
In any case, I can now type in Japanese.

Thank you!