![]() Today, most if not all operating systems are pre-installed with a pinyin input method, which usually include features such as word prediction, abbreviation, and spell-check to make typing more efficient. Pinyin input itself has gone through various reforms since personal computers first entered Chinese households in the 1990s: In those days, users had to install a pinyin input tool separately, type out the full spelling of each character, and could only convert one character of a word or phrase at a time. Since then, though, pinyin has become the most popular electronic input method on the Chinese mainland (though the stroke-based Wubi method has its acolytes), being easy to pick up for new Mandarin learners and perfectly tailored to modern keyboards based on the Latin alphabet. When language reformers first developed pinyin in 1958, the phonetic writing system was adopted with the aim of improving mass literacy in China’s immediate present, rather than facilitate a future of electronic communication. Walled-Off is a new series explaining how to navigate-and take advantage of-the domestic web without the use of certain “s pecial software.” You may be stuck behind the Great Firewall, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |