The addition of a new language tool can help with writing letters back to family or friends overseas. This feature is useful to anyone working on projects that require the use of two languages or any kind of transliteration task. Microsoft Windows XP can recognize most transliterations, and can enable typing for Ryukyuan, Semitic, and Sinitic languages. The trick is learning where to click your mouse pointer in the Windows OS to enable, and toggle between, the various foreign languages available in the operating system.
With Windows XP running, left-click the “Start” button. Move the mouse pointer to the “Control Panel” icon, and click on it. Click on the icon labeled “ Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options”. Click “Add other languages”. In the Languages tab you’ll see a couple of options for additional languages, including East Asian languages. These options are supplemental options for more complex languages to translate, and require some kind of transliteration of the characters between Latin and non-Latin based languages. If you are writing in any of the Ryukyuan (Japanese), Semitic (Arabic or Hebrew), or Sinitic (Chinese) languages, then you will select one of these options. For Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, select the checkbox next to the label “East Asian languages”. For Semitic languages, select the check box for “Right-to-left languages”. Click on “OK” to enable these languages. At this point, you may be prompted to insert your Windows CD for additional language features and support files.
When you’ve finished the language installation process, go back to the Languages tab (Control Panel> Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options> Add other languages). This time round you’ll click on the button labeled “Details…”. Locate the section on the Languages tab labeled “Install services”. Click the Add button. On the next screen, select the language you want to add. Click on “OK”.
Upon completion of the language installation, an icon is placed on the task bar at the bottom of the Windows interface. To toggle between languages, simply click on the icon labeled “EN” (English). Select the language from the pop-up list. To switch back to English, click the language icon to bring up the list of languages, and select “EN”.
The features of the language installation show up in Microsoft Word without your having to do any additional work. Just start typing in a word program. As long as the desired language is selected from the language icon on the task bar, you can type that language in Microsoft Word. The only drawback is that the language features only work with your Microsoft applications.