Writing Chinese on your computer

Overview

Chinese character input is generally achieved using either a normal keyboard, or via a pen and graphics tablet.

Keyboard Input, IME (Input method editor)

The advantage of using a keyboard is speed. Experienced users can type faster than they can write with a pen. Also, the input software will usually give shortcuts as the word is written. eg: as you type "ng" a Cantonese IME will probably put the character for ngo5 at the head of the list of suggested words, as it is very common.

Most IMEs suitable for beginners will be based on the sound of the word, so you will need to know either the Cantonese or Mandarin romanisation of each character. For Cantonese this means learning jyutping or yale. For Mandarin you will need to know pinyin. Historically, Cantonese IME support has been weak but for Windows users there are now quite a few options.
It is also worth mentioning that for native speakers there are other advanced methods based on the shape of the character etc. These are outside the scope for this page though (meaning I know nothing about them!).

Chinese IMEs for Windows
By far the most popular Chinese IME software is NJStar. This site has an affiliate link to their product here.
There are also Windows 2000 / XP IMEs provided by Microsoft, but I have not used them (anyone that has, and can provide more information for this page, please contact me).
In 2006, one of our forum users posted about his new free software, CantoInput. This has received an excellent response on our forums, so is definitely worth checking out.

Chinese IMEs for Macintosh
Information needed, sorry.

Chinese IMEs for Pocket PC
Please see the Pocket PC software links page, the reviewed Partner Dictionary has an in-built Chinese IME.

Character Recognition Input

Writing characters using a graphics tablet is also reasonably common for both beginners and also native speakers who either don't want to learn how to use an IME, or just prefer writing by hand.

If you wish to learn how to write Chinese, you should consider using this method, as it is great practise for ensuring you are writing characters correctly. The character recognition software will tolerate "accepted" deviations from the correct way of writing, but if you aren't close, it will not work. It is therefore rather satisfying to scribble a "complex" character and have your computer recognise it first time!

Chinese Character Recognition for Windows
The two "big" names in character recognition are NJStar and Penpower. I use Penpower Crystal Touch and have written some posts about it on the forums here. NJStar has a product called Chinese Pen, which I have not used myself. This site has an affiliate link to the product here.

Chinese Character Recognition for Macintosh
As far as I know, there is a version of PenPower for Mac users.

Chinese Character Recognition for Pocket PC
I use a product called CE-Star, which seems to be a licensed version of Penpower. This can be difficult for learners to download online as the website is aimed at native Chinese people. It is worth the effort though, as the software is very good. Please see here for a link.