Amy F.
For people whose native languages don't use the Roman alphabet...

I've often wondered, what is it like to use the Internet if your native language doesn't use the Roman alphabet?  URLs, as far as I can tell, still use ASCII characters only - the 26 letters used by English, plus numbers and some symbols.  This makes the Internet really easy to use for people like me, because I could go my whole life without ever typing a single letter from another alphabet, but it must make it harder for speakers of languages which don't use the Roman alphabet.  So, I have some questions for you about your experience!

In the US, children are now taught typing instead of cursive handwriting.  I was one of the last grades to be taught cursive handwriting, but I was okay because I'd already learned typing on my own.  If you live in a country where the "standard" language doesn't use the Roman alphabet, are children taught to type in your script and in the Roman alphabet, or just one?

The only letters on my keyboard are the 26 English letters.  What letters are printed on yours?

When you're typing using the Roman alphabet, is the layout a "standard" one like QWERTY or AZERTY, or is it phonetically mapped to your own script?  Or is it the reverse, and your own script is phonetically mapped to a "standard" Roman alphabet layout?

In the US, almost everyone uses a QWERTY keyboard, but there are some people who use a layout called Dvorak because they think it helps them type faster.  Are there any movements like this for typing in your language, or is there just one standard layout?

Is it annoying, needing to type in two writing systems just to use the Internet?  Do you bookmark things to avoid typing in the Roman alphabet?

How about for people whose language uses the Cyrillic alphabet?  The Cyrillic alphabet has a lot of letters in common with the Roman one.  Do people generally type in both alphabets, or just use the letters which both alphabets share and avoid the others?

 

Sorry for asking so many questions, haha.  I'm just so curious!

6 kwi 2015 03:28
Komentarze · 2
1

There are a few other tricks you can do. For Chinese i.e. you can (or must) input a Chinese input method for your Windows/Linux/iOS etc.

 

For special characters you can install some apps to help you:

 

For Chrome, this app is really good:  ¡ÅççéñţšPłüş! 

http://www.chromeextensions.org/other/accents-plus/

 

For Firefox you can try abcTajpu 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/abctajpu/

 

6 kwietnia 2015
1

<em>URLs, as far as I can tell, still use ASCII characters only</em>

 

Not anymore. Lookup 'Punycode'. To give some examples:

 

xn--mller-kva.com will generate müller.com 

 

你好.com will be xn--6qq79v.com

 

Do your own with a "IDN Punycode converter"

 

 

6 kwietnia 2015