English Pc

[Clive sorts]

Hi all

I am in the UK, I have windows 2000 and I would like to be able to write Thai script and English on the same document ? Is there a download I can do ?

Also gf is Thai, can I install complete Thai software onto a laptop for her so that she can send emails and write letters ?

Thank you for any assistance.

Regards

Clive Sorts

[wildcard]

Hi all

I am in the UK, I have windows 2000 and I would like to be able to write Thai script and English on the same document ? Is there a download I can do ?

Also gf is Thai, can I install complete Thai software onto a laptop for her so that she can send emails and write letters ?

Thank you for any assistance.

Regards

Clive Sorts

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For Window 2000 you have to download the thai script from Microsoft

search for "Global IME"

[the scouser]

Hi Clive,

If you were to consider getting Windows XP this would make things easier as it automatically contains the wherewithal to write in Thai which is then easily activated.

Once you've installed Thai you may not be able to send e-mails in Thai as some ISPs only support Roman script (I'm with AOL and can't write e-mails in Thai). In that case you have to write and save a Word document in Thai and then send it with an e-mailm as an attachment.

Scouse.

[Richard W]

Once you've installed Thai you may not be able to send e-mails in Thai as some ISPs only support Roman script (I'm with AOL and can't write e-mails in Thai). In that case you have to write and save a Word document in Thai and then send it with an e-mailm as an attachment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How thoroughly crippled are you? Your statement reminds me of the situation with Yahoo groups, which are very thoroughly geared, if you use the web pages, to Latin-1. However, if you're prepared to stick to ASCII + Thai, you can use them for Thai just by switching the encoding. Does AOL stop you using such tricks?

(Such tricks don't work for French plus Thai, as I found out to my embarassment when I tried sending Thai plus transliterations using tone accents.)

[meadish_sweetball]

Once you've installed Thai you may not be able to send e-mails in Thai as some ISPs only support Roman script (I'm with AOL and can't write e-mails in Thai). In that case you have to write and save a Word document in Thai and then send it with an e-mailm as an attachment.

How thoroughly crippled are you? Your statement reminds me of the situation with Yahoo groups, which are very thoroughly geared, if you use the web pages, to Latin-1. However, if you're prepared to stick to ASCII + Thai, you can use them for Thai just by switching the encoding. Does AOL stop you using such tricks?

(Such tricks don't work for French plus Thai, as I found out to my embarassment when I tried sending Thai plus transliterations using tone accents.)

Nor for Scandinavian languages - localized versions of Windows seem only to be compatible with the English version, and not with each other.

[the scouser]

Once you've installed Thai you may not be able to send e-mails in Thai as some ISPs only support Roman script (I'm with AOL and can't write e-mails in Thai). In that case you have to write and save a Word document in Thai and then send it with an e-mailm as an attachment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How thoroughly crippled are you? Your statement reminds me of the situation with Yahoo groups, which are very thoroughly geared, if you use the web pages, to Latin-1. However, if you're prepared to stick to ASCII + Thai, you can use them for Thai just by switching the encoding. Does AOL stop you using such tricks?

(Such tricks don't work for French plus Thai, as I found out to my embarassment when I tried sending Thai plus transliterations using tone accents.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Richard,

The honest answer is that I don't know. I'm afraid that I don't really know about all this encoding stuff; I just switch on the computer and type away. Is it possible you could explain to me, in layman's terms, how to give your suggestion a shot?

Thanks,

Scouse.

[the scouser]

Just to clarify things, AOL permits me to write an e-mail in Thai but when the recipient opens it, it appears as hieroglyphics.

Scouse.

[the scouser]

Cancel that. I've just experimented by sending an e-mail in Thai to my wife's AOL address and it works perfectly.

Scouse.

[Richard W]

I'm afraid that I don't really know about all this encoding stuff; I just switch on the computer and type away. Is it possible you could explain to me, in layman's terms, how to give your suggestion a shot?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The 'encoding' is how the bytes that make up a file (or whatever) are to be interpreted. For example, the byte values that the Thai encoding schemes (mostly extensions of TIS-620:2533) specify as meaning Thai characters in the 'Western European' schemes specify fancy punctuation and accented letters. That is why when you view Thai text using the wrong encoding, it looks like 'hieroglyphics'. (Sometimes when Internet Explorer guesses wrong, Thai is displayed as Japanese!)

The choice initially made by the computer can usually be overridden - in some browsers, one clicks on 'view' and then one chooses 'encoding' (or something similar, e.g. 'character encoding' in Firefox), and finally one selects the encoding one wants. Sometimes the concepts of 'encoding' and language are confused. (That usually makes sense, but would not on Thai Visa, where the dominant language is English, but sometimes it helps to select Thai. One means for the 'encoding', but the browser might interpret that as meaning the text is in Thai.) The confusion dates back to when the 'encoding' was only made manifest by the selection of a font, e.g. DB Thai. The Unicode encodings (predominantly UTF-8 for web pages) are completely language independent, catering for the vast majority by population count, but some browsers seem to behave as though there were a Unicode _language_!

When writing an e-mail, the option to choose the encoding may be under 'format', as with Outlook Express. When changing the encoding in a composition, it is advisable to save it all to the paste buffer in case changing the encoding deletes or resets what one has already written. I've been caught out that way several times when writing to discussion groups.

I don't know how these things are done with AOL - it seems it has its own package to completely confuse matters.

[Clive sorts]

Thank you Guys for your advice and posts back.

I'm away for a few days so I will go through the advice next week on my computer.

Regards

Clive Sorts

[Huangy]

If you were to consider getting Windows XP this would make things easier as it automatically contains the wherewithal to write in Thai which is then easily activated.

Once you've installed Thai you may not be able to send e-mails in Thai as some ISPs only support Roman script (I'm with AOL and can't write e-mails in Thai). In that case you have to write and save a Word document in Thai and then send it with an e-mailm as an attachment.

Scouse.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm a newbie to these boards and a rwelative newbie to the Thai language, but I'm keen!

I can;t believe there isn;t some system that you can download to enable you totype Thai. I'm a Mandarin reader/speaker/writer and there's been downloadable software to write Chinese on English operating systems for eons. Oddly I do have XP but there aint no option for Thai?

Any ideas?

Cheers.

Huangy

[Huangy]

Doh!

Okay, now I can write Thai through that regional languages, blah, blah. Unfortunately there doesn;t seem to be a visual keyboard and my English/Chinky language keyboard can;t cut the mustard. No chance of getting a Thai keyboard here in HK . . any chance of downloading a visual keyboard?

Weird how difficult this has been.

Ideas?

Cheers.

HG

[Tywais]

Doh!

Okay, now I can write Thai through that regional languages, blah, blah. Unfortunately there doesn;t seem to be a visual keyboard and my English/Chinky language keyboard can;t cut the mustard. No chance of getting a Thai keyboard here in HK . . any chance of downloading a visual keyboard?

Weird how difficult this has been.

Ideas?

Cheers.

HG

Topic covered here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29891

Direct download site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=EN

[Steve2UK]

Doh!

Okay, now I can write Thai through that regional languages, blah, blah. Unfortunately there doesn;t seem to be a visual keyboard and my English/Chinky language keyboard can;t cut the mustard. No chance of getting a Thai keyboard here in HK . . any chance of downloading a visual keyboard?

Weird how difficult this has been.

Ideas?

Cheers.

HG

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could you not order a real Thai/English keyboard by mail order - e.g. from DCO Thai?

http://www.dcothai.com/index.php?cPath=800

[Huangy]

Thanks Steve2UK, picked one up last time I was in the Kok. All working now . . . except my Thai studies have slid somewhat.

Huangy.