US media said the Chinese typing skills far beyond the West: the future belongs to the character-IT information

US media said, the invention of the computer list of China's huge Chinese characters can be turned into an advantage.

According to the United States the Atlantic Web site, and on a bright autumn morning at Stanford University, tangmu·malani is QWERTY standard keyboard problem. DD-Mullany is not a technical expert, nor a Dvorak keyboard enthusiasts. He is a historian of modern China. He is holding the Chinese typewriters and keyboards exhibition. This exhibition DD-Mullany concluded, China's typing technology marched forward, and far behind the West, still hold a QWERTY keyboard.

Now, it's still an extraordinary view, China-because of its 75,000 separate characters instead of a limited number of letters--has long been considered to be incompatible with the modern technology of language. How to use the send a telegram all Chinese characters or use typewriter type all of the characters are out? or how to communicate with the modern world? if you are a Cambridge Education, infatuation Greece classical scholar, you may come to the conclusion, the characters "out of date". Long live the alphabet!

However, DD-Mullany thinks, the invention of the computer list of China's huge Chinese characters can be turned into an advantage .

Reportedly, DD-Mullany's two forthcoming about Chinese typewriter and computer book authors, we discussed things that he learned in the study of the subject. His argument was very interesting to read. Because, at its core, this is not just about China. It's about our relationship with computers, not only be viewed as an object, and is a carrier of an invisible software. He said that on a QWERTY computer keyboard in English, "the most basic way is to use the keyboard." On the keyboard press "a" key, "a" will appear on the screen. "This does not need to use your computer's processing power and memory. "On the other hand, connect to a computer on a QWERTY keyboard type" a ", the computer will" guess "you can type Chinese characters. With Chinese input, requiring users to problems from a software perspective.

? Pupils in learning to type. Xinhua News Agency

In other words, the type character is essentially a type-if you'd like a set of instructions, can also be a code-to retrieve a specific character.

DD-Mullany said, typing with the Chinese people have "sense code". Now there are more than 10 kinds of Chinese input method, but the Western world is still mostly stick to verbatim type on a computer keyboard, and there is no short cut to make full use of computer software . He said that challenge is "How do you convince a century and a half has been told that the alphabet was the greatest thing since sliced bread?".

DD-Mullany believes that Chinese Telegraph and typewriter area has suffered two embarrassing history of Chinese-speaking people in after the software appear to full advantage--so much so that it is now much faster Chinese than in English.

When the Telegraph in 1871 to enter China, Chinese at first have to make the language technology to the West as "yielding". By a Netherlands astronomer and a France Customs officers to design solutions, each character is assigned a four-digit code, then translated into Morse code dots and dashes. This approach worked, but the Chinese were at a disadvantage. Morse code numbers in five points (·) Or (-), and letters consist of only one to three, which makes Chinese cables are more expensive and less efficient.

Reports said Chinese typewriter was also a troubling thing. It has a file containing more than 2000 Chinese characters commonly used in the tray. Typist operation at the top tray to select characters, promoting a joystick the selected character "knocks" on paper. If you want to type a common Chinese characters, you must look for it in the tens of thousands of Chinese characters on another tray.

Meanwhile, dozens of inventors tried to find a better cable and method for manufacturing typewriters. In order to achieve this, they must find new ways of indexing Chinese characters, which they divided into subunits. For example, using a "square law". No Chinese people may not have a profound feeling. But in fact, this is a rethinking of Chinese characters.

DD-Mullany said, so when the computer came to number 70, 80 years of Chinese input method is a "blowout" trend. Different input method requires a different way of thinking of Chinese characters. You can based on square or triangle or radical (basic unit of Chinese characters) or stroke order. Was also trying to use a phonetic-based input method, use software to translate letters into Chinese characters. Furthermore, after experiencing a true breakthrough, these input are predictable. For example, you can only type with each character corresponding to the first letter to enter a set of characters. In other words, this is a "smart" text.

DD-Mullany said (via the software platform) Chinese input method will be the winners. In fact, it has already won. We now have "smart" paper and auto complete mode. Only at the cost of cell phones slow typing speed and made Westerners aware of its limitations, by letters of keyboard input. However, even so, the Americans only know to this extent.

美媒称中国打字技术远超西方：未来属于汉字 - IT资讯

美媒称，计算机的发明可以将中国庞大的汉字目录转化为一项优势。

据美国《大西洋月刊》网站报道，在一个明媚的秋日上午，在斯坦福大学，汤姆·马拉尼正在讲QWERTY标准键盘存在的问题。马拉尼不是一个技术专家，也不是德沃夏克键盘的狂热爱好者。他是一位研究现代中国的历史学家。他正举办中文打字机和键盘展览。这个展览令马拉尼得出结论说，中国正在打字技术方面大踏步前进，而西方远远的落在后面，仍然紧抱着QWERTY键盘不放。

现在，这仍然是一个非同寻常的观点，中国——因为拥有75000个独立的汉字，而不是一份数目有限的字母表——历来就被认为是一种与现代技术不相容的语言。如何使用所有的汉字发一份电报或是使用打字机把所有的汉字都打出来?甚至是如何与现代世界沟通?如果你是一个在剑桥接受教育、迷恋希腊文的古典派学者，你或许会得出结论说，汉字“过时了”。字母表万岁！

但是，马拉尼认为，计算机的发明可以将中国庞大的汉字目录转化为一项优势。

报道称，马拉尼是两本即将出版的关于中文打字机和计算机的著作的作者，我们讨论了他在研究这一课题时了解到的东西。他的论点解读起来非常有趣。因为，就其核心而言，这不仅关乎中国。这关乎我们与计算机的关系，不仅是将其视为一个物体，而且是一个无形的软件的载体。他说，在QWERTY电脑键盘上打英文，“是使用键盘的最基本方式”。在键盘上按下“a”键，“a”就会出现在屏幕上。“这不需要使用计算机的处理能力和内存。”另一方面，在连接到一台中文电脑的QWERTY键盘上键入“a”，计算机将会“推测”你可能会打出的汉字。用中文输入，需要用户从软件层面来考虑问题。

▲小学生在学习打字。新华社发

换句话说，键入一个汉字，本质上是键入一组指令——如果你愿意的话，也可以是一个代码——来检索一个特定的汉字。

马拉尼说，用中文打字的人都有“代码意识”。现在有十几种中文输入方式，但是西方世界仍然大多坚持在电脑键盘上逐字键入，而没有充分利用电脑软件带来的捷径。他说，困难在于，“你怎么说服一个半世纪以来一直被告知他们的字母表是自切片面包之后最伟大的事物的人们呢?”。

马拉尼认为，正是中国在电报和打字机领域曾经遭遇的尴尬历史促使讲中文的人在软件出现之后对其进行了充分的利用——以至于现在用中文输入比用英语要快得多。

当电报在1871年进入中国时，中国人起初不得不令他们的语言向西方技术“屈服”。由一位荷兰天文学家和一位法国海关官员设计的解决方案，是为每一个汉字分配一个四位数的代码，然后将其翻译成莫尔斯电码的圆点和虚线。这种方式奏效了，但是也令中文处于劣势。莫尔斯电码中的数字包含五个点(·)或划(—)，而字母只包括一至三个，这使得中文电报更昂贵而且效率更低。

报道称，中文打字机也是一个麻烦的东西。其有一个包含2000多个常用汉字的托盘。打字员通过在托盘顶部操作来选择汉字，推动一个控制杆将选定的汉字“敲”到纸面上。如果你想键入一个不常用的汉字，就必须在另一个托盘上成千上万的汉字中寻找它。

与此同时，数十位发明家尝试找到更好的发电报和制造打字机的方法。为了实现这一点，他们必须找到新的索引汉字的方法，即把它们分成一个个的子单元。例如，使用“四角法”。不用中文书写的人对此可能没有深刻的感觉。但事实上，这是一种对于汉字的重新思考。

马拉尼说，所以，当电脑出现之后，中文输入法的数量在70、80年呈“井喷”之势。不同的输入法需要不同的汉字思考方式。你可以基于四角或三角或部首(汉字的基本单位)或笔画顺序。还有人尝试使用基于拼音的输入法，利用软件将字母转化成汉字。而且，在经历了一项真正意义上的突破之后，这些输入法现在都具有预测性。例如，可以通过仅仅键入与每一个汉字相对应的第一个字母来输入一组汉字。换句话说，这是一种“智慧”文本。

马拉尼说，(通过软件平台实现的)中文输入方式将会胜出。其实，它已经赢了。我们的手机现在有“智慧”本文和自动完成模式。以手机打字速度缓慢为代价才让西方人认识到其现有的、逐字母输入的键盘的局限性。然而，即便如此，美国人也只能认识到这种程度了。