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  3. How many letters chinese language has?

How many letters chinese language has?

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  • H Hamed Musavi

    One of my friends said something unusual, I didn't believe it. I'm here to ask, if there is any one aware of that: How many letters the Chinese language has?

    // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
    while (I'm_alive)
    {
    cout<<"I love programming.";
    }

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jorgen Sigvardsson
    wrote on last edited by
    #8

    "The entire Chinese character corpus since antiquity comprises well over 20,000 characters, of which only roughly 10,000 are now commonly in use." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language[^]

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    • B benjymous

      You can get software that basically translates phonetic words typed on a regular qwerty keyboard into the correct symbol

      -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

      H Offline
      H Offline
      Hamed Musavi
      wrote on last edited by
      #9

      Yes, but the problem here is how to place hundreds of letters on an standard 102 keys, keyboard where many already used for numbers and other symbols. Using Ctrl, Shift, Alt to make more room is an option, but even using these, several hundred is too much. Now it's not important, because the problem was totally wrong. No problem exists at all! But it was interesting that there's such applications.

      // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
      while (I'm_alive)
      {
      cout<<"I love programming.";
      }

      realJSOPR D J 3 Replies Last reply
      0
      • J Jorgen Sigvardsson

        "The entire Chinese character corpus since antiquity comprises well over 20,000 characters, of which only roughly 10,000 are now commonly in use." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language[^]

        H Offline
        H Offline
        Hamed Musavi
        wrote on last edited by
        #10

        Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

        // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
        while (I'm_alive)
        {
        cout<<"I love programming.";
        }

        J C realJSOPR J C 5 Replies Last reply
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        • H Hamed Musavi

          Acceptable! Thank you so much. My friend said it has several hundred! He said there are letters that is equal to a complete word. I quickly asked, 'Several hundred!, How do they use computers and what type of keyboards do they have?!':-D

          // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
          while (I'm_alive)
          {
          cout<<"I love programming.";
          }

          R Offline
          R Offline
          Rage
          wrote on last edited by
          #11

          Hamed Mosavi wrote:

          what type of keyboards do they have

          Yeah, that's a bit of a problem in China; administration is very slow, due to the 500 people it requires to type a letter on a keyboard with 20,127 keys. I heard that they are trying to build a robot to replace these people that would hit the keys automatically. But they first need to build a software, and since they are using a plain Chinese compiler, it takes ages.

          Don't follow any man spiritually, don't do anything that will get you in sh*t if god is real - Bradml[^]

          H 1 Reply Last reply
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          • H Hamed Musavi

            Yes, but the problem here is how to place hundreds of letters on an standard 102 keys, keyboard where many already used for numbers and other symbols. Using Ctrl, Shift, Alt to make more room is an option, but even using these, several hundred is too much. Now it's not important, because the problem was totally wrong. No problem exists at all! But it was interesting that there's such applications.

            // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
            while (I'm_alive)
            {
            cout<<"I love programming.";
            }

            realJSOPR Offline
            realJSOPR Offline
            realJSOP
            wrote on last edited by
            #12

            Hamed Mosavi wrote:

            it's not important

            Precisely.

            Hamed Mosavi wrote:

            several hundred is too much.

            I just sent a letter off to the Chinese government asking them to reduce the complexity of their alphabet by adopting the new metric alphabet. It only has ten letters.

            "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
            -----
            "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • R Rage

              Hamed Mosavi wrote:

              what type of keyboards do they have

              Yeah, that's a bit of a problem in China; administration is very slow, due to the 500 people it requires to type a letter on a keyboard with 20,127 keys. I heard that they are trying to build a robot to replace these people that would hit the keys automatically. But they first need to build a software, and since they are using a plain Chinese compiler, it takes ages.

              Don't follow any man spiritually, don't do anything that will get you in sh*t if god is real - Bradml[^]

              H Offline
              H Offline
              Hamed Musavi
              wrote on last edited by
              #13

              :laugh:

              // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
              while (I'm_alive)
              {
              cout<<"I love programming.";
              }

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • H Hamed Musavi

                Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

                // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                while (I'm_alive)
                {
                cout<<"I love programming.";
                }

                J Offline
                J Offline
                Jorgen Sigvardsson
                wrote on last edited by
                #14

                They probably use morphemes (mentioned in the article), and let the computer help in picking the right symbol. I just don't know. :) The Japanese language also uses Chinese symbols - a.k.a. Kanji in the Japanese language. Then they also have three other "alphabets", which they use in conjunction with Kanji. Two of the alphabets*, Hiragana and Katakana, are of Japanese origin, while Romaji is the roman alphabet. When typing on a Japanese computer, you use Hiragana and Katakana to spell the words. The computer will then provide you with a list of possible Kanji. I suppose this Chinese input works the same way, but using those special morpheme symbols. * It's a bunch of syllables, and not really an alphabet per se. It serves the same purpose as our alphabet does though.

                Y 1 Reply Last reply
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                • H Hamed Musavi

                  Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

                  // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                  while (I'm_alive)
                  {
                  cout<<"I love programming.";
                  }

                  C Offline
                  C Offline
                  Chris Meech
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #15

                  fingers. just like everybody else does. :-D

                  Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]

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                  0
                  • H Hamed Musavi

                    Yes, but the problem here is how to place hundreds of letters on an standard 102 keys, keyboard where many already used for numbers and other symbols. Using Ctrl, Shift, Alt to make more room is an option, but even using these, several hundred is too much. Now it's not important, because the problem was totally wrong. No problem exists at all! But it was interesting that there's such applications.

                    // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                    while (I'm_alive)
                    {
                    cout<<"I love programming.";
                    }

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    Duncan Edwards Jones
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #16

                    The most common characters are on the keyboard Less common characters are built up over multiple key strokes from glyphs (character parts)

                    '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

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                    • H Hamed Musavi

                      Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

                      // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                      while (I'm_alive)
                      {
                      cout<<"I love programming.";
                      }

                      realJSOPR Offline
                      realJSOPR Offline
                      realJSOP
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #17

                      Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                      How do they use keyboard?

                      With their tongues.

                      "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                      -----
                      "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                      H 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • H Hamed Musavi

                        Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

                        // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                        while (I'm_alive)
                        {
                        cout<<"I love programming.";
                        }

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        jratcliff7740
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #18

                        I have studied Japanese many years ago. What I found was that in Japanese, there was two sets of a basic alphabet Hiragana and Katakana. Then there was the pictograms that were called Kanga. You could use the alphabet to write out the word or use the pictogram. I saw a program that would allow the user to type in the letters and it would convert them into the pictogram. I am not sure if Chinese works the exact same way, but I think it would be close.

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                        • C Chris Meech

                          fingers. just like everybody else does. :-D

                          Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          Jorgen Sigvardsson
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #19

                          :laugh: The most obvious answer! :-D

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • realJSOPR realJSOP

                            Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                            How do they use keyboard?

                            With their tongues.

                            "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                            -----
                            "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                            H Offline
                            H Offline
                            Hamed Musavi
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #20

                            oh ya! the problem solved. Thank you.

                            // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                            while (I'm_alive)
                            {
                            cout<<"I love programming.";
                            }

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • H Hamed Musavi

                              Well:confused: This is what exactly my friend said! So the question arises again: How do they use keyboard? How they arrange 10,000 letters on a keyboard?!

                              // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                              while (I'm_alive)
                              {
                              cout<<"I love programming.";
                              }

                              C Offline
                              C Offline
                              Chris Losinger
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #21

                              Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                              How do they use keyboard?

                              http://en.wikipedia.org...

                              image processing toolkits | batch image processing | blogging

                              H 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J Jorgen Sigvardsson

                                They probably use morphemes (mentioned in the article), and let the computer help in picking the right symbol. I just don't know. :) The Japanese language also uses Chinese symbols - a.k.a. Kanji in the Japanese language. Then they also have three other "alphabets", which they use in conjunction with Kanji. Two of the alphabets*, Hiragana and Katakana, are of Japanese origin, while Romaji is the roman alphabet. When typing on a Japanese computer, you use Hiragana and Katakana to spell the words. The computer will then provide you with a list of possible Kanji. I suppose this Chinese input works the same way, but using those special morpheme symbols. * It's a bunch of syllables, and not really an alphabet per se. It serves the same purpose as our alphabet does though.

                                Y Offline
                                Y Offline
                                youbo
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #22

                                let me tell you something about chinese.first a chinese character rabal have two ways when writing : one way is that it depends on its form,the other is that it depend on its pronunciation. the first way: there is only 26 letters in english.all english words are made up of 26 letters.but in chinese there are hundreds of "letters".it have three comfigurations like : left and right,up and down and surround like 国,围 and so on.it also have basal stroke like :horizontal(一,二),upright,bend to left,bend to right and so on.one chinese character is made up of one or some elements before.they also look the letters like horizontal as horizontal in writing.so it put the same stroke in the same key,like this :一,王 are in the "G","二","土"are in the"F","三"is in the "D".here "一,二,三"are like the chinese letters in chinese characters writing.all chinese letters are made up of these "letters".these letters are put in the 26 keys.when you knock some keys,it will appear some similar chinese characters,so you should make a choose.because some keys means some chinese letters may compose some similar chinese characters. this is the way by its form. the second way is that it depend on its pronunciation like english very much. in this way chinese only have 26 english letters too.some letters can compose a character in english,some letters can compose some chinese character pronunciation.you know there are hundreds of chinese characters........like the way choose one from some before,you will write out a chinese character in this way.that is all.ohh,i am tired.sorry to my pull english lever......

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                                • H Hamed Musavi

                                  Yes, but the problem here is how to place hundreds of letters on an standard 102 keys, keyboard where many already used for numbers and other symbols. Using Ctrl, Shift, Alt to make more room is an option, but even using these, several hundred is too much. Now it's not important, because the problem was totally wrong. No problem exists at all! But it was interesting that there's such applications.

                                  // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                                  while (I'm_alive)
                                  {
                                  cout<<"I love programming.";
                                  }

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  JimmyRopes
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #23

                                  Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                                  Yes, but the problem here is how to place hundreds of letters on an standard 102 keys, keyboard

                                  Make them very small. :rolleyes:

                                  Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
                                  Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
                                  I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

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                                  • C Chris Losinger

                                    Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                                    How do they use keyboard?

                                    http://en.wikipedia.org...

                                    image processing toolkits | batch image processing | blogging

                                    H Offline
                                    H Offline
                                    Hamed Musavi
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #24

                                    Very interesting, indeed. Got my 5. Thanks.

                                    // "Life is very short and is very fragile also." Yanni
                                    while (I'm_alive)
                                    {
                                    cout<<"I love programming.";
                                    }

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • realJSOPR realJSOP

                                      Hamed Mosavi wrote:

                                      How many letters the Chinese language has?

                                      42

                                      "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                                      -----
                                      "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                                      R Offline
                                      R Offline
                                      Russell
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #25

                                      :cool:


                                      Russell

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