Japanese language fonts - how can I download them ?

Btw, I mean writing in Japanese, not just displaying it. I've got that already though I may need it again if I buy a new laptop.

Cheersu !

do you have a mac? do you use OSX if so then there is a language selection thing in the contol panel and you can select Japanese as one you want to use. It's a little tricky and takes some fiddling, but a menu should appear at the top right of the screen where you can pick which languages to use. If you have an eariler OS then you have to install something extra from the software cd that came with the computer. Look in the help menu to figure out how to do that. Again this is a little tricky.

I keep getting spam that brings up offers to download Japanese fonts, but I can't say I've bothered. Also, visiting Japanese websites often brings such an offer. On the other hand, there are three utterly separate ways of writing in Japanese, and at least two are routinely used and mixed. That's before you deal with the many fonts there must be.

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dammit cut that shit out... it fucks up my computer you ass wipe

the way the writing works is that you type in the pronuciation on with romanji (eg: ta chi tsu te to) and then the hiragana appear and then you hit space to select a kanji from a scrolling menu and return when you have the one you want. To type katakana you can use shift or select it from the menu. Often there is a memory and it will supply a kanji if you have used it recently or if it is on of the more commom ones.

The thing is you can't just download a font. If you do that you have to type using option-shift-a-t (or whatever) and that doesn't even get many of the characters. You have to install a added function to your word processor or system files that helps with the typing.

darren do you have a mac or a pc?

it works for me.

what kind of computer do you have, darren.

if you have a mac running OS X japanese fonts are already on there. To turn on Japanese input, go to system preferences select international and follow instructions.

Gygax mate - I have a Pc at present but I'm planning to get a lap top really soon - it'll probably be a Pentium 4 with Windows XP unless I swallow deep and go for that Mac I always wanted. Cheers all of you by the way.

OMG this is le coq isn't it?

I LVOE YOU!

Add a language or keyboard layout

1 On the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2 Double-click the Keyboard icon .
3 Click the Language tab.
4 Click Add.
5 In the Language box, click the language you want, and then click OK.
6 Select the Enable indicator on taskbar check box.

Note Keyboard layouts vary to accommodate the special characters and symbols used in different languages. This affects the characters that appear when you press the keys on your keyboard. After you change your keyboard language, the characters that appear on your screen may no longer correspond to the characters that are printed on your keyboard.

Tips

· When the Enable indicator on taskbar check box is selected, and you have two or more languages installed, an indicator that represents the default language appears on the Windows taskbar. To switch between languages quickly, click the indicator, and then click the language you want to use.
· You can also use shortcut keys to switch between languages while you type. Select one of the Switch languages options on the Language tab to set the shortcut keys.

y0, i will be in tokyo/osaka/kyoto/fukuoka for three weeks in april/may. send a message if you want to roq.

sorry Nairn, didn't read your post properly. I was sistracted by Jon

If you are running XP, I think it already has support for East Asian fonts built in - you don't have to download anything (or at least, I didn't). Try going to the Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options and looking for the "install files for East Asian languages" and then adding Japanese to the list of languages you can use to enter text. I'm pretty sure this is how I got Japanese support for my computer.

YAY

Yeah, I use XP's own too. It also comes with a phonetic input device, so typing ni-hon-go on your latin keyboard gives you the choice of outputting the phonemes in either of the kana or in kanji, which is pretty neat. Nice one Microsoft!