Displaying Chinese characters
Unlike older versions of windows (XP and below), Windows 7 (and vista) already have language support built-in. This should be supported in all major browsers. If you do see strange characters instead of mandarin, make sure your encoding is set to “utf-8″, which includes both simplified and traditional.
within IE8+ go to page->encoding
Adding Chinese Input methods (IME)
Chinese input methods will allow you to use Pinyin or Zhuyin for typing Chinese characters. It also supports Traditional or simplified character sets.
Step 1:
Go to start->control panel and then click on "change keyboards and other methods"
Step 2:
Click "change keyboards..." and then "add". You should then see a list of chinese input types.
I prefer the “Microsoft Pinyin New Experience Input St” under “Chinese simplified PRC”. This input type has fuzzy logic built-in which will show you a list of possible characters when you type in the pinyin and the tone number. It also supports both Traditional and Simplified characters.
Taiwan update
Microsoft also recently released a Taiwan IME update for windows 7 and Vista, which includes full traditional character support. It can be found here
I want to learn chinese
We are still working hard on our beta. If you want to sign-up, go here: http://www.mandarinflash.com/signup-2/ . You will get an email when the system is ready.
Hi Guys, I registered just a few minutes ago and I would love to help test your system. I would consider myself between beginner and intermediate. I could spend about two hours a day using your system and would be generous during my feedback responses.
I have been search install Chinese as additional language but they all seems complicated and did not apply my laptop with windows 7 home premium.
Luckily I found Mandarinflash which is very useful and Chinese language has been installed on my computer now I can type Chinese. How cool is that!