How to type in Hindi
From ISpeakHindi.com - All About Hindi Wiki
Contents |
General
You might be interested in some keyboard stickers:
And here is a typing program you might like (It is meant for people that know Hindi... but with some trial and error, it can still be helpful )
In order to use this, you need to know the Hindi keyboard layout. To help with this you might want to bring up the "On Screen Keyboard" This is usually under Programs->Accessories->Ease of Use (or accessibility)->On Screen Keyboard.
The keyboard is very "logically" laid out. Here are the independent vowels (Hindi letter) - (The English letter that is on the same key): अ - D आ - E
इ - F ई - R
उ - G ऊ - T
ए - S ऐ -W
ओ - A औ - Q
These are all typed with the left hand, and they are all right next to each other. (Note that they are all capitalized because you have to press "shift" and the key to the get the "independent" form of the vowel. If you want the dependent form, then you just press the key without shift. Let me go over some consonants and then I can demonstrate:
क - k ख - K
ग - i घ - I (capital "i")
च - ; छ - :
ज - p झ - P
ट - ' ठ - "
ड - [ ढ - {
त - l (lower case "L") थ - L
द - o ध - O
Notice that the aspirated version is made by holding "shift" and pressing the key of the "non-aspirated" character. The characters that are next to each other in the same row in the Hindi script are right above and below each other.
How to type a consonant and one of the vowels. का is made by pressing "ke".
You can also get keyboard stickers from http://www.latkey.com/keyboard_stickers.asp?SubCat=25
If you do not want to learn a new keyboard layout and you are comfortable with transliteration Hindi, then you can install HindiWriter:
http://tdil.mit.gov.in/download/hwiter.htm
Also, there are online services that allow for you to transliterate Hindi as well: Google Transliteration (choose Hindi) http://www.google.com/transliterate/ type "ka" and press "space bar" and it will turn into का
http://www.writeka.com/scripton/hindi/
Windows 7
How to turn on the Hindi Keyboard in Windows:
1) Go to Control Panel
2) Go to the language and cultural settings (the name of this changes slightly depending on what version of windows you have. I am on my Windows 7 machine right now and it is called "Region and Language")
3) Go to the "Keyboards and Languages" tab (name might differ depending on the version of windows)
4) Click "Add.." button
5) Choose the Hindi keyboard.. (If you have multiple options, then I would recommend "Hindi Traditional")
6) Click "Ok" in all the windows
7) Now you should have an "EN" in your taskbar or a floating toolbar. Clicking on the "EN" will show the other keyboards you have installed. When you click on "HI" it will start typing in Devanagari. Clicking on "HI" and choosing "EN" will change it back to English.
Windows Vista
How to Enable Hindi keyboard instructions with screenshots
Enable the Hindi keyboard
1) go to Start
2) go to Control panel
3) Open "Region and Language Settings"
4) Click the "Keyboards and Languages" tab
5) Click the "Change keyboards" button
6) in the "General" tab, click the "Add..." button
7) Go down to "Hindi"
8) Expand the "Hindi" node
9) check the "Devanagari - INSCRIPT" option
10) click "OK"
--- Now you have the Hindi keyboard setup --
now you should create a hot key to switch back and fourth from your regular keyboard to Hindi. I will show you how to setup a hot key for the HIndi keyboard. Use the same method for you normal keyboard.
1) Click on the "Advanced Key settings" in the dialog box that should still be up after step 10 above.
2) Select "To Hindi (India) - Devanagari - Inscript
3) Click the button "Change Key Sequence"
4) Select the key squence that you want. for me, I use CTRL+8 from Hindi and CTRL+9 to English.
Windows XP
1) go to Start
2) go to Control panel
3) Open "Region and Language Settings"
4) Click the "Languages" tab
5) Check "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages.." (will may need your XP windows install CDs at this point)
6) Click the "Details button" and the "Text Services and Input Languages" is displayed.
7) Click "Add..."
8) In the "Add Input Language" select "Hindi" (if you don't see this, then check step 5.)
10) click "OK"
11) now you should be able to switch between English (EN) and Hindi (HI) using the language bar displayed in your task bar.
Here is a video I put together to show how to do it on Windows XP:
http://ispeakhindi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04_april/HowToEnableTheHindiKeyboardInWindowsXP.swf.html
Ubuntu Linux
1) Go to the menu system/preferences/keyboard.
2) Select Layouts.
3) Select Add.
4) Select India, Bolnagri.
5) Make USA your default layout and Close the preferences.
6) Go to an empty space on your panel.
7) Right click and select Add to panel.
8) Select keyboard indicator and then Add.
To start typing in Hindi, click in the USA indicator in your panel, it will switch to Ind and you विल बे तैपिन्ग :) (will be typing) in Hindi.
