Re:The Inuit agree on a common writing system
by thaumasiotes on Monday October 07, 2019 @02:06PM
(#21184044)
> somebody using a keyboard for one of the CJK languages only needs to press shift to type all the characters in Basic Latin because the physical layouts are the same
The keyboards you buy in China (the C in CJK) are the same ones you'd buy in the US. They don't have their own.
This makes sense, since character input is done in software; there is no way to map physical keys to the much much larger inventory of characters.
Re:The Inuit agree on a common writing system
by knolax on Monday October 07, 2019 @06:21PM
(#21186613)
Yes Mainland China generally uses ANSI or ISO but Taiwanese keyboards usually have labels for bopomofo and Cangjie[0] while having the same physical layout as a US keyboard.
[0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_Taiwanese_K...
> No trouble with physical keyboards
I've seen comments on HN before about how certain characters used for programming aren't on keyboards with European layouts, supposedly creating a barrier for beginner programmers. In contrast, somebody using a keyboard for one of the CJK languages only needs to press shift to type all the characters in Basic Latin because the physical layouts are the same.
> lot of older computer technology predates modern unicode and nobody seems to be in a rush to replace it.
There are probably way more computers that only support Shift JIS than computers that only use ASCII. I heard that apparently lack of support for Unicode is still a problem in certain Japanese offices.
I think the most dangerous position to be in is when your writing system is similar to but not exactly the same as English, in which case people begin to adopt a "close enough" attitude and accept the status quo, choosing instead to change their orthography in counterproductive ways to fit ephemeral technical requirements.