Typing in Chinese

[drkn335]

I have been learning Chinese for a while now, and my keyboard does not have the tones for the pinyin and so when I type I usually miss out the tones on letters. Do you think that matters? Can you still understand mostly what a person is saying without the tones written?

[pandandesign]

A word can make a big difference. It depends on whether or not the person will understand your sentence unless you explain to the person. Chinese is different from English, which it can change to a whole different meaning if you miss a tone or two. I use the Google Pinyin keyboard to type Chinese on my phone, which is alright because it does get my typing done.

[Miya]

If you're typing in Pinyin, then yes, the tone marks matter.

If you're typing the characters, then you don't need to worry about the tone marks because the characters will pop up when you type it and you can just select the one you want.

[drkn335]

Okay thank you, I was just thinking that natives might understand what I was saying, but I guess the tones do matter (well obviously when speaking)

Xiexie (you still understand that though, right )

[linguaholic]

I have been learning Chinese for a while now, and my keyboard does not have the tones for the pinyin and so when I type I usually miss out the tones on letters. Do you think that matters? Can you still understand mostly what a person is saying without the tones written?

Well, you are obviously speaking about writing Pinyin and then, as long as you write full sentences (basic vocabulary, everyday life talk) it is usually still possible to get your meaning.

Another thing that you could do is go to this link here and insert the pinyin tones (I do that pretty often, as I am also not able to write the tones on my keyboard).

Here you go: http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/pinyin-editor.html

Anyway, I think that a standard keyboard is just not able to write the tones, so it is pretty normal that you will use special software to make the tones.

[pandandesign]

If you're typing in Pinyin, then yes, the tone marks matter.

If you're typing the characters, then you don't need to worry about the tone marks because the characters will pop up when you type it and you can just select the one you want.

I actually use Pinyin, but then I am able to select the characters that pop up on the top of my phone's on-screen keyboard. I am able to pronounce the word by using Pinyin, which is why I can see different characters appear at the top.

[MegaZero]

The tones really matter and it is really hard to differentiate it from other words without the tones. Try purchasing a special keyboard so then typing in Chinese can be easier for you.

Good luck!

[Bob]

I must agree that tones matter because there are already a lot of characters that sound the same even with the tones. To just have the bare pinyin without the tones would broaden the range even more. Of course, the meaning can still be understandable through the context such as saying "pinyin" or "xiexie" and Chinese names laid out in English don't use tones because they aren't significant, but plenty of examples can show when tones are important.

I have been learning Chinese for a while now, and my keyboard does not have the tones for the pinyin and so when I type I usually miss out the tones on letters. Do you think that matters? Can you still understand mostly what a person is saying without the tones written?

Usually Chinese is not communicated through bare pinyin. Instead, the actual characters are more often used. There are a few solutions for this. I believe that Chinese language typing on a Windows computer can easily be setup. The pinyin is typed out and a number is typed at the end to indicate the tone. This brings up a few suggestions and a character can be chosen. On the other hand, Google translate's Chinese typing program don't let you use tones when typing. After you type in the pinyin for a character, many suggestions show up. The great thing is that you can continue typing without stopping and choosing, so it will appear in a queue that suggests the string of characters you might be trying to type based on the context.