| Use the Indic IME to type Tamil |
| The advent of the Microsoft Office 2003 suite with support enabled to type in Indic languages allows the user to type in any of the Indian languages supported. The languages currently coded possible for usage through Microsoft Office 2003 are Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali. One method of typing the range of complex characters and symbols that form the key characteristics of any Indian script is by the usage of an Indic IME or Input Method Editor. |
| An Input Method Editor (also known as a Input Method Environment) is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter complex characters and symbols (such as Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan and Korean characters, along with Indic characters), using a standard Western keyboard. |
| An IME is an essential component in the operations of the Microsoft Office product range if the user wishes to type in an Indic language like Hindi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil or Bengali. Any user of Microsoft Office who would like to type in any of these languages could either find them available either on the Microsoft Office CD or in the Downloads link in the End Users section of the Microsoft BhashaIndia portal. |
Tamil, along with Sanskrit, has been adjudged a classical language of the world. With over 2,500 years of literary and cultural history, Tamil is now a language of reckoning in the world today. To enable Office-based operations on the PC in Tamil, a simple 5-step procedure is to be followed :
- The support for Tamil IMEs must be enabled in the PC for the possibility of the usage of the IME.
- If Windows 2000 is installed on the PC and support is to be enabled for Tamil, the user must go to Control Panel, then on to the Regional Options. In the option titled “Settings for the System”, check the Indic box. Then insert the Windows 2000 CD into the CD-ROM drive to complete the configuration for the installation.
- If Windows XP is installed on the PC, the user must go to Control Panel and then on the button titled “Regional and Language Options”. Three options will emerge as tabs : Regional Options, Languages and Advanced. Select the Languages tab. Check the box titled “Install files for complex scripts and left-to-right languages (including Thai)” and click Apply. Then insert the Windows XP CD to finish the configuration.
- Run the Tamil IME setup file and restart the computer.
- The next step is to enable the recognition of the keyboard layout a change in language would necessitate.
- If Windows 2000 is installed on the PC, the user must go to Control Panel and then on to the Text Services section. In the Installed Services section, select the keyboard under an option titled TA and click Add. Then, select the Tamil option in the Input Language section and check the Keyboard Layout /IME box. Now, select the Tamil Indic IME 1 option from the choices available.If Windows XP is installed on the PC, the user must go the Control Panel and then on to Regional and Language Options button. Of the three tabs available, select the Languages tab. Then click on the Details. . . button in the Text services and input languages section. Upon clicking the button, select Tamil as the input language and Add Tamil as the keyboard. Follow all relevant steps similar to the installation on Windows 2000 and select Tamil Indic IME 1 as the option.
- After the installation is complete, start any Office application, including Wordpad or Notepad. Click the Language Indicator located in the System Tray on the right side of the Windows taskbar, and click to select “Tamil Indic IME 1” from the shortcut menu that appears.
|
| The Tamil Indic IME comes with three types of keyboards : |
1. Tamil Transliteration :
Using phonetic typing, the user can type his message in Roman using the Standard English keyboard, which is transliterated on-the-fly to Tamil. It works on the logic of phonetics and is most effective when you spell the word the way it is spoken. |
2. Tamil 99 Keyboard :
Tamil 99 keyboard is a user-friendly keyboard layout for using Tamil on computers. Typing can be done as per the key mapping of the Tamil 99 keyboard. |
3. Inscript Keyboard :
A Tamil Keyboard where the user types the basic characters in sequence and an underlying logic determines that which of these characters have to be combined and substituted to form a glyph. |
| With these different features available under the Tamil IME, the user can simply and easily use Microsoft Office to type documents, in any of the various types of document types supported, in Tamil. |
There are certain issues towards the usage of the Tamil IME. The complexity of the Indic script coupled with ongoing development of the same will necessitate certain precautions be undertaken and certain points be remembered during the usage of the IME.
- While using the IME in Microsoft Excel, the text will not be displayed until the Space, Enter or Tab keys are pressed.
- When the customized wordlist window is closed, a small window will remain open on the screen of the PC.
- If the Tamil text is typed at a very rapid rate on Microsoft Front page or in the HTML Compose option on Microsoft Outlook, the program may crash. Hence, a moderate rate of typing is to be maintained.
- There is a high probability of random crashes during the course of execution of the Tamil script in Microsoft Excel. Hence, frequently save data.
- The performance is slightly slow during the implementation of the Tamil script on Microsoft Front Page, or the HTML Mail Option on Microsoft Outlook.
- While switching to the English Keyboard option or any other IME that has been installed, the last typed word will be lost if that word is not committed.
- The Enter key must be pressed twice while using Microsoft Front Page or the HTML Compose option in Microsoft Outlook to get a new line.
- If the arrow keys are pressed without committing any text (such as, without pressing Space, Enter or Tab keys), each key needs to be pressed twice to obtain the effect. If the text has been committed, the keys will work smoothly.
|
|
|