A little on keyboard layouts

Most of the time I type in English. Rest of the time I type in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Esperanto, and Chinese. I occasionally want to type Korean, Russian, and Japanese. I have got all these keyboard layouts install on Fedora Linux. 

The keyboard layout I use most is English QWERTY. I occasionally try to learn Colemak and Dvorak, but that does not count. You are all familiar with Qwerty, so I will not talk about it. 

Next comes Gurumukhi (Punjabi). I use Inscript. Some people use a phonetic layout. Inscript is more efficient. Here is what it looks like:

I forgot to add Inscript has a big advantage over any other typing method for Indic scripts. Because I can type Punjabi, learning how to type in other Indic script languages is easy, because they all use the same layout with minor changes. Adjustment is as easy, as it is for an English speaker to learn how to type German. The umlaut characters are a nuisance at first, but never a big problem.

Here is the Inscript Devnagari layout.

I have beginning to like the National Language Authority (NLA) Pakistan's Urdu layout because of its efficiency. It is better than the phonetic layout that some other agencies in India and Pakistan support.

I do not know what it is called. Try pronounce "Ŝĝertŭ" and I can excuse you for thinking Esperanto is unlearnable. 

Chinese has a ton of keyboard layouts. Let me name a few - Pinyin (qwerty), Bopomofo, Cangjie, Wubi, Array, Boshiamy, Erbi, and Dayi. This is just the tip of a massive iceberg. I use Cangjie. It is the oldest layout. Chu Bong-Foo created Cangjie in 1976 and made it open source a few years latter. It is popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, as I discovered, many people in China may not even be aware of its existence. What a pity! 

First e-mail in Punjabi

"Yago told truth! This day will always be remembered."

A shocked Genie tells Aladdin. That was a long time ago, when Disney Hour was my favourite television series. I do not watch television any longer - except for occasional play of BBC World or Al Jazeera. I am digressing! 

I will remember today because today is the day when I received an e-mail in Punjabi - for the first time. 

The sender is a scientist, a Wikipedia editor, a polyglot, and a Punjabi language lover. Here is what he says -

He says he is elated (his words, not mine!) to have received an e-mail from me. He says he used to have an inferiority complex - because he spoke Punjabi, but no longer. He is learning Russian and Arabic, and he speaks a little Chinese. He asks me if I can help in the improvement of the Punjabi Wikipedia. And, he talks about a rightist member who is making life difficult for many people.

Interesting! Isn't it? 

零

我學漢語。己經幾個月學習。過一年。現在，我會說得錯．好像，我不可學語言。那，我是不好的學生與人。自學者！哈哈哈！我不是一個自學者。我是不好人，不可以學得快與好、不可以學數學、不可以做工、不可以．．．．　我是零。哈哈。