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Write Chinese Characters Using Pinyin and Microsoft's New Phonetic Input Method

By , About.com Guide

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Begin Typing Pinyin in a Word Processor

Begin Typing Pinyin in a Word ProcessorMicrosoft product screen shot reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Open a word processing program such as Microsoft Word. With the Chinese input method selected, type “wo” and press “Return.” A Chinese character will show on your screen. Notice the dotted line beneath the character. This means you can select from other characters if the correct one did not appear.

You do not have to press return after each Pinyin syllable. The input method will intelligently select characters according to the context.

You can input Pinyin with or without numbers to indicate tones. Tone numbers will increase the accuracy of your writing.

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