Re: Bopomofo keyboards in Taiwan

At 23:26 +0000 2005-08-30, suzmccarth wrote:

>Saying that some people use these keyboards doesn't mean that most can.

It's the Ethiopian standard method of input. Are you saying that
Ethiopians are smart enough to be able to learn the Latin alphabet at
the same time they learn to type, but other people are not smart
enough?

>Everyone only sees a small portion of reality. That is why we read
>other people's research.

Yes, but the research simply said who reads Vai, who reads Latin, who
reads Arabic. There's a big leap from there to "QWERTY-based
keyboards are unsuitable for people who don't already know Latin".

>The point is that reading a syllabic script can be learned outside
>of school without learning alphabetic literacy.

Orthogonal to the question of

>Now that these syllabic systems require alphabetic literacy for
>computer input, the nature of that writing system, on the computer,
>at any rate,
>will shift significantly.

Not at all. The writing system is what it is. If you had
voice-activated input, the "nature of the writing system" would not
change. If you click a glyph palette with

>Vai literates will have to go to school to learn how to input in
>Vai. Traditional Vai literates will not likely have this
>opportunity.

So? If they don't need to use computers, it doesn't matter. And if
they *do* need to use computers, they will have a lot of things to
learn. Pointing and clicking with a mouse. Menus. They can certainly
learn 26 letters along with learning the @ sign for e-mail addresses,
which they will also have to learn.

>If we accept that computers will only be accessible for those who
>read the English alphabet that is one thing. I understand that that
>is your position, and maybe it is realistic.

Absent an operating system and application software localized into
Vai, it certainly is. And Vais are at no *dis*advantage for knowing
the Latin script.

> > The brief is 340 characters.
>>
> > QWERTY deadkeys solves the problem smashingly.
>
>Deadkeys are hardly intuitive either.

Neither is the shift key, but you learned that. My point is that if
you have an idea as to how to design a non-QWERTY keyboard that can
access 340 characters, let us know about it.

>The point is that Vai literates do not differentiate these phonemes
>when writing with a pencil.

That's a matter of learning to spell. Vai manuals for children, now,
*do* teach these distinctions.

>English is an official langauge of India and 10% are literate in English.

And anyone who drives in India knows how to read street signs.

>I do know about the Ethiopic keyboard. However, Ethiopic is a
>very regular alphasyllabary/abugida, not really comparable with
>Vai.

I disagree.
--
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com