Thursday 12 March 2009

How to enable Indic Language Support on Windows XP?

Most of us have wished to write in our native language while using our PC. But we don't know how to get started. here is a quick tutorial on how to enable Indian language support on Microsoft Windows XP. Microsoft has created a great site www.bhashaindia.com to enable localization of computing. It also offers tools and keyboard layouts to get started with popular Microsoft products such as MS Office. We will post the Linux localization for Indian languages in subsequent posts.

 

To download some of the tools , visit http://www.bhashaindia.com/Downloadsv2/ListCategories.aspx#WLIP

 

Since all Indic Languages are Unicode-only Languages, presently, Indic languages are supported only on WindowsXP and Windows 2000 operating systems.

1st Step: Enable Indic Functionality in the OS

  • Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Date, Time, Language and Regional Options.
  • Click on Regional and Language Options.
  • Click on the Languages tab as shown below.

  • Under the heading 'Supplemental language support' check the item 'Install files for Complex Script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)'.
  • Allow the OS to install necessary files from Windows XP disc
  • Reboot

2nd Step: What to Select as User Locale, Location and System Locale?

  • Click on the 'Regional Options' tab to set User Locale and Location.
  • Under the heading 'Standards and format' select Hindi or any other language as your User Locale from the drop-down box. This selection will determine settings for numbers, currencies, times and dates as well as sorting rules for the language.
  • Under the heading 'Location', select a country where you are physically located such as India.

3rd Step: Setting-up the Indian Language Keyboards or Input Locales

  • In Regional and Language Options panel, click on the Languages Tab.
  • Once Languages tab is selected click on the 'Details' tab to install different input locales or Keyboards.
  • Click on the 'Add' button to add a keyboard for a particular language.
  • In the drop-down box select Hindi or Marathi as the Input Language.
  • A corresponding keyboard layout/IME will be automatically selected as shown below. Click OK to close the dialog boxes.

3 comments:

  1. Two comments.

    1. I had to restart the computer after doing the changes for them to take effect.
    2. it applies to editing and typing. My interface does not change. Any ways to make all of the interfaces change to local language?

    ReplyDelete
  2. To change the interface , you will need to install Windows XP language Interface pack ( LIP) . the process is reversible and you can revert nack to your english version

    Details are on this link
    http://www.bhashaindia.com/Developers/MSTech/IndicSupport/HindiLIP.htm

    ReplyDelete
  3. Installation gives me error. can you try,

    ReplyDelete