MenksoftMenksoft is an IT company in Inner Mongolia, who developed Menksoft Mongolian IME, the most widely used Mongolian language IME in Inner Mongolia.-History:...
Mongolian IME is an
input method editorAn input method is an operating system component or program that allows any data, such as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices...
(or IME) made by
MenksoftMenksoft is an IT company in Inner Mongolia, who developed Menksoft Mongolian IME, the most widely used Mongolian language IME in Inner Mongolia.-History:...
for typing Mongolian writing systems such as:
- Mongolian script
The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...
- Uyghur style Mongolian script (Proto-Mongolian script, Mongolian written in the Old Uyghur alphabet
The Old Uyghur alphabet was used for writing the Old Uyghur language, a variety of Old Turkic spoken in the Tarim basin, which is an ancestor of the modern Uyghur language. It was descendant of the Sogdian alphabet, used for texts with Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian content for 700–800 years in...
by Tatar-Tonga)
- Clear script
- Manchu script
- Xibe script
- 'Phags-pa script
- Soyombo script
The Soyombo script is an abugida developed by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian.It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit....
- Galik script
The Galik script is an extension to the traditional Mongolian script. It was created in 1587 by the translator and scholar Ayuush Güüsh , inspired by the 3. Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso. He added extra characters for transcribing Tibetan and Sanskrit terms when translating religious texts, and later...
Function
The Menksoft IMEs make use of Private Use Areas (PUA) of Unicode and the Chinese
GB 18030GB18030 is a Chinese government standard describing the required language and character support necessary for software in China. In addition to the "GB18030 code page" this standard contains requirements about which scripts must be supported, font support, etc....
code that form the Menksoft Mongolian code (
ChineseThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: ).
With the influence of
Chinese input methodsHundreds of Chinese input methods are available for entry of Chinese characters into computers, but most keyboard-based methods rely on either pinyin phonetic readings or root shapes in Chinese characters...
' built-in whole-sentence input pattern the focus of Menksoft Mongolian IME is not placed on a Mongolian
keyboard layoutA keyboard layout is any specific mechanical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key–meaning associations of a computer, typewriter, or other typographic keyboard....
but on phoneme pattern
input methodAn input method is an operating system component or program that allows any data, such as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices...
s, as they are more commonly used for Chinese-language text.
Use
Unicode was late to provide adequate support for Mongolian script; the fist and (as of 2009) only functional implementation was shipped with
Windows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. This resulted in the popularity of Menksoft IMEs in
Inner MongoliaInner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
, where local-government websites use them.
English
There is an English interface for Menksoft Mongolian IME; however, Menksoft did not build an English installation program. Therefore, Westerners must use the Chinese installation programs (including
mojibake, from the Japanese 文字 "character" + 化け "change", is the occurrence of incorrect, unreadable characters shown when computer software fails to render text correctly according to its associated character encoding.-Causes:...
), setting the language to the English interface through the language bar after installation.
External links
Menksoft Mongolian IME Menksoft Mongolian IME (The English advertisement is the download link)
Mongolian site by Menksoft