學倉頡
Learning Cangjie
Online software for learning a better way of typing Chinese
Currently under tentative construction. Sign up to be notified about more!
What is Cangjie?
Cangjie is a computer input system for Chinese, that is it's a way to use a normal QWERTY keyboard to type Chinese on a keyboard.
It differs from phonetic inputs such as Pinyin or Zhuyin (Bopomofo) by graphically breaking down Chinese characters and assigning each fragment to a key. This drastically reduces the problem that phonetic inputs have when it comes to homonyms, allowing users to type much more quickly. If you're still learning Chinese, this also lets you practice your graphical recall of Chinese characters at the same time. If you can already fluently read and write Chinese, Cangjie makes sure you don't forget how to hand write characters!
A basic example is provided below.1. Look at your character
2. Decompose your character
3. Enter each corresponding key
4. You're done!
What is "Learning Cangjie?"
Learning Cangjie is a tool still under construction that aims to be a resource for learning Cangjie. Cangjie currently doesn't have a lot of resources for beginners, especially beginners who are not currently fluent Chinese readers. This website aims to fix that!
Through a series of online typing tutorials it'll walk you through how Cangjie decomposes Chinese characters and offer typing exercises to make it a fluent and easy way to type Chinese. How comprehensive will it be? Well that depends on interest, which is where you come in; please let me know if you want this to happen, either by submitting your email address or emailing me directly!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Cangjie better?
Because it's a graphical system of decomposition you get:
- Faster typing speed
- No need to know the pronunciation of a word to type
- Better practice of graphical recall of characters.
Okay but are there any downsides?
Cangjie's main downside is its learning curve. Its graphical decomposition rules don't correspond to usual Chinese radical decomposition and must be separately learned in addition to how the decomposition maps to the keyboard. And that's precisely what this site is trying to help out with!
Why create "Learning Cangjie"
Unfortunately Cangjie doesn't have too many associated learning resources, especially in English. This is trying to fill that gap!
How much Chinese do I need to know to start learning Cangjie?
Very little! As long as you can recognize that a glyph is indeed a Chinese character you can start learning Cangjie!
What do you mean "tentatively under construction?"
I'm both in the process of building the software and trying to gauge interest in who wants this. The more people who want it, the more time I'm going to put into this and the higher quality it'll be.
Why not also teach other graphical decomposition methods such as Wubi or Zhengma?
I'd love to if I can scrounge up the time to do so! At the moment Cangjie is the most popular of them and most widely supported of them, hence the focus on Cangjie.
About me
Hey there! I'm just one lone developer who got tired of typing Chinese slowly trying to make something useful for myself and others. If you want to contact me about anything related to Learning Cangjie, or have any other questions about me, just email me.
As long as I'm not getting swamped by hundreds of emails I'll do my best to respond personally!
Email admin%$#%$# at %$#$%learningcangjie.com (removing the %, $, and # characters and replacing "at" with @). I'm writing it this way so I don't get a flood of automated spam.