| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Should I buy a keyboard with Russian letters for EnglishRussian translation? Thread poster: Lena Kislitsa
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| I would NOT recommend buying a keyboard. | Oct 30, 2009 |
Wolfgang Jörissen wrote:
Unless you know the Russian keyboard by heart and you are used to blind typing, you might want to get a cyrillic keyboard after all, which should be available at least by mailorder. But generally, you can produce cyrillic letters with every keyboard. You could also stick some labels with the cyrillic letters on it.
[Bearbeitet am 2009-10-29 14:50 GMT]
My opinion is, that if you want to translate into Russian, it is absolutely essential that you know the Russian keyboard by heart and you are used to blind typing. I simply cannot imagine how can you type in Russian otherwise. Needless to say, blind typing/knowing English keyboard is equally essential.
If you already know it - wonderful. If not, devote some time to learning it as a first step in getting established.
This is how I did it: I printed an image of the position of Russian letters on the keyboard and taped it near my screen at the eye level. Then I spent some time practicing typing in Russian, looking at the taped imaged of the keyboard. After some practice, my fingers remembered it, and I did not need to look at the image anymore.
P.S. I hope you do not take my opinion about the word "peeps" personally. It might be, in the words of my children, the case of "Oh, Momma, you are soooo old-fashioned!" And perhaps I am, in certain areas of life. Just keep in mind that your potential clients might be old-fashioned, too.
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If you remember the location of each Russian letter then you should not buy any keyboard.
| | | | Lena Kislitsa
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:30
Russian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
M. Ali Bayraktar wrote:
If you remember the location of each Russian letter then you should not buy any keyboard.
Thank you, I have everything sorted now. I actually bought software where you speak and it types for you, it works very quick and easy, was very expensive, but was worth it.
Thank you very much.
| | | | | No offense at all | Oct 30, 2009 |
"I am extremely sorry for offending your feelings with the slang that one used."
You did not offend me. This is just a conversation about what some consider proper and some not, and motivated by the best of the intentions with regard to your future as a translation professional.
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Neil Coffey 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:30
French to English
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| You don't ACTUALLY need a keyboard... | Oct 30, 2009 |
Just one small thing to consider-- you shouldn't actually need a Russian keyboard to pretend to Windows that you're using one. Just "lie" to Windows and tell it you've got a Russian keyboard and then learn the layout if you're not familiar with it.
| | | | Cathy Flick
United States
Local time: 13:30
Member (2003)
Russian to English
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| I've been typing in Russian and English for decades on one keyboard... | Nov 2, 2009 |
I translate only into US English but type a lot in Russian (getting hardcopy source into Word doc form, searching on the web, my own notes). I just use a US English "real" keyboard and have always just toggled between the US and Russian keyboard layouts (mappings). Actually, I know more than one mapping, sort of... because my favorite Cyrillic font isn't standard (all lower ascii), and although I'm quite fast typing in that "keyboard" - I have to be able to use a more standard mapping on the web... See more I translate only into US English but type a lot in Russian (getting hardcopy source into Word doc form, searching on the web, my own notes). I just use a US English "real" keyboard and have always just toggled between the US and Russian keyboard layouts (mappings). Actually, I know more than one mapping, sort of... because my favorite Cyrillic font isn't standard (all lower ascii), and although I'm quite fast typing in that "keyboard" - I have to be able to use a more standard mapping on the web. Apple macs come with several Cyrillic layouts.
I'm on a mac, so my advice on how to do it might not be too useful to you but might help someone else in future looking for the same info. In OS X, it's pretty automatic. Just make sure the Cyrillic language kit is installed (if not, just pull out the installation CD and do a custom install to get it). Then go to System Preferences, look for International in the Personal row of System Preferences. Then look for the Input tab and check off whatever keyboards you want to have handy in the Finder. They show up under a flag icon in the Finder menu (on the desktop). You can toggle between available keyboards with command-spacebar.
In earlier mac OS's, you just have to find a cyrillic keyboard layout file and drop it into your System file. I think then you look for the Keyboard control panel to enable anything under the Finder flag icon. You can add any font you want to the Fonts folder in the System Folder also, but you do need the right keyboard layout file to be able to write in standard Cyrillic fonts so you can access the Cyrillic in upper ascii. (My old lower ascii Cyrillic is no problem at all, I just choose the font - toggling with a macro in Word - and type in the standard US layout.) You still should install the Cyrillic language kit from the installation disk to get a variety of Cyrillic fonts unless you already have what you want from other sources.
If you forget where things are, just keep KeyCaps open in OS 9 and below (comes with the pre-OS X macs, accessible in the apple menu on the far left of the screen, big picture of a keyboard, choose the font and it shows where everything is on the keyboard - you can type with your mouse and it will show on the top display, so you can even copy-paste from it if needed). There is something similar in OS X called Keyboard Viewer - just check off that option in the Input tab in International preferences, and the option will show up in the flag menu in the Finder. The Keyboard Viewer will show whatever keyboard you've selected in the flag menu and you can choose which font you want to see also. Kind of fun to have Keyboard Viewer open at the top of the screen while typing in an application, you can see the little shaded area zip all around the virtual keyboard, following you as you type...
A good place for information about Russification of the Macintosh is
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/rusmac/
There must be similar places for Windows. Look for russification + windows or maybe cyrillic + windows + keyboard to find information.
Peace, Cathy Flick
Ph.D. Chemical Physics/M.A. Physics/B.S. Chemistry
Scientific Translator since 1978
Russian/French/German/Spanish/Italian into US English ▲ Collapse
| | | | | One keyboard is enough | Nov 3, 2009 |
I type in French, English and Japanese on a Japanese keyboard, without any problem.
At first I put stickers on it, until I remember the position of each letter in each language.
If you want to work fast, you are going to need to get used to type without staring at the keyboard anyway. Some freewares, such as KeyBlaze Typing Tutor for English can teach you how to do.
By the way, since you seem to be new to the profession, I would like to advise you to translate o... See more I type in French, English and Japanese on a Japanese keyboard, without any problem.
At first I put stickers on it, until I remember the position of each letter in each language.
If you want to work fast, you are going to need to get used to type without staring at the keyboard anyway. Some freewares, such as KeyBlaze Typing Tutor for English can teach you how to do.
By the way, since you seem to be new to the profession, I would like to advise you to translate only into your native language, as most translators do, or to hire a native proofreader.
Ps: Personnally I a not in favor of slang on this forum, but most French people are pretty conservative when it comes to language
*****
http://geraldineoudin.com
[Modifié le 2009-11-03 07:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I want to be a taxi driver. Do I need a CAR?
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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Hi Lena)
Sergei exaggerated it a little, yet a standard USB/ PS/2 keyboard is ~$5.
And as far as it *is* intended for typing extended chars I would recommend you having a comfortable one - try typing a little and how it looks-and-feels.
BTW having spare parts won't hurt much) An extra PC is even better))
So, what's the question?
Cheers
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 21:30
Member (2006)
English to Russian
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SITE LOCALIZER | You should differentiate between keyboard and keyboard layout | Nov 5, 2009 |
A keyboard is a piece of hardware that can be configured the way you need with the help of a piece of software called a keyboard layout. With virtually any keyboard you can use virtually any layout. Thus, you can use a UK keyboard with a Russian layout. As for Russian, the layouts are various, see W... See more A keyboard is a piece of hardware that can be configured the way you need with the help of a piece of software called a keyboard layout. With virtually any keyboard you can use virtually any layout. Thus, you can use a UK keyboard with a Russian layout. As for Russian, the layouts are various, see Wikipedia articles in English and Russian.
You did not indicate the operating system you use (which is a good habit when asking computer-related questions). If it’s Windows, you can use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to create your own layouts. With Linux, it’s even simpler, read «Заметки на полях клавиатуры».
For Windows, I’d recommend trying out Ilya Birman’s layout that offers a better set of characters as compared to the standard layouts, including «» being standard quotation marks for Russian. Diktor is a good option if you want to learn to type fast (for me, it’s a bit harder, because I’ve gotten used to typing with the standard «ЙЦУКЕН»). ▲ Collapse
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Russian letter on the buttons — stickers are cheaper than another keyboard;
Russian layout support in the operating system.
(You spent a week discussing around... You could have solved this problem in an hour: 15 minutes to buy stickers in any e-shop, 40 minutes to stick them physically on the buttons, and 5 minutes to add Russian keyboard layout in Control Panel... See more Russian letter on the buttons — stickers are cheaper than another keyboard;
Russian layout support in the operating system.
(You spent a week discussing around... You could have solved this problem in an hour: 15 minutes to buy stickers in any e-shop, 40 minutes to stick them physically on the buttons, and 5 minutes to add Russian keyboard layout in Control Panel. I guess you should not even start as a translator. Further problems will take decades to solve if you stick to your approach.)
[Редактировалось 2009-11-05 12:40 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Time to close the thread? | Nov 5, 2009 |
Sergei Leshchinsky wrote:
(You spent a week discussing around... You could have solved this problem in an hour: 15 minutes to buy stickers in any e-shop, 40 minutes to stick them physically on the buttons, and 5 minutes to add Russian keyboard layout in Control Panel. I guess you should not even start as a translator. Further problems will take decades to solve if you stick to your approach.)
Sergei, this is an interesting conclusion.
You now, if you took 5 seconds to check, you could have seen that Lena already said in her second post that she had solved the problem, and thanked everybody. That was the same day, a few hours after her initial post.
It was all the others who kept the discussion going, often not focusing on the content of her question, but how she wrote it.
She repeatedly said she had sorted the problem out, yet, the postings are still coming, including insults. Now, you are criticizing HER approach?
Perhaps it is time to close the thread?
Katalin
[Edited at 2009-11-05 14:26 GMT]
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