How do I make Chinese characters

[EdCooper]

How do I make oriental (9e.g. Japanese, Chinese) characters ? I see them at the bottom of the Text list, but when I strike a key all I get is the Roman letter.

[TonyW]

I'm sure there are other ways but the only way I know how to do it is to use the Windows Character Map, select the font, find the characters you want and then copy and paste them into Elements.

Tony

[Byron Gale]

Ed,

I had never tried to type with those characters - but I get the same result as you.

There are a dozen characters in the Custom Shape library, under Characters, if that's any help.

Byron

[SharLamb]

You can find Asian dingbat fonts at DaFont: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=703 Shar

[baderms]

The way to write in foreign languages with XP as the operating system is to run the control panel and double-click the incon for Regional & Language Options. Select the Languages tab. Click on the details button, then under Installed services click the add button. Under Input language select the version of Chinese you want to use (there are about 5 choices); then click OK.

[EdCooper]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I'm still wondering why the characters are in the font list, but we can't use them ?
Mentioned was the "Custom Shapes Library." Where is it ?

[emkayess65]

Hi Ed,
"Mentioned was the "Custom Shapes Library." Where is it ?"
The custom shape tool is the third tool from the bottom. It looks like a speech bubble.
You may have to click on the flyout because it is grouped with other tools.
The Asian characters are in a file called "characters" that you can load by using the little right facing arrow and choosing from the menu.
What I gleaned from this forum "these 12 characters stand for the signs of the Zodiac."
This is probably not what you are looking for; but you found the custom shapes.
Could be useful another time.
Good luck with your project.
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1hFet8MVgDyHppTweTKV9F4lxrgxqP1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1hFet8MVgDyHppTweTKV9F4lxrgxqP1)

mks

[notacat]

After reading this thread I too was curious...why are they there if you can't use them? Most of my books mention the asian text options but don't address the basic question, and of course adobe support is useless. I think the answer is that you can no more transcribe our alphabet into an asian one than you can do the opposite. To add asian alphabet you need an asian keyboard, maybe. If there is such a thing.
Dave