[willed]

I've recently started learning Arabic, and my teacher has offered to get me an Arabic keyboard when she goes back to Lebanon next week. Would this be of any use with an English install of OS 10.4? Would I need any specialist software, or is there even a chance that it'll be plug and play? Any help appreciated,

Will

[willed]

And if you do... do you use an Arabic keyboard with your Mac? I've just started learning Arabic, and my teacher has offered to get me an Arabic keyboard when she goes back to Lebanon next week. Would this be of any use? I'm using Tiger, any chance of it being plug and play, or would I need special software?
Any advice much appreciated,

Will

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by willed 

And if you do... do you use an Arabic keyboard with your Mac? I've just started learning Arabic, and my teacher has offered to get me an Arabic keyboard when she goes back to Lebanon next week. Would this be of any use? I'm using Tiger, any chance of it being plug and play, or would I need special software?
Any advice much appreciated,

Will

Well, I don't speak Arabic, but I can give you a few general tips, as a person who uses multiple keyboard layouts (Greek and English).

I can't say how useful an Arabic keyboard would be for you, but it would have all the letters printed on the keys, which would be helpful as you learn the language.

The keyboard itself will work just fine in OS X (plug and play), as there are Arabic layouts available in the International Pane in System Preferences. The keyboard layouts are under the "Input Menu" tab.

Then you need software that can understand the right-to-left order. Cocoa software is supposed to do that automatically, and many Carbon apps are too, but some major software (like Microsoft Office) is flaky at best. I'd suggest Nisus Writer or Mellel for good word processors that will work just great with right-to-left writing systems.

[slugslugslug]

You can type in Arabic with your current keyboard (مثل هذا), the advantage to getting an Arabic keyboard being the labeled keys. You can start using Arabic now by going into the Input tab of the International System Preferences pane and checking the boxes for "Arabic" and/or "Arabic QWERTY" (You can then turn on the input menu and use it to switch). The latter has the Arabic letters mapped onto phonetic equivalents when possible, making it more intuitive to use without having the Keyboard Viewer window open. But the former is going to match what's on the labeled Arabic keyboard.

I don't know if the physical keyboard transmits any information about its default input script, so it might just type in English when you plug it in. But when you switch the input language to Arabic, it'd probably still be worthwhile to have the letters on the keys..

Good luck
Y.

[willed]

That's great - what I meant was would it be useful to me as a Mac owner, rather than as a learner of Arabic

You say Cocoa software is supposed to do this - does that mean that TextEdit would work?

Thanks for the advice.

[willed]

Just what I needed to know. Also, I hear Word doesn't write from right to left - does textedit or any other free, half-decent program?

Will

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by willed 

That's great - what I meant was would it be useful to me as a Mac owner, rather than as a learner of Arabic

Well, you could still use the keyboard in English as well, as the Latin alphabet is still printed on the keys (at least it is on the Greek version).

You say Cocoa software is supposed to do this - does that mean that TextEdit would work?

Thanks for the advice.

TextEdit will work just fine.

[OreoCookie]

I've merged this thread with the other one in the Lounge.

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally Posted by willed 

I've recently started learning Arabic, and my teacher has offered to get me an Arabic keyboard when she goes back to Lebanon next week. Would this be of any use with an English install of OS 10.4? Would I need any specialist software, or is there even a chance that it'll be plug and play?

Your query's been pretty much answered, but regardless of the installation language, OS X is language-complete and can always be used in any of the supported languages. Typing in Arabic will be as simple as hooking up the keyboard and adding an Arabic keyboard/input option in System Settings/International. Any Unicode-compliant application (practically all) should handle Arabic text just fine, and OS X ships with adequate Arabic fonts.

Note that Tiger itself is not fully localized for Arabic yet — in other words, changing your primary system language to Arabic will not enable Arabic for most System menus and bundled applications. Some third-party applications might have Arabic localization. However, Apple is apparently getting that "fixed", with Tiger localization nearly done now. Leopard should ship with Arabic as a full system OS.

[mfbernstein]

TextEdit works fine with Arabic. Word definitely doesn't. If you plan on doing serious writing, Mellel offers most of what Word does, plus very good Arabic support. مع السلامة

[JKT]

NeoOffice/OpenOffice.org support right-to-left input. NeoOffice also supports Apple's keyboard input so switching to an arabic input will work out of the box so-to-speak.

[olePigeon]

You could also switch your Macs system language to Arabic. You'll memorize Arabic words for File, Edit, Copy, Paste, Trash (Wastebasket/Rubbish/Bin), as well as regular computer jargon, in no time flat.

[mfbernstein]

No, you can't just switch OS X to Arabic localization, because, as CaptainHaddock correctly pointed out above, OS X is not fully localized in Arabic yet.

[Krusty]

This just took me back 16 years. I was studying abroad in Egypt in 1991. The computer labs at the American University in Cairo had macs that handled Arabic seamlessly (and they had special hybrid keyboards with Arabic letters above the English ones). I can't even imagine what OS that was (System .... like System 2 or something? I dunno).

[[email protected]]

For some more info regarding Arabic, you can check these notes:

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2007/03/...languages.html

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/TypingArabic.html

[CaptainHaddock]

Tom: Neat links, thanks. Not that I know Arabic yet, but it's on my "to do" list once my Japanese is fluent.

olePigeon: Supposedly System 7 was the last Mac OS to be localized in Arabic. The upcoming support in Tiger/Leopard is late but welcome, and about time.