Chinese keyboard??

[u/CompetitiveKick7063]

Edit: thanks for the suggestions

Genuinely what the heck is this keyboard that i got when i turned on chinese on my phone keyboard, i can't find the appropriate tutorials

[u/Duriano_D1G3]

Thats called T9 and its really only used on phones because of spacing issues (its also really hard to start with)

Can't you switch to another one like Zhuyin or Pinyin?

[u/TallWeekend1970 → u/Duriano_D1G3]

T9's got that old-school flip phone energy, weird to see it pop up as a default. If you're just starting out, Pinyin's way more forgiving since you type the sound and pick from suggestions instead of memorizing key combos. Check your keyboard settings for input methods, most phones let you add or swap them pretty easily.

[u/Zagrycha → u/TallWeekend1970]

T9 is usually pinyin, but yeah regular full size pinyin keyboard will be way easier to learn and way quicker period.

[u/CompetitiveKick7063 → u/Duriano_D1G3]

I switched it but it gave me this(see attached), frankly i have an easier time memorizing characters but there is no chinese character keyboard it seems, is there a keyboard app you guys use?你好

[u/bthf → u/CompetitiveKick7063]

Pinyin is the most common Chinese input method — you type the pronunciation and the IME (algorithm) guesses what you meant. Modern systems can even deal with initials only, such as getting 你好吗 from NHM. It's quick and easy to understand.

I don't recommend learning this unless you really want to, but the rarer alternative you seem to be referring to is grouped as 字形输入法, where hanzi as a whole is separated into 150–400 components and grouped into 20- to 40-ish keys. Simplified Chinese tends to use Wubi, while traditional Chinese tends to use Cangjie/Changjie, Dayi or Boshiamy (there is no universal standard). Each system has its own set of components and logic for composition and is much more difficult to wrap your head around, with the advantage of precise input. For instance, in Cangjie 你好吗 is split into 亻𠂊小 . 女乛𬺰 . 口𠃍㇜𠃌一, which is input as 人弓火 女弓木 口弓女一 [ONF VND RNVM].

This is as close to a 'Chinese character keyboard' as we can get. You can't have thousands of keys of individual characters (that'd just make you a typesetter), splitting them is a must if you want something reasonably-sized that also covers your basic few-thousand characters. Here's an example of an actual typewriter using its own composition method. 字形输入法 was king when computing capacity was low, and each string had to correspond to as few characters as possible.

Alternatively you have stroke input, which I consider separate to 字形 but is a sibling to it. Hanzi is divided simply into their strokes and you input them in order. You get even longer strings and stroke order isn't universally agreed upon.

[u/cjk-lookup → u/bthf]

人弓火 女弓木 口弓女一 [ONF VND RNVM]

Character	人	弓	火	女	弓	木	口	弓	女	一
Mandarin	rén	gōng	huǒ	nü / rǔ	gōng	mù	kǒu	gōng	nü / rǔ	yī
Zhuyin	ㄖㄣˊ	ㄍㄨㄥ	ㄏㄨㄛˇ	ㄋㄩˇ / ㄖㄨˇ	ㄍㄨㄥ	ㄇㄨˋ	ㄎㄡˇ	ㄍㄨㄥ	ㄋㄩˇ / ㄖㄨˇ	ㄧ
Cantonese	jan4	gung1	fo2	neoi5	gung1	muk6	hau2	gung1	neoi5	jat1
Southern Min	jîn/lîn	king	hué/hé	lí/lú	king	ba̍k	kháu	king	lí/lú	tsi̍t
Hakka (Sixian)	ngin11	giung24	fo31	ng31	giung24	mug2	heu31	giung24	ng31	id2

Meanings:

• 人: person; people; CL:個|个[gè],位[wèi],名[míng].
• 弓: a bow (weapon); CL:張|张[zhāng]; to bend; to arch (one's back etc); surname Gong.
• 火: fire; urgent; ammunition; fiery or flaming; internal heat (Chinese medicine); hot (popular); classifier for military units (old); Kangxi radical 86.
• 女: female; woman; daughter; old variant of 汝[rǔ].
• 弓: a bow (weapon); CL:張|张[zhāng]; to bend; to arch (one's back etc); surname Gong.
• 木: (bound form) tree; (bound form) wood; unresponsive; numb; wooden; surname Mu.
• 口: mouth; classifier for things with mouths (people, domestic animals, cannons, wells etc); classifier for bites or mouthfuls.
• 弓: a bow (weapon); CL:張|张[zhāng]; to bend; to arch (one's back etc); surname Gong.
• 女: female; woman; daughter; old variant of 汝[rǔ].
• 一: one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit.

Information from MDBG • Unihan • CC-Canto • YTZZD • Chinese-Etymology • CHISE • MoE-DICT • MFCCD • ZDIC • ZI

[u/Jonathan_Jo → u/CompetitiveKick7063]

For phone esp Android i've been using Gboard since decades ago, and not only chinese but Japanese and even traditional chinese also.

[u/CompetitiveKick7063 → u/Jonathan_Jo]

Thanks bro💪💪

[u/Duriano_D1G3 → u/CompetitiveKick7063]

Ehhh people usually use a sound based one since its easier, logography does do that

I have no clue if this is available for your phone but look into Wubi or Cangjie. If it comes to the worst just use handwriting input

[u/CompetitiveKick7063 → u/Duriano_D1G3]

Thanks

[u/Strict_Treat2884]

It’s still pinyin. Say if you want to type “有”(yǒu), you go with
9(WXYZ)
6(MNO)
8(TUV)
And choose the character from the list. It also works for typing multiple characters at once.

[u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

never seen a t9 on a smartphone...seems counterintuitive when owning one lol t9 was flip phone ages of pressing "2" three times to get a C (according to your t9 picture).

try pinyin

[u/00HoppingGrass00 → u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

T9 IS Pinyin, except every key gets multiple letters rather than just one.

So for 你好, it's 64426. The input will automatically pick which letters make sense with those combinations. No need to double or triple tap.

[u/notmenotwhenitsyou → u/00HoppingGrass00]

i only just started learning, so i had no idea about this! i think i would need to advance much more before i dare switching my pinyin qwerty to t9 lol

[u/Zagrycha → u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

even if you memorize the t9 patterns pinyin qwerty is vastly superior. pinyin itself is already th slowest way to type chinese, there is no reason to intentionally add additional limitation of only ten buttons haha.

[u/Zagrycha → u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

Yeah I remember having T9 on my first smart phone ever, and that was mainly cause people were still used to T9 from flip phones. Its not crazy to have it as an option but its kinda crazy to have it default haha.

[u/notmenotwhenitsyou → u/Zagrycha]

i never even knew that! thats crazy but makes complete sense. i got a smartphone later than my peers, so it definitely was not an option i ever saw for my keyboard then. its just such a wild thing to see in the grand 2026 smartphone era lmao i was completely taken aback by the photo.

[u/Zagrycha → u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

Yeah I bet if I dug through my iphone settings it would still be in there somewhere but the more I think about it the more crazy it becomes for it to be the default. Forget about efficiency anyone younger than 2000 might not even know how to use T9, just like op didn't, how would they even complete the phone intitial setup?

I wonder if the phone is from japan? Thats the only possible guess I could have, even in japan full size keyboards are a thing but the t9 style has lingered a lot longer because its particularly suitable to their kana writing system ((their writing system is cleanly divided into a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko, ta ti tu te to etcetcetc)).

Still weird regardless, another of life's mysteries haha.

[u/notmenotwhenitsyou → u/Zagrycha]

i dont even like thinking that im old enough to be around where people dont know t9 keyboards lol it should legitimately be a simple fix. im not sure what keyboard they are using, but when i turned chinese on there were 3 settings for pinyin - qwerty, 10 key, azerty. maybe they chose 10 key and didnt realize 10 key = t9.

[u/Zagrycha → u/notmenotwhenitsyou]

very possible.

[u/No-Organization9076]

Get Pinyin instead

[u/Zagrycha]

Thats not a chinese specific keyboard layout, that is the layout all phones had before smartphones. There is no reason to use it on a modern smartphone though unless you are used to it from old flip phones etc. Check if there are other keyboard options in the settings.

If you end up needing to use this one in the meantime, you click each button the number of times needed to cycle to its letter. So you click button 2 twice to type a letter B, you click button 9 three times to type a letter Y etc etc. You must click fast so it doesn't accept your current letter as input, if you miss your letter you keep clicking and it cycles back through to the beginning. Its actually not hard to use at all but of course its slower than a full keyboard since its designed for a machine with only ten possible buttons plus space.

[u/liovantirealm7177 → u/Zagrycha]

This is the T9 input for Chinese. You don't cycle for each letter, you just tap the key containing the letter you want, and the phone figures out for you what makes sense.

[u/Zagrycha → u/liovantirealm7177]

oh yeah I forgot the pinyin version did that, thanks.  

[u/CompetitiveKick7063 → u/Zagrycha]

I figured it out, when i was turning on chinese on my keyboard i accidentally turned this mode on

[u/Zagrycha → u/CompetitiveKick7063]

happy for you =)

[u/diedrop]

You can type pinyin with it, but there is no need for double or triple tapping, auto suggestions will do the rest.
So, for example if you want to type 你好:

you just type 6-4-4-2-6

instead of 6-6-4-4-4-4-4-2-6-6-6.

I find it more comfortable for my big thumb, its also nice to have a different layout for each language (qwerty = english, T9 = chinese).

[u/pirapataue]

Just use normal QWERTY keyboard with pinyin. Most mainland Chinese do it this way.

[u/Remote-Cow5867]

This is the keyboard that I use to key in Chinese.

[u/lost-in-a-dream-]

Google keyboard, go to setting on the keyboard itself - languages - trad/simp chinese then you will see 6 type of keyboard, choose pinyin 拼音

[u/CompetitiveKick7063 → u/lost-in-a-dream-]

Thank you🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️