RE: Wordprocessors in Korean

From: Chris Pratley (chrispr@microsoft.com)
Date: Sat Jul 14 2001 - 13:57:22 EDT


For Word2000 or Word2002, if you have the Korean retail package, there
is a CD included that has all the software you need. If you have another
version, such as English, I just checked and unfortunately this seems to
be an exception - I do not see this tool in the Proofing Tools kit or
Multilanguage pack, so you may need to contact Microsoft Korea if you
are interested. You should also try the "Tools on the Web" site for MS
Korea. There may be special packages there not available on the English
site.

The support used in Word2002 is done using Uniscribe (USP10.dll), an
updated version of which also ships in WindowsXP. You need a font that
has the right OpenType data to properly handle combining Jamos (included
with Korean OfficeXP). I believe that IE6.0 also uses Uniscribe in the
way that Word2002 does, but this needs to be verified.

Note that combination of Jamos is only supported for combinations that
are not available as pre-composed Hangul in Unicode already. Word (and
Office) use the existing Hangul for that.

As for the details of which linguists were consulted, how the
conclusions were reached, etc. you had best contact MS Korea. Not being
a Korean native speaker I do not really understand the complexities of
the arguments involved since they seem mainly philosophical and very
passionate.

BTW, do you have any details on what you described as limitations for
Word in Korean word processing?

Chris Pratley
Group Program Manager
Microsoft Word

Sent using OfficeXP

-----Original Message-----
From: Jungshik Shin [mailto:jshin@mailaps.org]
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 2:07 PM
To: Chris Pratley
Cc: Unicode Mailing List
Subject: RE: Wordprocessors in Korean

CP> : On Fri, 13 Jul 2001, Chris Pratley wrote:

JS> : On 2001-07-13, Jungshik Shin wrote:

JS> BTW, Microsoft (Korea) made a public annnouncement that it would
JS> support Middle Korean in the near future (in MS-Windows and MS-Word)
JS> and it would be great to get that support from one of major OS/word
JS> processor vendors.

CP> Actually, Word2000 and Word2002 support Old Hangul (which I think is
CP> what you refer to as Middle Korean - please correct me if I am
wrong).

  That's great to hear. Thank you for your info, wonderful
job and updating me on the issue. The 'near future' in the above was
relative to that announcement made by Microsoft and it's nice to know
that it's now 'present' :-)

  My assessment was based on my (not so extensive)
experience with using MS Word 2000. Because I can't find any way to
enter
Middle Korean, I thought it's not yet implemented as of MS Word 2000.

  Can I install an input method for Middle Korean (included in OfficeXP
Proofing tool) in MS Windows 2000 (or MS Windows ME)? Not so likely,
but I'm asking just in case.

CP> Word2000 does it using an add-in that uses the Unicode PUA to
support
CP> about 5000 Old Hangul pre-composed glyphs.

  Or, where can I get this add-in (supposedely input method and
font(s))?
I tried 'Office on the web' (office update and download area), but
couldn't find anything related to this.

CP> Word2002 uses the Jamos in U+1100 to compose Old Hangul character
CP> directly (over 1.3 million combinations theoretically, but due to
CP> independent Korean linguists' concerns, only valid combinations are
CP> allowed). You can now create any ancient text in Hangul in Word
2002. AN
CP> inoput method is included in the Korean version, as well as in the
CP> OfficeXP Proofing Tools kit (or Multilanguage pack, which includes
the
CP> Proofing Tools kit)

  Can you tell me who you meant by 'independent Korean linguists'?
How do you(or they) determine which are valid and which are not? Having
been found in existing literature?

  BTW, 1.3 milion seems to be off by a
factor of 2. Well, I'm being lazy here and just pulling the number top
off my head (instead of actually counting them) so that I might be
wrong.
Another BTW, are you aware of 5 new medial vowels submitted by DPRK to
add to U+1100 Jamo block? One of them is widely used by Korean speakers
in South Korea (and perhaps in North Korea as well).

CP> One thing you can not do easily is illustrate partially composed
CP> (invalid) characters for purposes of illustration in a textbook of
how
CP> characters are constructed.

  I don't understand why this can't be done if you're supporting
syllable composition using U+1100 Jamos? Due to lack of fonts? How
about
'incomplete syllables' (such as 'ICF' + 'medial vowel' + final consonant
where 'ICF' denotes initial consonant filler) or 'stand-alone' medial
vowels or final consonants?

  BTW, does MS IE 6.0 support Hangul syllable composition with Hangul
Jamos in U+1100 block? (see
<http://jshin.net/~jungshik/i18n/middle.html>)
Maybe, this has to be asked to somebody else in Microsoft, does it?

  Thank you again for great news,

   Jungshik Shin



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