Language bar switched input types on me

Question

I learned Japanese, but I'm not native to Japan, so I never had a Japanese keyboard. I used to use the language bar to go back and forth between English and Japanese, simply typing the words in romaji and having windows convert it into either hiragana, katakana and sometimes Kanji. Suddenly, my input type changes. I am no longer able to simply type in English, it changed my keyboard into a native Japanese keyboard, and what's worse it doesn't even allow me to write in hiragana, which I would need way more than katakana.

Can anyone tell me how to restore it to the old setting where I simply chose what the output dialect would be, and typed the words phonetically in english and have it translate the sounds for me into japanese characters?

Answer 1

First thing I would try is hitting the Alt + Shift keys to switch your keyboard layout. IF that doesn't work... you could try doing a system restore to a time before you changed your keyboard.

System restore seems to work best from safe mode - start your computer and press F8 BEFORE you see the Windows loading screen. A menu will come up, if you are not in a work domain, press Safe Mode. If you are a in work domain, press "Safe Mode with Networking". When you finally log into the computer it will give you a YES/NO question, hit NO and try to use this to restore. You shouldn't have to type anything, all mouse point and click.

Alternatively, you can go into the control panel and change your keyboard language - this just may not be very easy if it is in a language you don't understand. Instructions:

Instructions for Windows Vista

• Click Start and then Control Panel
• In Control Panel, if you are in Classic View, click on Control Panel Home (top left corner)
• Open Clock, Language, and Region Click on Regional and Language Options.
• Click the Keyboards and Languages tab and then click Change keyboards. Under Installed services, click Add.
• In the Add Input Language dialog box, select the keyboard layout you would like to add from the list available and click OK.
• The keyboard layout you added will be included in the list. To set the new layout as your default, select it from the list.
• Click OK to save your changes You can switch between different input languages (= keyboard languages) by clicking on the Language Bar button or by pressing the Alt + Shift keys.

Instructions for Windows XP

• Click Start and then Control Panel

• In Control Panel, if you are in Category View, click on Switch to Classic View (top left corner)

• Open Regional and Language Options.

• Click on the Languages tab.

• Under Text services and input languages, click on the Details button.

• Under Installed services, click Add.

• In the Add Input Language dialog box, choose the input language and keyboard layout or Input Method Editor (IME) you want to add.

• Click OK twice. You should now see a language indicator in the System Tray (located at bottom right hand corner of the desktop by default). You can switch between different input languages (= keyboard languages) by pressing the Alt + Shift keys

If a language does not appear in the Input language list, the fonts for that language might not be installed. If that is the case, follow the instructions below.

Add a Language

• Click Start and then Control Panel
• In Control Panel, if you are in Category View, click on Switch to Classic View
• Open Regional and Language Options in Control Panel.
• Click on the Languages tab.
• Under Supplemental language support, select the check box beside the applicable language collection.
• Click OK or Apply. You will prompted to insert the Windows CD-ROM or point to a network location where the files are located. After the files are installed, you must restart your computer.

Source: http://www.conversationexchange.com/resources/keyboard-language.php