Click here to see the 自然码 keyboard layout with ㄅㄆㄇㄈ (bopomofo) phonetics.

自然码

The 自然码 zìránmǎ system is also called 自然双拼 zìránshuāngpīn because you can type just two keys on the keyboard to represent the full 拼音 pīnyīn pronounciation of any character. This saves a lot of keystrokes! The 自然码 system is easy to learn too!

In Mandarin Chinese, most characters consist of an initial consonant (声母 sheng mǔ) followed by a simple or compound vowel ending (韵母 yǜn mǔ). To use this system to select a character, simply type the key representing the initial consonant (声母 shown in black or blue above), followed by the key representing the simple or compound vowel ending (韵母 shown in green).

For example:

Here is an example of using James Su's program, SCIM, to select the chinese character, "吃". After typing "ii" for the phonetic pronounciation, one simply types the number of the desired character (i.e., "1" for 吃):

Implementations of the 自然码 system also provide short-cuts for commonly used phrases. Entering a short-cut consists of typing just the initial consonants (声母) of the characters in the phrase followed by the ' or " key. For example, in SCIM, typing "nm" provides a selection the characters pronounced nian, (i.e., 年 nián), but typing "nm'" takes one immediately to "你们":

Depending on the implementation, shortcuts for longer phrases, like "zxi'" for 自行车 (bicycle) and "zvq'" for 自治区 (Autonomous Region), may also be present.