encoding - Displaying Korean characters properly on a computer with English Windows XP

07
2014-07
  • user13267

    I have Windows XP Professional Version 2002 SP 3 English version
    I have installed the required input methods in Regional and Language Settings and as far as I know all the other options provided there regarding multiple languages. I can also type in Korean characters (as well as other Asian characters) in notepad, word, etc and view those characters in the browser as well
    However, when I try to view C++ code in Visual Studio (that I copied in from another computer), or open the cpp file in notepad or notepad++, the Korean characters look like this:
    // Ç¥ÁØ »ý¼ºÀÚÀÔ´Ï´Ù.
    when they should be looking like this:
    // 표준 생성자입니다.
    I got the above Korean characters by opening the same cpp file in Word, using the following options when word starts up:
    enter image description here
    which shows that entire information about the actual characters is still present inside the cpp file, but for some reason the text editors are not able to display them properly.

    Even worse is, I am having to work in a Korean version of VS2003 installed in this computer, and while most of the menu items display properly in Korean, many of them just appear as ????????????? (i.e., as strings of question marks). This includes error messages in dialogue boxes as well as some text in places like the resources explorer.

    What should I install or update in my computer so that all the English as well as Asian characters show up properly?

    • Answers
  • MSalters

    Input methods are unrelated to output. You clearly have an output problem.

    The next issue is that you need "Fonts". A font describes how to draw characters. For instance, it probably includes a shape for character 64 that looks like A and another shaped numbered 65 that looks like B. But many fonts do not include a 표 shape.

    You'd need at least a fixed-width and a variable-width font for Korean. Windows will try some font substitutions, but fixed-width and variable-width fonts can't be substituted for each other. Seeing Korean in some but not all places suggests a font is missing. In particular, Visual Studio uses a fixed-width font for code.

    As for saving .cpp files, just use UTF-8 with BOM. I think even Notepad understands that.

  • Doktoro Reichard

    Windows XP has the option of installing the additional East Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) language packets in Regional Preferences > Idioms. More information here.

    You need to have the original installation disk however. Besides the appropriate fonts, it also installs a sort of IME.

    As MSalters states, keyboard layouts do not have relation to what characters you are able to see on Windows.

  • Louis

    I've had problems with Asian games that required changing the locale to the proper country. There was a program called App Locale that occasionally solved the issue at the app level, but for system wide changes (like garbage text in ID3 tags) I think you'll need to change to locale to Korea.

    You can then save the files in a more common format.

    You can also try running your text editor in App Locale.


    • Related Question

    fonts - not English characters (ă, ţ, ş) show up as squares on others computers (ms word)
  • Omu

    I'm using Windows 7 Basic and Microsoft Office 2007 and I write word documents using not English characters (ă, ţ, ş).
    When I give them to other people, these special characters show up as squares. Anybody knows why, is there a fix for this ?


    • Related Answers
  • Nicu Zecheru

    This problem might related to font encoding. See this Microsoft article how to save and open files: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP052584541033.aspx

    This might give you some additional info: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101212491033.aspx

  • Roald van Doorn

    The font you used is not installed on their computer. Or it is a different version of the same font that doesn't have a complete complete character map. Simplest solution? Pick a standard font that does have all the characters, or give them the font you are using. Watch out for licensing questions when distributing fonts though.

  • EJP

    This is likely an encoding issue. Encoding is the way that a computers interprets and displays a file containing text, using a specific set of characters. (see http://www.text-editor.org/encoding.htm for an explanation of encoding) If the person who you send the file to does not have support for the encoding, it may not display correctly. To fix the issue, try saving the file under an encoding like UTF-8, which has support for a huge number of special characters.

  • Cliff

    There's another trick that works for older versions of Word, and is much easier:

    1. Select the text that appears as squares. Select All may work.

    2. Left-lick on the Styles drop-down but do not click on any style.

    3. Dismiss the Styles drop-down by left-clicking anywhere in the document display.

    Shazam --- the squares turn into the correct glyphs.

    The Styles drop-down is the one that contains items like Normal, Heading 1, and usually many others.

    Cliff cb0 AT me ...you know the rest