OS X Leopard and Vietnamese Unikey
Posted by YILKA in Software, TechNov 1st, 2007 | 74 Comments
While surfing through System Preference, I was surprised to find out that Leopard now supports Vietnamese Input much better 
Nothing need to be configured, no external driver, no extra keyboard layout, no 3rd party software; you choose the language then type – pretty easy isn’t it 
Just to help some Vietnamese friends who indeed need to type Vietnamese on Mac OS X. To enable it, follow these simple steps:
1. First go inside System Preference and open International
2. Go to tab Input Menu, tick on “Vietnamese Keyboard”. You also want to check on “Show input menu in menu bar” for faster access. (Look at the tiny icon, it’s Van Mieu, Temple of Literature 
)
3. From the menu bar, select the input method you want. For me, I choose “Simple Telex”
4. Now you can type Vietnamese character whenever you need. Example: open TextEdit, type something:
and save it into any format (RTF, Word 97, Word 2007 …
. It will be readable across multiple platforms
Now you can type documents, blog, or do whatever you want in Vietnamese by simply switching the Input type to Vietnamese.
Note 1: a quick feedback from my friend: if the font you use it’s not Unicode, you may see the vowel and consonant displayed in different style. It’s due to the font itself, pick up another Unicode font then
5. Since you will have 2 input methods: English and Vietnamese (Telex), you might want to find a hot key to switch between those 2, Mac OS makes it very simple for you.
Again open System Preference/Language & Text:
Click Input Sources/Keyboard Shortcut to open the menu:
Once the menu opened, find “Keyboard & Text input” in the left list, tick onto the last 2 choices (You can change the combo key as you wish, for me I choose Ctrl + Space bar, that will allows you to switch between all the input methods):
After set there, you now can use the combo shortcut to change the keyboard input quicker than choosing by mouse 
Note 2: all of above information is valid till latest Mac OS X (Snow Leopard), and of course will be applicable toward future too ^^
Related Posts:
74 Responses and Counting.
About Me
Wow, it’s awesome!
I tried it, it’s really cool,
but I have problem with older software on Leopard
so I must use my old Tiger
Is there any way to install UniKey on Tiger?
Hi g8minhquan, you can try the same setting with Tiger, it should work flawlessly. Make sure you install Unicode fonts first.
Another solution is to use the free Java-based software called VietPad, you can Google to find it
But do you know when the software comes Vietnam?
I’m not getting your question. I assume that u refer to ‘Mac OS X Leopard’. It should be available at authorized stores in Ho Chi Minh City. Also recommend take a tour to Singapore/Malaysia, here u can pick up Apple software easily
This is definitely a good news for me. I’m so tired of copy and paste from Vietpad in Tiger. Gonna upgrade to Leopard as soon as I have time to backup.
Hi Minh.
I went to Apple store this morning to check out iMac OS X Leopard and Vietnamese Unikey as you described. On step 2, INPUT MENU, when I scroll down the list, I only see the “Vietnamese Flag” icon which is the exact icon on OS X Tiger. When I enable the Vietnamese Flag on OS X Leopard, I don’t see the “Van Mieu” icon as you described. I there something else I forgot to activate?
I have iMac OS X Tiger at home. I want to check out if Leopard does have this feature before I buy it but when I checked it out this morning. Both Leopard and Tiger have the same features in term of Vietnamese Unicode. Maybe I forgot to activate something or did not do it right on Leopard.
Help!!
Thanks
Sean
@Sean: I believe the iMac you’ve tried at Apple store was installed without full Asian language pack. You will have the option to install those Asian languages from Mac OS X Leopard DVD; make sure you installed them then you are good to go
Thanks.
Sean
[...] định viết hướng dẫn chi tiết nhưng lại tìm thấy bài ở đây (là một fan Apple & rock) viết chi tiết, rõ ràng rồi. Chỉ còn có một điều [...]
Cám on bạn rất nhiều.
Hi,
I got the “đ” sorted out, but how do you type the rest of the characters like “a^, a., o*” etc.
I used Telex input, so: aa = â, aw = ă, ow = ơ, oo = ô, etc … You can find the full list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex_(IME)
If you prefer VNI method, the typing is slightly different: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VNI
Try it out
cám ơn rất nhiều
I am running Leopard on Macbook. I enabled all of the above. But when I try to read Vietnamese story at the following website, I can’t find any font that works. Can someone give me a hint?
thanks
http://www.quangio.com/kimdung/kd.html
From its source, I saw they are using VNI-Aptima.pfr font. Unless you have that font, there’s no way to read the website. Try to download the font somewhere and add to FontBook then
Sean,
I think you scrolled too far down the menu. The Asian font input methods are all toward the top. My brand new MacBook with Leopard lists the following:
Character Palette
Japanese Kana Palette
Keyboard Viewer
Hangul
Kotoeri
Simplified Chinese
Tamil
Traditional Chinese
Vietnamese UniKey
There you can select Simple Telex, Telex, VNI or VIQR.
I prefer VIQR, but I always get Simple Telex, no matter which I pick.
Paul
Just a little question about Unikey in Leopard,
Can I bring Unikey from Leopard on Mac to use in iPhone ?
okay rồi! cám ơn bạn rất nhiều!!!
Hi all,
Do you know how to solve the error can’t not use the built-in Vietnamese Unikey in Mac OS Leopard on the software Open office and Open Project
Thaks
I prefer Telex. Very intuitive and easy to use. For those interested, u can try:
http://homepage.mac.com/herr/
Thank you VERY much! Cam on! My wife insisted on buying a Macbook because she likes the way it looks…well, I am sure it is a great machine, but the learning curve is a bit much. Thanks for the clear instructions on how to switch. (it was the last step of clicking on the flag icon we were missing!)
@David: thanks, that’s sweet
hope you and your wife enjoy the Mac the way you want it to ^^
Thank you very much , its really useful
Thanks so much, that’s what Ive been searching for weeks!!!!
Cảm ơn bạn nhiều nhiều
Hi! I’ve been trying to figure out how to use unikey on my mac tiger – I followed all the steps and clicked on the vietnamese flag but it still doesn’t work. Any ideas? Thanks!!
Just kidding!! I figured out that it works through a different system then I am used to (not telex!) using the numbers.
But I have another question…. how do I make a dau nang using this system?
Thanks!
[quote comment="15774"]Just kidding!! I figured out that it works through a different system then I am used to (not telex!) using the numbers.
But I have another question…. how do I make a dau nang using this system?
Thanks![/quote]
Hi BB, I guess your system using numbers is VNI typing method, below is the corresponding characters:
Mình muốn dùng VIQR mà không được .. chỉ có Telex là sử dụng tốt – Có ai biết làm cách nào để gõ tiếng Việt theo kiểu VIQR không ạ?
I use telex, but when I use “j” for dau nang, it doesn’t work. Can anybody help?
I’m using Leopard, and have Vietnamese enabled under International Regional Input Methods. I am able to type Vietnamese fine. The problem is when I get a Vietnamese document from (mostly Vietnam) that use older input methods such as VNI or VPS using Unikey or something I’m not sure. Sometimes I am able to read the document if I have the correct font installed, but I can’t figure out how to edit the document. Trying to edit the Vietnamese document as I usually do in Leopard and Vietnamese Input Method enabled, I get jibberish, and the letters and accents jump. Please help.
Nếu dữ kiện đánh bằng VPS hoặc VNI thì có 2 cách để đọc được:
1. Install VPS hoặc VNI font mà họ đã dùng
2. Dùng SW để đổi dữ kiện ấy qua UNICODE. Tôi có dùng nó bên WinOS nhưng chưa thử bên MacOS
How about Vni on NeoOffice,i cant type “Công ty” on it
thank you
Xin cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều. Hiện giờ mình đang đánh tiếng Việt trong MAC OS
Thank you so much, m searching for unikey for mac os and your posting come out, It s really useful
For people who wants to type “nặng”, you simply type number ” 9″. I don’t really like this system because I’m used to the VNI version. It takes a while until I am used to this new system to type fast. Now it takes me an hour to type only one page!
Thanks alot
thiet ke web muốn copy bài viết của bạn về site có được không ạ. Mình sẽ để lại trackback.
@ Tuan Hoang: bạn cứ sử dụng tư liệu của iCouple để đăng bài, miễn là có đề nguồn gốc đầy đủ. Cheers!
cảm ơn nhiều nhé, now i’m typing vietnamese
Thanks so much.
I was just wandering, finding something to support Vietnamese on my Mac. Then I bumped into your helpful tip on Google.
I tried this but how do you get the accent to come up. I was able to do this except for a couple of instance but it came up with a predetermined accent, not necessarily the right one.
ta.i sao vả~n khỏng co’ la`m ddu+o+.c ta… help pls
Rất hữu ích! Mình đang type tiếng việt sau khi lam theo hướng dẫn của bạn. Cảm ơn nhiều nhé!
Tuyệt vời. Cám ơn bạn nhé!
thank you so much….
có 1 lỗi nhỏ, khi chưa viết xong 1 chữ (vẫn còn vạch ngang ở dưới) mà nhấn phím mũi tên thì hay bị xuất hiện ký tự lạ .
mình dùng Mac 10.6, ai biết cách sửa lỗi này, help, thanks.
háy! lol that’s my attempt at typing great
MANY THANKS.
TUY NHIÊN CHỈ CÓ TELEX INPUT METHOD DÙNG ĐƯỢC.
VNI INPUT METHOD KHÔNG DÙNG ĐƯỢC, i.e. ” KHO ̉NG DUNGÂ D ̣U~O~`C “.
@ DZU: bạn thử dùng font chữ khác xem sao, thực ra mình cũng ko quen kiểu gõ VNI, toàn dùng telex thôi
cám ơn bạn nhé
A nice product of Pham Kim Long of Unikey
Thanks a lot, dude! You made my day
Làm sao copy and paste with Mac vậy ? Chỉ giùm ,xin cảm ơn nhiều !
Copy = Cmd + C
Paste = Cmd + V
(Cmd là phím có hình quả táo nha bạn, thường nằm cạnh nút Space trên bàn phím)
I knew there was a better way to type Vietnamese.
What is the difference between Simple Telex and Telex?
Just wondering. I can’t find a difference.
Cám ơn rất nhiều!
Another great tutorial & different approach: http://blog.simpleit.us/2010/02/24/installing-vietnamese-input-on-mac/
Thanks a lot YILKA, this post was really useful. You saved a lot of time for me
Keep going!
I “googled” how to type vietnamese in Mac and found your post. It is very useful and saves me a lot of time. Thank you so much ^^
Glad that helps u, An
Enjoy ur new Mac lapie ^^
Xài được đó. Mình thích dùng VIQR input method hơn là Telex.
Thành thật cám ơn sự giúp đỡ chân thành của bộ phận kĩ thuật. Thật khổ cho tuổi già mắc bệnh hay quên nhưng lại kết với khoa học kĩ thuật.
Cám ơn!
Tuyệt vời. Máy của mình là imac OS X 10.6
Go to System Preference
Select Language & Text
Select Input Sources
Click on Vietnamese UniKey and Simple Telex
Input source options (Use the same one in all documents) and Show Input menu in menu bar were checked.
Open link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex_(IME) save it on desktop in case you forget how to use the character /tone such as â, ă, ơ , ô, ả, á, à ,etc.
On the top right hand corner, click on the little US flag icon, select Simple Telex
Open Microsoft Word, type whatever you like in Vietnamese language.
Yeah I am very happy. Thank you all very much
thank you very much,it very helpful tip you make my life much easy thnaks again. may i ask you know any website or link that i can download those yellow animation face for my MacBook Pro.
Great read. I found your website on bing and i have your page bookmarked on my favorite read list!
I’m a fan of your site. Keep up the great work
I couldn’t currently have asked for an even better blog. You happen to be ever present to give excellent tips, going right to the point for easy understanding of your site visitors. You’re undoubtedly a terrific expert in this area. Many thanks for remaining there for guys like me.
muốn type bắng VIQR mà kô được giớ phải tập dùng telex mệt thiệt
awesomeness. thanks a bunch.
CẢM ƠN NHIỀU LẮM
Mình vẫn không hiểu lắm simple telex và telex khác nhau ở điểm nào. có ai biết không ạ?
[...] http://www.icouple.sg/blog/tech/1539 [...]
When I type, do I have to add anything extra for the extra marks like ‘, `, ^ etc…..
For example: I tried to type “text edit”: hitting x will add a ^ over the e. How do I know that to hit to get what?
And what is Text Edit and where to find it?
A million thanks.
nga
It’s nga again.
At gate2home.com, I saw something like a real VN keyboard. You hit once, and you get a^ for example. How come they had that type of keyboard? You can’t download it because the purpose of that website is to translate texts for people.
Thanks.
nga