Typing Korean on your computer.

All ths talk about Hanja . . . I forgot to mention you can type Korean on your computer, regardless of where you bought it. 

It'll take a little while for you to memorize where the Korean letters are on the keyboard.  I recommend buying a Korean keyboard at the store.  It'll plug right into your USB. 

Anyway, here's a guide to getting Korean to work on your computer.  You have to install/activate the Korean IME.  You also have to tell your computer to recognize Korean letters on the keyboard. 

http://www.declan-software.com/korean_ime/korean_ime.htm#XPinstall


You see to the right of the space bar that it says "한/영"?  You press this button to switch from Korean 한 to English 영.  If you don't have a Korean keyboard, you have to display the language bar and switch the language bar to Korean.  (the above link explains this.)  The bar should have 가.  If you press "alt" to the right of the keyboard,  it'll say "A." 

Incidentally, the 美 up there is the button you'd click to type Hanja on a non-Korean keyboard. 

i'd been trying to find this post for a while, definitely useful tip! thanks, hopefully can get the laptop to do it now!

i tried to get a hangeul keyboard put on my macbook, but it was something like 175,000won.

a few other ways to get over this are to buy some stickers with korean letters and put them over the keys, use the character map for reference.  such stickers are available at almost any stationary store for around 1000won, usually there are many different kinds.

you can also print out a small copy of the character map and tape it somewhere handy.

a few other ways to get over this are to buy some stickers with korean letters and put them over the keys, use the character map for reference.  such stickers are available at almost any stationary store for around 1000won, usually there are many different kinds.

I bought the Hanguel character stickers from an art store in Ulsan and love them. Probably one of the best investments I've put towards learning Korean, since it remind me (and inspire me to want to) try to type in it whenever possible.

Perfect! Thanks for posting this! I've been wondering how to get hangeul on my computer for a while now. Cheers!

This took me a little while to figure out for myself, but I just watched my Korean co-teachers and learned by example.

One thing that bugs the crap outta me is even when I have it set to English and I try to type in words in English, sometimes if it's a strange combo for the English alphabet, it'll switch over to Korean without warning.  It really annoys me.  I had a problem with the word 'Shrek' in Word.  It took me several minutes before I realized that I had to type the words out of order so it wouldn't activate the Korean.

I do two things on Windows (works on XP or 7):
1. Under Keyboards/Languages, install Microsoft IME under the Korean keyboard menu (don't install Korean; for whatever reason, this doesn't seem to do anything)
2. Right click on the new language bar one the far right of the Start bar. You can change the buttons so that you can open up an image of a korean keyboard.

Alt-Shift should switch you between a korean keyboard and an English one. The virtual keyboard will show you where the korean characters are.

Cheers

edited step two... found a simpler keyboard

If you can't find the stickers in a store, you can buy them online: http://mykoreanstore.myshopify.com/collections/keyboard-stickers

I just use this:
http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/korean.htm

a few other ways to get over this are to buy some stickers with korean letters and put them over the keys, use the character map for reference.  such stickers are available at almost any stationary store for around 1000won, usually there are many different kinds.

I bought the Hanguel character stickers from an art store in Ulsan and love them. Probably one of the best investments I've put towards learning Korean, since it remind me (and inspire me to want to) try to type in it whenever possible.

Yes, a friend of mine also did this (put hangeul stickers on the keys of her keyboard) after she had Korean (the program to type in Korean) installed on her laptop. I actually helped her put the stickers on her keyboard -- fun, haha.

Here are some video links:

Easier way to switch back and fourth between languages (Kor to English):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=259uhM0inFA
(It will also show you how to install Korean on windows 7)