Please Login or Register
Login    Register
Reset Cookies

Please Login to Get Started, after you Register on this Site

Home   Learn   Write   Practice   ←Click on Section for Visible Menu

  Close Registration Page  

 

 
 Help for Registration and Login (Click on Show button)

Show All Posts

Writing Bangla

Computers generally come with an English Keyboard. This is convenient when you want to write English. Each key on the keyboard produces the corresponding letter on the screen. As an example, let us look at the Keyboard that comes with Apple MacOS Sierra.

You should press the keys "i want to write" to produce the intended text. If you held down the Shift key while pressing "i" you would have generated "I".

If you want to write Bangla with the English Keyboard, there is no 1-to-1 correspondence to produce the Bangla Text. For this, both Microsoft and Apple will offer a IME, described in Wikipedia as:

An input method (or input method editor, commonly abbreviated IME) is an operating system component or program that allows any data, such as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices. Using an input method is obligatory for any language that has more graphemes than there are keys on the keyboard.

The standard Bangla IME on the Mac is called Bangla and looks like this:

Notice that if you used the IMEs, you have to memorize the keys and the key combination that produces the Bangla letter of your choice. There is no memory aid to help you remember that প is h and ফ গে ফ. Many Bangla teachers just tell you to memorize keyboards. The IMEs on a Mac are different from those on a PC and mobile devices don't work with these any of these.

Writing Bangla on Any Platform, on Any Device with no memorizing

When you are creating Bangla content online, for example, "posting" on Facebook, you will generally:

1. Want to type fast, using the English keyboard
2. Be using common Bangla words,
3. Would like to have a tolerant input processor that puts in the correct spelling through a dictionary compare
4. End up with a block of Unicode Bangla text that you can further operate on.

Let us see how that can be accomplished. We will set up an area to write Bangla, and then a Bangla keyboard where every Bangla letter has a key. You will be clicking on any Bangla key to select it, instead of typing on the English Keyboard,

The Writing Pad

Just some empty space, waiting to be filled in!

The Bangla Visual Keyboard

A key for EVERY Bangla letter. Move the mouse and click on the letter you want.

Now let us try writing some Bangla.

Rules for using the Bangla Visual Keyboard

There are ONLY two rules to write Bangla with the Visual Keyboard.

1. Vowel Signs are always written after the consonant whose sound it modifies. For example, suppose you want to modify the "s" sound of স with the vowel "u" sound of the vowel উ which is the vowel sign ু . Just click on the letter স followed by ু . You will see সু .
2. To form Conjunct Consonants, write the first consonant, put in a Hosonto ( ্ ), then the second consonant. For example, suppose you want to write the Conjunct Consonant প+র . You should enter প ্ র which will look like প্র . The Hosonto is shown as a Special Key in our keyboard layout.

That is it! No memorizing keyboards, no dexterity tests on your fingers. And by design, this will work in exactly the same way on any platform.

How About Some Typing Exercises?

Actual writing with this tool
Here are some words to learn and practice your Bangla Writing.

More Speed with builtin Google Transliterate

Write even faster by also using phonetic input

If you are satisfied with your ability to write Bangla using the Bangla Visual Keyboard, I will admit to you that I sneaked in a fast phonetic writing method that you can use to your advantage. Go to the Writing Pad and enter "swami" followed by a blank or punctuation. Yes, you will be shown স্বামী.

You can finally abandon the archaic IME method for entering Bangla with finger contortions to use an English Keyboard for a purpose it was not designed for. I know there are some people who feel that their learning is not complete unless they do everything the hard way. I am a native Bangla speaker and ALL the Bangla on this site was written without memorizing any strange keyboards. I have recently found three book authors who have abandoned their old Bangla writing software to use the Bangla writing Google Phonetic with Visual Keyboard writer that I have described here.

I will be happy to hear about your own experiences using this input tool. On the site, the production version of this tool is at Phonetic and Visual KB.

Content © 2019   Supriyo Sen

Comment by Email     Show App Usage for [email protected] Close  Sending a Comment Your Name: Your eMail: Comment:

Privacy Policy

sho=noshow em= pw=