How can I type in Hindi on my iPad using Pages?

Question

Level 1

14 points

How can I type in Hindi on my iPad using Pages?

I would like to be able to type in Hindi using Pages on my iPad. How can I do this? Even when I select the Devanagari font the type still comes up as English characters.

iPad (3rd gen) Wi-Fi, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 25, 2012 7:45 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Sep 25, 2012 12:45 PM in response to Ian Baba

Ian Baba wrote:

. What I need is specific help to get beyond the problem I am having in the use of my iPad using OS6.

Your problem will be solved if you activate the Hindi keyboard and then type. The Unicode devanagari fonts supplied with OS X and iOS cannot produce Hindi when you are using a keyboard intended for Latin script.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Sep 25, 2012 2:28 PM in response to Ian Baba

Does the iPad font miss conjuncts used in common Hindi?

If you also have a Mac, do you find the standard Apple font Devanagari MT adequate? It can produce Sanskrit variants via a special typography switch. All Apple would need to do is make them accessible in iOS like they are in OS X.

The way to ask Apple to improve these things is via the feedback channel, make sure you give concret examples.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

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Answer 3

Ian Baba Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 25, 2012 12:19 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I should have mentioned that I know enough to select the appropriate keyboard setting, (considering that I have been an Apple user and Mac user since they first came out and have been involve,d in font design), but that did not allow me to type in the selected font for Hindi. Beyond this, if you don't know about computers where all you need to do is select a font to start typing in that font, regardless of language (as long as they both write in the same direction) then your experience must be somewhat limited. Before installing OS Mountain Lion I could do exactly that, choose a foreign font and start typing. What I need is specific help to get beyond the problem I am having in the use of my iPad using OS6. I don't need a reply from someone who is acting as a know it all, without the decency to provide a polite and detailed response as to how to solve my problem.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Sep 25, 2012 1:58 PM in response to Ian Baba

Ian Baba wrote:

I just found the use of the globe key on the iOS6 keyboard. This has allowed me to switch to the Devanagari (Hindi) font. Problem solved.

Glad you got the right keyboard going. Let us know if you find problems with the layout or with the Hindi produced by the iPad.

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Answer 5

Ian Baba Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 25, 2012 2:11 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

The main problem is the limited number of characters included in the Devanagari Sangam MN font. The font that I designed and used on my older Mac documents contained most of the variants and conjunct characters used in common Hindi. The font available to me now is extremely limiting due to the missing characters. How could I get in touch with someone at Apple to offer to design a more complete font character set for typing Hindi (or Sanskrit)?

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Answer 6

Ian Baba Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 26, 2012 5:42 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks for the info. The Devanagari Sangam MN font on the iPad with iOS 6 is more complete than the version I have on my MacBook Pro and appropriate conjuncts seem to appear at most times when needed through the services of the dictionary. A few limitations exist when I want to type in the Hindi that I am used to using--which isn't up-to-date for today's usage.

I will send my feedback as you suggest.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Sep 25, 2012 10:26 AM in response to Ian Baba

I don't know of any modern computer where you just switch fonts to switch languages like that. You have to activate the Hindi keyboard in Settings > General > Keyboard

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Answer 8

Ian Baba Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 25, 2012 1:23 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Still not helpful! As you will note, or not, in my previous post, I know how to do that and it didn't solve the problem. It continued to type in English.

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Answer 9

Ian Baba Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 25, 2012 1:48 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom,

I just found the use of the globe key on the iOS6 keyboard. This has allowed me to switch to the Devanagari (Hindi) font. Problem solved.

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