Problem typing bracket in Chinese Pinyin

Question

Level 1

8 points

Problem typing bracket in Chinese Pinyin

A few months ago after I've upgraded to macOS Sierra, I found that I was unable to type the bracket "「" or "」" when I was typing in Traditional Chinese clicking on "[" and "]" on the keyboard, which usually did show them properly when it was El Capitan. I ended up having to use shift+option+B to call out a menu which has all Chinese symbols included and select the brackets there, which I found quite annoying. However, I found that if I use other Chinese input method instead(Zhuyin), the bracket is properly shown again, which I guess it's something wrong with Chinese Pinyin.

So, is there a way to fix it without re-installing the entire system? Am I able to modify any file containing the Chinese input method and to change "[" back to "「"? Or to do any other things which require higher permission? Would be appreciate if anyone can help, thanks.

MacBook Air, iOS 10.2.1, early 2015

Posted on Mar 4, 2017 3:55 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Mar 4, 2017 5:31 AM in response to j352vf

j352vf wrote:

I was unable to type the bracket "「" or "」" when I was typing in Traditional Chinese clicking on "[" and "]" on the keyboard,

What happens when you type Shift [ and Shift ] ? The new Sierra pinyin system should give you the brackets you want.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Mar 4, 2017 9:10 PM in response to j352vf

Go to system prefs/keyboard/input sources and make sure you have the box at the bottom checked for using Caps Lock to switch keyboards.

You really should only get [ ] { } when switched to the US keyboard. When in Chinese Pinyin, you should get 【】「」instead.

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Answer 3

j352vf Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2017 2:06 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I've confirmed this for many times, whether the option is enabled or not, it only gives me the English brackets, but the other Chinese symbols shows up properly when I use Pinyin to type, which I believe it's a problem with the setting within the input method, especially the bracket part. That's why I'd come to this forum to see if someone can suggest me a way to alter that setting (perhaps to modify some system file, don't know if that's possible) without re-installing the entire system as it'll be a work to do.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Mar 6, 2017 5:40 AM in response to j352vf

j352vf wrote:

I've confirmed this for many times, whether the option is enabled or not, it only gives me the English brackets, but the other Chinese symbols shows up properly when I use Pinyin to type,

Thanks for confirming that. I have not seen anyone else with your problem so far. Try setting up a new user account and see it is still present when you are logged into that.

Are you running MacOS 10.12.2?

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Answer 5

j352vf Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2017 3:18 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

As you suggested, I set up a test account and examine the TC Pinyin, and the same problem happen agin, the brackets are not showing properly.

Another thing that worth to mention is that the Pinyin for Simplified Chinese does show them properly, that's weird.

And I'm running MacOS 10.12.3 now, the iOS one was a mistake, sorry for that.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Mar 8, 2017 7:12 AM in response to j352vf

j352vf wrote:

As you suggested, I set up a test account and examine the TC Pinyin, and the same problem happen agin, the brackets are not showing properly.

Another thing that worth to mention is that the Pinyin for Simplified Chinese does show them properly, that's weird.

That really is strange, I'm stumped. When 10.12.4 comes out, you might try using the Combo Updater. This should fix any glitches that may have occurred via incremental updating. Or a complete reinstall of the OS.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,022 points

Mar 6, 2017 7:45 AM in response to j352vf

PS Just to make sure it is not an app or font issue, try to duplicate what I show below with TextEdit, where I type wo and then hit the keys for [ ] { }.