Macintosh: Chinese and English on One System

I'm a teacher and I want to bring Chinese writing into the classroom. While in China, I bought Chinese System 7.1 and successfully installed the system on my PowerBook 100. I now have two System folders: US and Chinese. Can I consolidate the files into one System folder (such as control panels, extensions, etc.) or should I have to keep the systems separate and use System Picker to switch systems?

Alternatively, I own ChineseTalk II. Can I enable word processing in Chinese simply by eliminating Chinese System 7.1 and installing the fonts in the Apple Product, ChineseTalk II?

Finally, all instructions for Chinese System 7.1 and ChineseTalk II are in Chinese but are incomplete and confusing. Where can I find complete documentation in Chinese and English?
1) You might be a prime candidate for the Chinese Language Kit, and not the fully localized Chinese System 7.1 purchased in China. By installing the Chinese Language Kit on a Macintosh running U.S. System 7.1, you retain the English Finder and menus, but are able to input Chinese characters when using Chinese and World Script compatible applications. The Installer consolidates all necessary files and resources into one System Folder; afterwards, choose your desired script from the menu that is to the right of the Balloon Help menu. The Chinese Language Kit was built with the WorldScript technologies developed with System 7.1.

Chinese System 7.1 ships with Roman fonts, but it has a Chinese language Finder and menus.

Apple does not recommend more than one System Folder on a startup volume, requiring the use of utilities such as System Picker, or manually blessing/deblessing different System Folders.

2) Apple does not recommend the use of ChineseTalk II or any of its specific resources, files or fonts that accompanied it, as ChineseTalk II was a stopgap product between System 6.x and Chinese System 7.1.

Further, ChineseTalk II automatically added a thin space character to each Chinese character when non-Script Manager compatible applications are used. This resulted in unique (non-standard) fonts which:

* Increases document sizes by one-third.
* Increases transfer and printing times
* Causes problems when moving text between different applications

Both the Chinese Language Kit and Chinese System 7.1 use Chinese TrueType fonts and can use Roman (U.S.) fonts: simply drag them to the Fonts Folder.

3) The Chinese Language Kit documentation is in English and Chinese.

For further information on WorldScript in the Tech Info Library, use WorldScript as a search string.
Published Date: Feb 19, 2012