We have not made the jump to Windows 10 for public machines in our labs (so I don’t know how many of these settings will stick if you copy default profiles), but I will mention a few things I have discovered running Windows 10 on three personal devices:





1.       Windows 10 (and 8) actually has a built-in, phonetic Russian keyboard it is called “Russian – Mnemonic.”  However, a few letters are missing from the layout.  As such, you have to type in two characters to get them to display:  ш (sh), ч (ch), ё (jo), э (je).  My guess is that this might be quite difficult for students who are new to the language.



2.       The default list of language keyboards can become quite unwieldy if you plan on supporting more than a dozen languages or so.  Windows 7 and earlier had each language as one succinct line when you clicked on the language abbreviation in the Task Bar.  In Windows 10, the languages in the list take up 2 lines (and have extra vertical padding around them).  You can scroll to see the entire list, but my guess is that some people might miss the ones that do not display on the screen when you click on the language abbreviation in the Task Bar.



a.       You can switch back to a Windows 7 aesthetic in Control Panel > [under the “View by” dropdown, select “Large icons”] > Language > Advanced settings > check “Use the desktop language bar when it’s available.”  This will change the ENG to EN (and the little keyboard icon if you have two input methods) and the language keyboard list will be compact like in Windows 7.  However, if you are running Windows 10 on a Surface or any touchscreen capable device, the Touch Keyboard icon displays in the Task Bar by default.  You can remove it if you want, but two keyboard icons might lead to some confusion.



3.       If you are used to using CTRL+SHIFT to switch keyboard layouts, it will only switch between languages – not each input method or layout.  For example, I have the English and Italian keyboards enabled, plus both the Russian (KU Homophonic) and Russian (Typewriter) layouts.  If I use CTRL+SHIFT to cycle through the layouts, only the last used input method for each language can be activated that way.  So CTRL+SHIFT goes from English to Italian to Russian (KU Homophonic) and then back to English – Russian (Typewriter) is not in the cycle since I used the homophonic layout last.  However, you can still get to the additional input method(s) by clicking on the language abbreviation in the Task Bar … and add a key sequence to switch straight to a specific input method (in Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Languages > Advanced Settings > Change language bar hot keys).



a.       This might be the cause of the on-again/off-again issue with the English (United States-International) keyboard that Dr. Waid mentioned?  I haven’t had any issues with it so far.



b.      Also, a secondary line will be added to the language abbreviation in the Task Bar if you have more than one input method for a specific language installed.  For example, ENG will change to ENG US and ENG INTL on two lines in order for you to distinguish them.  If you want to make it look as close to Windows 7 as possible … back in Advanced Settings you can check the box for “Use the desktop language bar when it’s available,” which will change ENG US back to EN with the little keyboard icon next to it.  The EN is smaller, however, and moves to the left of all of your notification icons instead of being by the clock.



4.       Also in the Advanced Settings, you can set a different input method for each app windows, which is nice.  If you primarily use a Russian keyboard layout but always want to use the English keyboard in order to use Photoshop keyboard shortcuts, you can enable this setting so you do not have to flip back and forth.



5.       In order to install keyboards, I would suggest going to Control Panel, [under the “View by” dropdown, select “Large icons”], click on Language, Add Languages … every time.  Once you have more than one keyboard installed and then click on a language abbreviation in the Task Bar – if click on Language Preferences, you are fairly limited in terms of what you can do in that Settings Window if you click on “Add a language.”  This is especially true if you are looking for a particular input method – e.g., French (Canada) or French (France).  If you click on “Additional date, time & regional settings,” you can still get back to the main Language settings in the Control Panel that should be familiar from Windows 7.



If you need any help installing the KU Russian Homophonic keyboard Jon provided a link to, please feel free to contact me.  I am happy to help troubleshoot technology issues.  Our custom keyboard also has stress marks on vowels should your instructors want to use them for beginner-level content.



Keah



P.S.  Also, for students on their mobile devices, I would recommend the SwiftKey (https://swiftkey.com/en) keyboard.  It has a standard Russian typewriter and a phonetic layout.  With its text prediction, it can be really helpful/encouraging for students that want to text or do activities in Russian on their mobile devices.  And switching between language keyboards is as easy as swiping left or right on the space bar.  It goes beyond Russian; here is a list of the current language keyboards it offers:  https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/articles/201598431-What-languages-are-currently-supported-for-SwiftKey-on-Android- Latin-based keyboards can be condensed into one keyboard, which is really nice.  So if you want to type in an “è” you just long-press on the “e” and swipe over to it (or é, ê, ë, etc.)



--

Keah Cunningham

Assistant Director

Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center

[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>





From: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Perkins, Jonathan

Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 1:40 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Windows 10 and World Languages





I am running Windows 10 and have noticed no problems with foreign languages, including Russian.  I would suggest using this homophonic/phonetic keyboard:



http://egarc.ku.edu/installing-russian-ku-homophonic-keyboard-windows-7-32-bit-and-64-bit



Jon



__________________________________

Jonathan Perkins, Director

Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center

University of Kansas

1445 Jayhawk Boulevard, Room 4070

Lawrence, KS 66045



(785) 864-4782<tel:%28785%29%20864-4782>

http://egarc.ku.edu<http://egarc.ku.edu/>



From: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sharon Scinicariello

Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 1:07 PM

To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Windows 10 and World Languages



Colleagues,



The IS group that manages my University's computer images is testing Windows 10 and has two questions for you all.

 (1) Has anyone noticed specific problems with non-English languages and Windows 10?

(2) What is the best way to install the Russian phonetic keyboard (AATSEEL, Russian for Gringos) for Windows 10?



Thanks in advance for your help,

Sharon Scinicariello











Sharon Scinicariello, Ph.D.

Director, Global Studio

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

University of Richmond, VA 23173