Home » Culture Clash, How-to, Language, Technology News

How to enable Chinese input on your Blackberry

Written By: Due-East on January 10, 2008 66 Comments

NOTE (3/4/2009): I’m glad these instructions have been so helpful to so many people. Unfortunately, I’m way too busy now to be able to work on helping people troubleshoot why these methods don’t work for their Blackberry. So if you read this article and have any questions or problems, please click the link at the bottom of the article and ask someone in the forums there. Thank you. – 孙智谦

I recently switched my phone service from Sprint to AT&T and somehow managed to sucker myself into thinking I needed a Blackberry so that I can keep up-to-date on all the unimportant e-mails I receive every day (the latest deals on erectile dysfunction medications, who wants help smuggling money out of what country, etc). I ended up getting a Blackberry Curve 8310. It’s a cool phone, but the only problem is that with the default OS, there’s no support for Chinese at all. It can’t display Chinese characters, and it can’t input them. That stinks since I do get e-mail from Chinese friends, and I’d like to be able to read and respond to what they write without having to be at home to do it. So I set about trying to find a way to make it work…and after lots of Google searching and forum reading, I came across a great forum thread (link at the bottom of this article) that gave me the general steps on how to get it done. I followed the steps (with some modifications) and was able to make it work pretty easily. I’ve posted the outline of the procedure that I used below in an attempt to hopefully make it easier for those who follow after me. Here goes…

I highly recommend backing up your Blackberry before you do anything. In the BlackBerry Desktop Manager program, click on Backup and Restore and choose the Backup option and export your data to a file.

The first step is to download the latest HK CSL Limited (HK CSL is a Hong Kong cell phone carrier) version of the Blackberry OS for your particular model. You can download it here. It’ll ask you all kinds of questions and run through the whole “I’m not gonna use this to hack the planet” stuff, but you can at least download it.
Next, you’ll also want to download the Simplified Chinese font pack for Blackberry. I can’t find the link where I got it originally, but you can download it here. It doesn’t appear that the HK CSL version of the Blackberry OS supports simplified Chinese characters. It may, but when I installed it, it didn’t seem like it was going to, so just to be safe, I downloaded the fonts for it and installed them. After you’ve downloaded the package, extract the zip file to somewhere on your computer and note where you extracted the files. You’ll have to browse to that location in a couple of steps.
After you’ve obtained the software you need, I recommend uninstalling any Blackberry software you have on your computer (just for the sake of doing things cleanly). Logically, you’ll need your Blackberry User Tools CD (or at least a downloaded copy) for reinstalling the software later.
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
and rename or delete your VENDOR.XML file if that directory and that file still exist. They may not since you just uninstalled all Blackberry software that was on your machine.
Open the downloaded OS file that you got in step 1 and install it. At the end of the install, it should ask you if you want to run the Application Loader program. I chose Yes, but then the AppLoader that it ran was in Chinese, and I didn’t feel like going through it in Chinese. So I canceled it and browsed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Apploader and double-clicked on Loader.exe That kicked off the Apploader program in English. Your mileage may vary, but that’s what worked for me.
At the screen where it gives you the option of what you want to install, make sure you check all the boxes that have to do with Chinese (and Japanese and Korean if you want to be able to read sites/e-mails in those languages – sorry, this OS doesn’t support writing in those languages). Also, remember those simplified Chinese fonts I mentioned downloading earlier? They may not be necessary, but you may want to browse to where that zip file was extracted and select the net_rim_font_chinese.alx file to install those simplified Chinese fonts just to be safe. Also on this screen, make sure you select the pinyin input option so that you can switch between inputting English and Chinese using your Blackberry. At some point during this step, it’ll probably also ask you if you want to backup your device. That’d be a good idea if you like what you have on your Blackberry. Once you’ve done all that, get ready to wait up to 30 minutes (maybe more, maybe less) for your device to become usable again. It’ll probably look like it’s hung at some point because the progress bar won’t move for a long time, but it’s just taking it’s sweet time. It’ll work.
You’ll probably have to go through the setup wizard on your Blackberry again, but the good news is that it should keep your messaging/e-mail set up (it did on mine, anyway). It’ll ask you what input language and screen language you wanna use. Unless you’re fluent in Chinese and can read it all, I recommend sticking with English on both. You can easily switch the input language within an application by pressing the “full” menu button (the menu button with the dots on it) and choosing Switch Input Language. Then, it’s just a matter of typing pinyin and selecting the appropriate character for what you want to say.
After you’ve done this, re-install Desktop Manager and other applications, set up your synchronization again, and you’re good-to-go.

It’s pretty straight-forward. If I’ve left a step out, let me know by leaving a comment. And sorry about the lack of screenshots. I neglected to take any when I was doing this on my Blackberry, and I don’t feel like going back and doing it again just for screenshots, so this is all you get. If for some reason this process fails and your Blackberry is all jacked up, fear not. Just follow the instructions for using javaloader.exe on this forum thread (Or call support for help with getting it back to its like-new state) and try again. Happy hacking!

Link to article/forum posting that I used to do this to my own Blackberry

66 Responses to “How to enable Chinese input on your Blackberry”

万强 says on: 4 March 2009 at 12:11 pm

孙智谦，多谢你

Straight forward instruction, installed on the Pearl 8120 and Curve 8320. Both phones work fine with input and display Chinese characters. Installed ISkoot, berrymail-QQ08, sukodu, EQO for QQ, Yahoo one Search, Superpages Mobile, Opera mini, Google Mobile App on both phones. All Apps work great.
henry says on: 4 March 2009 at 9:09 pm

你好我第一步驟下載了最新的8310 eastasia 4.5 版本的
安裝的時候沒有看到選擇 “pin in” 的這個選項, 所以安裝後可以看
可是 input language 的選向依然只有英文語西班牙語
有任何的idea嗎? 謝謝幫忙…
henry says on: 5 March 2009 at 1:13 pm

問題解決了不過看我信的朋友都要更改後才能看簡體字型
不知道位何沒有繁體：（
Kenji says on: 26 March 2009 at 1:36 am

Thank you so so much! This is really a very big reflief that i could type/read Chinese…

Just one thing, the layout of the bopomofo’s keyboard layout, does anyone have it?
Tzecss says on: 29 March 2009 at 6:55 am

thanks for the clear information that been provided. My bb 8900 can read Chinese now, however i still cant compose in chinese. why i try to click on the pin yin that i wanted to be installed and click next, it shows
“net.rim.blackberry.lang_zh.TW.” missing. (sort of – i couldnt really remember wat it is.
anyway, thx for the post.
Tzecss says on: 29 March 2009 at 7:10 am

sorry, the error code should show as below
net.rim.blackberry.lang.zh_CN.rendering

i tried to search this file but couldnt found it.
谢海峰 says on: 8 April 2009 at 9:09 am

孙智谦,
请给我下载　BLACKBERRY 8900 拼音软件的网址？
谢谢。。。
谢海峰 says on: 15 April 2009 at 9:18 am

敬启者，
希望在线的网友能提供给我 BLACK BERRY Curve 8900 华文输入软件的网址。先谢。。。。
印尼：谢海峰
ROBERT says on: 14 May 2009 at 3:47 pm

Hi Mr. Sun,

your infomation are very helpful. The only one question I got is My Black Berr y curve is 8330 and can I use 8300′s software since there is no software for 8330?

I’ve try the v4.7 Multilanguage but it didn’t work.

Please advise….

Thanks in advance
Martin says on: 26 May 2009 at 5:52 am

Hi thanks for all the details above. I only manage to do the steps and now i can read chinese but i cannot find the way to input. I am using 8900. i download the software for 8900 but there is no step for me to tick the pinyin. I still cannot find the pinyin. please help. My handset version is V4.6.1.133 (Platform 4.2.0.85)
I need the chinese to go into Tencent QQ. I also cannot find the software for Tencent QQ. Any idea where and wat version to download. Please help.
Best regards
Martin
suseno says on: 20 June 2009 at 8:15 am

How about chinese input for blackberry 9530, can u give me the link so I can download the software??v
Jim says on: 12 September 2009 at 10:32 pm

Mr. 孙智谦,

I NEED YOUR HELP!!

I’ve been trying to get help for my problem. Since you live in the US and is on the AT&T network, I think you are the most suited person to help me.

I recently purchased a BB Bold 9000 from AT&T, installed the chinese language OS and am able to read and type both simplified and traditional Chinese.

HOWEVER… It seems like I am NOT able to send Chinese texts to everyone. There is no problem when I send and receive a Chinese SMS text to another AT&T customer. However, I cannot send/receive text message to/from a Tmobile or Verizon user.

I am able to send and receive chinese text messages from people in Taiwan, but NOT from/to anyone in China on China Mobile.

Since you are on AT&T as well, please let me know if you are experiencing the same problem. If not, what am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help.
孙智谦 says on: 14 September 2009 at 1:36 pm

Jim,

I haven’t used my Blackberry in a while. I moved to somewhere where AT&T has even worse service than it did where I used to live…so I don’t use it anymore. But when I did use it, I sent a few texts to people in Chinese, and they never received them. If I recall, they were on different networks, not AT&T. So, unfortunately, I can’t offer any help.

-孙智谦
Jim says on: 15 September 2009 at 1:28 am

Thanks Mr. Sun,

I think it is a network problem with AT&T. I plugged my sim card into a “non-blackberry” phone and the chinese text I sent to my friend still didn’t get through.

It goes through if your friend is on AT&T, but not on any other network. Taiwan works fine but not China Mobile or China Unicom.

It has to be a network agreement that AT&T is lacking. I am switching to Tmobile as they can text anyone in Chinese EXCEPT AT&T, which means AT&T is the problem.
walker says on: 23 September 2009 at 9:39 am

你好，孙先生

我有个问题想问问你，我准备买Blackberry bold。

人在国外，本手机又没有中文。

在网上看到你的帖子感觉很又帮助，就是想问问.

通过你上面的建议能装上中文的打字法吗？

我可以不用中文的系统，只要能发中文短信就可以了。。

希望专家能给点建议！！

谢谢！！
killer says on: 24 September 2009 at 1:46 am

Hi Mr. sun

I have a question which is my blackberry bold does not support Chinese system.

Just wishful send Chinese sms and read it, as i shew your articles on

line.

I read your suggestions, but my phone does not work at all.

I still can not type in Chinese and read it.

Please advise……..

Thank, Mr sun