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”

teople says on: 13 January 2008 at 8:30 pm

Blackberry,黑莓,很酷的手机,中国大陆还没有上市….只能买到走私,几乎所有的手机都能像你说的那样刷成中文版,这也是水货在中国大陆非常热门的原因,还有个原因是水货手机更便宜和更时尚.我见过我两个朋友在使用,键盘很帅,我很喜欢他的宽屏,这样看大量的文字不会觉得吃力:)
那图片是你自己做的吧?
administrator says on: 14 January 2008 at 2:25 pm

对，这是一个很酷的手机！哦，对，那图片是我做的。
Bob Wang says on: 13 February 2008 at 10:40 am

Hello! thank you for the tips. but I have a 8310 of german version, and I have done all the steps as you told, but I have just updated the 8310 to the new firmqare, there is still no chinese to choose. can you pls tell me what to do next? thanks.
孙智谦 says on: 13 February 2008 at 12:31 pm

It’s difficult to troubleshoot over the internet, unfortunately, Bob. So when you press the menu button and choose “switch input language” you don’t have simplified Chinese as an option? Can you at least display Chinese characters on it?
DT says on: 28 February 2008 at 9:15 am

This pure gold! many thanks did quite a bit of searching on this, my problem was someone wanted to just read the language set so thanks for the alx/cods.cheers
孙智谦 says on: 28 February 2008 at 9:24 am

Hey, glad I could help, DT!
Jeffrey Gan says on: 29 February 2008 at 4:34 am

Hi,

Thanks for a very informative and helpful article. I have since changed the os to the singtel version which is newer than the hk csl version. Although the screen and sms now displays Chinese, emails still won’t display the Chinese characters.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Jeffrey
孙智谦 says on: 29 February 2008 at 12:22 pm

Jeffrey, what do you get when you try to open an e-mail with Chinese characters in it?
Jeffrey Gan says on: 2 March 2008 at 8:32 pm

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

The emails seem to display now. Didn’t do anything. Previously it just showed small boxes.

Will see if it runs ok.

Thanks again for the great article.

Jeffrey
孙智谦 says on: 3 March 2008 at 8:15 am

Glad it’s working now, Jeffrey. Congrats!
derek says on: 18 March 2008 at 5:42 am

Hi,
I just try to download the software you are meantion, but after I key in all the info and just pop out “the country that your IP address at is not permit to download………” , I come from Canada and work in China, the computer that I use for download is from Canada, is that reason why I can not download it? Please help me out, I really need to use chinese.
孙智谦 says on: 18 March 2008 at 7:03 am

Hi, Derek.

Well, IP addresses are determined at the time you log on to the internet, so the fact that your laptop is from Canada shouldn’t be a problem for you. It’s a Chinese IP address that you have. I have no idea why you’re not allowed to download that OS from the internet when Hong Kong is now officially a part of China, though. Unfortunately, all I can go by is the message you’re getting and assume that it would violate some kind of export compliance laws if I were to help you download it. But, you may want to try downloading the OS from a Singapore carrier from the link below:

https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=3DD48AB31D016FFCBF3314DF2B3CB9CE

or maybe it’s an error with the HKCL site. If so, you can try the 3 Hong Kong version (I’m not sure it supports Chinese, but I would imagine it does since it’s from Hong Kong) by going to the link below:

http://dualband.three.com.hk/website/template?pageid=d85300&lang=eng

I hope one of those help.
Taro says on: 9 April 2008 at 3:00 am

Hi,

I’m using the Curve 8310 too, but my 8310 is from US. and I am using it to receive my company’s email by using Blackberry Enterprise Server.

I just wonder one thing, if I reinstall the Chinese OS or multi-language OS, will I still receive my company’s email without re-activity my company email account, because I had no idea how to set it up and the 8310 was set up in New York and send to me in Macau.

I don’t want to mass up the 8310.

Taro
孙智谦 says on: 9 April 2008 at 7:12 am

Hi, Taro.

I’m not 100% sure, but I’m pretty sure that if you reinstall your OS, you’ll have to set up the Blackberry with your BES again.

The reason I say that is that, although the Blackberry Enterprise Server does its message routing using your Blackberry’s PIN, when the Blackberry is set up with the server, there is a random encryption key set up (usually by random movements of the mouse) which is stored by both the BES server and the Blackberry itself. If you reinstall your OS, as far as I know (unless the key is stored in the firmware somewhere) the encryption key on the Blackberry will be lost, and you’d have to generate a new one which wouldn’t be the same as the one on the BES. So it seems like you’d probably mess up your Blackberry. But, I’d definitely recommend you talk to either your IT people (or whoever set up your Blackberry for you) or to your wireless provider. They can give you a more concrete answer.
Taro says on: 9 April 2008 at 10:18 pm

Hi Mr 孫,

thanks for your help. correction : my BlackBerry is 8320 not 8310….

anyway, I will try to connect my New York collegue and ask them what to do, but I don’t think they will know how to do it because they are not and will not use Chinese.
But if they can tell how to setup the BES and give me the password, I think I can make it work.

one more time, thanks for you help & have a nice day

Taro
孙智谦 says on: 10 April 2008 at 6:20 am

You’re welcome, Taro.

Well, upgrading the OS from the standard English one to the Chinese one from HK CSL is just like upgrading from one version of the English OS to another version of the English OS. The only real difference is that the Chinese version can be set to display everything (menus, prompts, etc) in Chinese, whereas the English version can only display menus and prompts and the like in English (or some other language if available). So if your IT people know how to upgrade from one English OS to another English OS, they should be able to help you with this since it’s the same process, just using a different OS.

Hope everything works out for you!

-孫智謙
bianca says on: 23 April 2008 at 11:29 am

hi, thanks so much for the info!

i have a 8320, i would like the chinese to be one of my language options so that i can read and type in it if i want to. english is my main language of choice, but i need the chinese to be there as an optional tool.

is that anyway i can do that? i want both, basically.

thank you
孙智谦 says on: 23 April 2008 at 1:08 pm

Hi, Bianca.

What you’re looking for is exactly what you get when you install the HK CSL version of the OS on your Blackberry. I have mine set to display in English by default, but I sometimes switch the menus to Chinese just for kicks. Regardless of what language the menu items display in, you can read Chinese characters and input them with no problems using this OS.

Hope that helps.
-孙智谦
victoria says on: 18 June 2008 at 10:03 am

Hi 孙智谦,

thank you SO much for this. you have no idea how long i’ve been trying to do this. i have a problem though. everything is installed and fine. when i run the loader, i check off trad. chinese, all the chinese input types, etc. then after it starts the process, backing up my files and so forth, it runs into a communication error. i’ve tried countless times already and it always does the same thing. any insight?

Victoria
孙智谦 says on: 18 June 2008 at 5:12 pm

Hi, Victoria.

Hmmm…I’m not sure where to begin troubleshooting that one. It doesn’t sound like a hardware problem simply because it DOES communicate with the computer at first. I’d recommend either calling your service provider for support (careful, they may not like our using another OS from another company in another country!) or asking in the forum that I linked to in the post.

Hope that helps.

-孙智谦
Yolanda says on: 22 July 2008 at 2:52 pm

Hi,

Thank you so much for sharing your info on how to upgrade the blackberry curve 8310 to a chinese os!!! I think it is really helpful

Actually i am a newbie for blackberry and when i click the CSL download website, i did see the software, but seems like one is for desktop and the other is for the handheld. do i need to download both?

for example,

“BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.2.2.338 (Chinese)
Package Version: 4.2.2.338″ from CSL

I should also download the corresponding Software For BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.2.2 even i have an english v4.2 desktop software?

“BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.2 b27 Multilanguage
4.2.2 bundle 27 DM” from CSL

here is my blackberry handheld info

v4.2.2.170 (Platform 2.5.0.30)
cryptographic kernel v3.8.4.47

Thanks a lot!!!!
孙智谦 says on: 22 July 2008 at 7:48 pm

Hi, Yolanda!

I’m glad you find this post helpful! It took me a fair amount of searching to find the info I needed to do it, so I thought I might as well make it easier for the next person.

As far as your question goes, I didn’t download the CSL version of the desktop software when I upgraded mine. I just used the version that came on my CD. So you shouldn’t need to download the desktop software. Of course, if it doesn’t work with your current version of your software, you can always just uninstall your current version of the desktop software, reinstall the CSL version, and try again. Happy hacking!

-孙智谦
Yolanda says on: 23 July 2008 at 9:04 am

Your response is sooooo fast!

I will try to enjoy hacking, and let you know if i have any problems, thank you!

-Yo
Shirley says on: 29 July 2008 at 8:20 pm

Hi 孙智谦,

Thank you so much for sharing this info. I actually did research and looked at this thread before I purchased my BB curve 8320. I really want my phone to be capable to read and input Chinese…

I’ve done all the steps you mentioned, however I had some problem with step 6. I do not see the screen for pinyin input option. After I added the Chinese font from Net_Rim_Font_Chinese, the next step is whether I want to backup the data….

Now, I could read Chinese sms, and when I go to the Language option, I could change the input language to Chinese, (not from the switch input language shortcut), however, I still couldn’t type Chinese. when I type “ni hao ma”, then ni hao ma shown up as they are…..

Could it be the OS I downloaded? I d/l it from Blackberry website, not the HK CSL limited link you recommended.

Please advise…and many thanks in advance for your help!!!
孙智谦 says on: 29 July 2008 at 8:27 pm

Hi, Shirley.

When you change the language to Chinese using the language option, that (as far as I know) only changes the menus to Chinese, not the actual input. I don’t think the version that you downloaded from the Blackberry site has the ability to input Chinese, which is why I downloaded mine from the HK CSL website. That one has it built-in. The American versions (to my knowledge…I could very well be wrong) only allow you to display Chinese, not actually input it.

Give the HK CSL version a try, and I’m sure you’ll be in good shape.

-孙智谦
Shirley says on: 30 July 2008 at 8:41 am

Thanks for your quick response! I will definitely try again with the HK CSL Version.

Thx so much!!
Shirley says on: 30 July 2008 at 7:28 pm

I d/l and ran the HK CSL version OS, and still I don’t see the option for me to choose the input…..

Do you know why????

Thanks.

Shirley
孙智谦 says on: 30 July 2008 at 9:21 pm

That’s odd, Shirley. It sounds like maybe your OS wasn’t upgraded properly? Did you compare the version of the OS that your phone came with and the version on there now to ensure that they’re different?
宁国宇 says on: 6 October 2008 at 8:10 pm

我是在美国拉，用的AT&T的黑莓8820，还没有试你教的方法，因为我想知道我刷机之后，机子还能正常使用AT&T的SIM卡么？
孙智谦 says on: 6 October 2008 at 8:32 pm

我也住在美国。我的AT&T的SIM卡没有问题。

-孙智谦
宁国宇 says on: 6 October 2008 at 8:53 pm

哇，你真NB，回的那么快。。。这可是1月份的帖子了，膜拜一下

那我准备刷机了，好了之后第一时间告诉你。
宁国宇 says on: 7 October 2008 at 10:36 am

很奇怪哦，我给我8820下载的是EAST ASIA最新的那个，然后装好之后运行发现就只是读取了我手机内的应用程序并且允许我执行添加或卸载操作而已，没有什么关于中文的选项啊，也没有什么改变能使机子显示中文
宁国宇 says on: 7 October 2008 at 10:02 pm

嗯……问题解决了，貌似是我DESKTOP MANAGER版本太高的原因……我也不是很清楚，不过谢谢你拉
孙智谦 says on: 8 October 2008 at 6:53 am

啊，你的问题解决了啊！那就好！　我很乐意为你服务。　:)
Lynn says on: 28 October 2008 at 9:57 pm

Great post!

I cannt find the OS for BB 8330, is that OK to use 8320 one? Thx
nightdreamor says on: 29 October 2008 at 7:52 am

没有找到8330的rom。能否用8320的代替？
孙智谦 says on: 31 October 2008 at 5:49 am

Hi, Lynn.

I’m not sure about that one. You may want to do a Google search for something like “Blackberry 8330 8320 OS compatibility” or something like that.
Daniel says on: 31 October 2008 at 9:36 pm

Thanks man, this is great.
Willian says on: 10 November 2008 at 2:01 am

hi, Thanks for the detailed instruction. I have just bought a new BB 8220 and I need to read/write Chinese with it. After reading your message a few times, i am still not sure at which step the BB handset should be connected to the computer or I was too confused to have missed it?
On the other hand, I am planning to use the rom for 8120 since there is no 8220 chinese rom available yet. Is that Ok?

thanks again.

wiliam
Jessy says on: 17 November 2008 at 12:05 am

I also live in US and the BB 8830 World Edition is primarily for work purpose. The wireless network is CDMA instead of SIM card, I wonder whether your suggestion works to me. Does it necessary to use the desktop manager? Since my BB connect with my workplace laptop and I was told that I don’t have to use the desktop manager, does it make any difference if I want to install the new OS that support Chinese input?

Thanks for your response in advance.
孙智谦 says on: 26 November 2008 at 3:26 pm

Sorry, I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had the time to check my comments in a while.

William – I’m not sure about your question about whether the 8120 OS is safe for the 8220 phone. That’s something you may want to ask on the forums that I mention in the post. The people there will probably be more help to you.

As far as when to connect the Blackberry to the computer, you’ll want to make sure it’s connected before you run the Apploader application. Otherwise, there would be nothing for the application to load the software on.

Jessy – I don’t know how to answer your question, either. I don’t know much about CDMA vs. SIM card, unfortunately. I’d suggest you ask the people on the forums that I referenced in the post as well.
A says on: 13 December 2008 at 5:45 pm

Hi, I have followed the instructions on this post,
but when I got to step 6, I ran into some difficulties.
When the screen with the checklist appeared, I wasn’t able to find the Chinese Input language. Is there anything else I have to install in order for the Chinese language to appear ?
I was wondering if you could help me out, I am using the Blackberry Bold.
Thank you !
孙智谦 says on: 14 December 2008 at 7:00 pm

Hmmm, I’m not sure, A. Maybe you didn’t get the correct OS downloaded from the correct place? Or maybe it won’t work on the Blackberry Bold? I don’t know, unfortunately…You may want to double-check that you’ve downloaded the correct software and then maybe check the forums that I mention in the post; maybe someone there can help you.

-孙智谦
A says on: 21 December 2008 at 10:30 am

Okay, thank you for your help anyways !
At least i can read Chinese on it now
孙智谦 says on: 21 December 2008 at 9:01 pm

You’re welcome, A…Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

-孙智谦
John says on: 13 January 2009 at 1:54 pm

Hi Mr. Sun,

When I visit the BalckBerry download site following the link you provided, there are four dowbloads over there:

- BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.5.0.62 (Multilanguage)
- BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.5.0.62 (EastAsia)
- BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.2.2.338 (Chinese)
- BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.2.2.321 (Chinese)

Could you let me know which one you used that can support both English and Chinese?

Thanks.

John
孙智谦 says on: 20 January 2009 at 3:39 pm

Hi, John.

I’m not sure which one it was that I downloaded, but I believe it was the Multilanguage version. Give that a shot.

-孙智谦
Qing Qing says on: 31 January 2009 at 4:05 pm

I have a Chinese software on my blackberry curve. I can type text in
Chinese but receiving . Help! Thanks!!!!
Clarence says on: 1 February 2009 at 2:15 pm

Hi, One question. Does your BB connect to BES? Does any additional configuration need to be done on BES to display Chinese character in email? Thanks in advance.
King Lee says on: 11 February 2009 at 12:38 pm

I recently upgraded my BB system OS to 4.5.0.110 (English version). When I brought up the App Loader, a bunch of “Chinese Input Method” (Jyutping, Pingyin etc) apps showed up on the menu. I installed them along with some Chinese fonts. I can now read and input Chinese on the BB Curve 8310.

So I don’t think one needs to use the Chinese version of the system to read and input Chinese. I haven’t tried it but I think the Chinese version will give one the option to change the “System language” to Chinese, not just the “Input Language”.

Thanks for the well-written article/instructions.