Hey folks,

since I'm reinstalling Windows (XP so far.. haven't got "seven" unfortunately) after a fatale crash, I would like to know if there is a possibility setting up a bilingual (German/Japanese) operating system. Of course I'd like to switch between both relatively quickly.

I heard there is something like right this feature available on Mac's computers - is that the case? And if yes, is there such an alternative for Windows, as well? Thanks for answers in advance! \ø

I don't think you can do it quickly except for changing it in the settings, and they restarting your whole computer.

Quote:http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discu...e-use.html

Seems like one needs the Ultimate Version of Windows 7 and just the language packs. A restart is superfluos then

But then you have two accounts instead of one. :/

You can do it with Vista or 7, without Ultimate, using Vistalizator, which is free and works really well, but you need a restart to switch languages. I haven't found one for XP though.

Have to add another negative response. I looked into that for a while and it just wasn't happening. As others have noted, 7 Ulti does it... But not much else.

I leave mine on as Japanese 24/7. :o The only way to go really.

KMDES Wrote:I leave mine on as Japanese 24/7. :o The only way to go really.

Well, like some users are afraid of adding monolingual definitions to their anki decks I'm a bit scared of having everything in Japanese and losing track.
After having finished writing my thesis I will try to do so (I mean.. Imagine Microsoft word in Japanese lol)

Tori-kun Wrote:

KMDES Wrote:I leave mine on as Japanese 24/7. :o The only way to go really.

Well, like some users are afraid of adding monolingual definitions to their anki decks I'm a bit scared of having everything in Japanese and losing track.
After having finished writing my thesis I will try to do so (I mean.. Imagine Microsoft word in Japanese lol)

Don't worry, you learn to recognize actions VERY quickly when you delete your folder full important documents, or unistall your NIC, or permanently crash your WIndows installation.

Look up "dual-booting" or "Multi Boot".
I have done this before. I don't know if it's possible to do with two Windows XPs. Do some research though it's not for people with very basic knowledge.

raz789 Wrote:Look up "dual-booting" or "Multi Boot".
I have done this before. I don't know if it's possible to do with two Windows XPs. Do some research though it's not for people with very basic knowledge.

Oh, it's very possible and very built in. Also, too much work for what he wants as both OS would be completely different systems.

They would be completely different but I believe you can access the files from the other and vice-versa. You can also run programs from the other OS too, no? I did this with Ubuntu and XP, worked pretty well and I did it fairly easily. I remember being able to access XP files from Ubuntu.

raz789 Wrote:They would be completely different but I believe you can access the files from the other and vice-versa. You can also run programs from the other OS too, no? I did this with Ubuntu and XP, worked pretty well and I did it fairly easily. I remember being able to access XP files from Ubuntu.

Most programs you'd have to reinstall on both systems as most are just not OS independant. And sometimes things are one way (Can't really access linux drives from XP without a special program.) And the real big pain in the ass is rebooting the computer plus any changes you make to one system that you want on both, you have to manually do it on both. I hate having to shut everything down just to switch to another OS, by time I shut everything down, boot up the otehr installation and get to where I was at is like 15-60 minutes.

KMDES Wrote:

Tori-kun Wrote:

KMDES Wrote:I leave mine on as Japanese 24/7. :o The only way to go really.

Well, like some users are afraid of adding monolingual definitions to their anki decks I'm a bit scared of having everything in Japanese and losing track.
After having finished writing my thesis I will try to do so (I mean.. Imagine Microsoft word in Japanese lol)

Don't worry, you learn to recognize actions VERY quickly when you delete your folder full important documents, or unistall your NIC, or permanently crash your WIndows installation.

Just make all your important documents/media not writable by your normal user (and thus require explicit privilege escalation to modify them). That's generally good advice for anyone though.

KMDES Wrote:Most programs you'd have to reinstall on both systems as most are just not OS independant. And sometimes things are one way (Can't really access linux drives from XP without a special program.) And the real big pain in the ass is rebooting the computer plus any changes you make to one system that you want on both, you have to manually do it on both. I hate having to shut everything down just to switch to another OS, by time I shut everything down, boot up the otehr installation and get to where I was at is like 15-60 minutes.

I see. I definitely understand it is a pain to restart just to launch another OS. But I imagine if you were creating a German and Japanese OS of some sorts, you'd install German Programs on the German OS and Japanese programs on the Japanese OS.
Well it's up to Tori-kun. Whatever is easier I suppose.

You can switch to a linux, like ubuntu.

Running an APP in Japanese or English is just a matter of changing a config:

LANG=pt_BR chromium
LANG=ja chromium
LANG=en_US chromium

With this you can have 3 chromium instances, 1 in each language.

Edit: Just checked and it won't work. If there is already 1 chromium running, it will open another window in the same language.

raz789 Wrote:I see. I definitely understand it is a pain to restart just to launch another OS. But I imagine if you were creating a German and Japanese OS of some sorts, you'd install German Programs on the German OS and Japanese programs on the Japanese OS.
Well it's up to Tori-kun. Whatever is easier I suppose.

Well, I must ay I like the idea I posted above (the link) quite well, as I would simply log into the other account - in a way a special "environment" for my Japanese studies. Once I get better, I will copy all files over to one user and swap to Japanese OS solely. Thanks for the suggestions, I hope this topic was a bit useful for users wanting to create a better environment on the current OS for learning Japanese!

KMDES Wrote:

Tori-kun Wrote:

KMDES Wrote:I leave mine on as Japanese 24/7. :o The only way to go really.

Well, like some users are afraid of adding monolingual definitions to their anki decks I'm a bit scared of having everything in Japanese and losing track.
After having finished writing my thesis I will try to do so (I mean.. Imagine Microsoft word in Japanese lol)

Don't worry, you learn to recognize actions VERY quickly when you delete your folder full important documents, or unistall your NIC, or permanently crash your WIndows installation.

I agree with this. After buying a Japanese PC, I know now what the Japanese for "Format drive" and "Are you sure you want to format drive" and "yes" is...

overture2112 Wrote:

KMDES Wrote:

Tori-kun Wrote:Well, like some users are afraid of adding monolingual definitions to their anki decks I'm a bit scared of having everything in Japanese and losing track.
After having finished writing my thesis I will try to do so (I mean.. Imagine Microsoft word in Japanese lol)

Don't worry, you learn to recognize actions VERY quickly when you delete your folder full important documents, or unistall your NIC, or permanently crash your WIndows installation.

Just make all your important documents/media not writable by your normal user (and thus require explicit privilege escalation to modify them). That's generally good advice for anyone though.

I know. I never actually did any of those things, but I imagine if you don't know what 削除 is then you'll probably run into said problems that I mentioned.