Confusing Name Changes in OS X

I've run into several people in the Apple Support Communities confused by recent name changes implemented by Apple.  These are

+Starting with OS X 10.10.3, the standard menu item for many years called "Edit > Special Characters" is now called "Edit > Emoji & Symbols"

+Starting with OS X 10.11.0,  the input source for many years called "US Extended" is now called "ABC Extended".

WatchOS 2.1: New Language Features

Update 2.1 to WatchOS released December 8 includes improved language support and bug fixes as described below:

iOS 9.2: New Language Features

The 9.2 update to iOS released December 8 includes the following language fixes and added features:

- Improved punctuation input on the 10-key Chinese (Pinyin & Stroke) keyboards with new expanded view of punctuation symbols and better predictions 
- Fixing an issue on Cyrillic keyboards where caps lock would be enabled when typing in URL or email fields 
- Siri support for Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) 

Classic Mongolian Script Input Method

Users needing to input Classic Mongolian script, which has some features that are quite complex, should check out Richard Ishida's Mongolian Picker.  Some info on its use is available at his blog.

Multilingual Mac Web Page Updated for El Capitan

The main Multilingual Mac Web Page has been updated to reflect OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

If readers find any errors, let me know via the comments or email.

iWork Apps Language Improvements

Apple released updates to its iWork apps for iOS, Mac, and iCloud on October 15, and info on the added features can be found here.

It looks like most apps got improved support for bidirectional scripts, though it's not clear what that involves.

The apps for iCloud are no longer "beta" and have a major expansion in their language support, which now covers  U.S. English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Traditional Chinese, and Korean.

Uzbek Cyrillic

Users needing an Uzbek Cyrillic keyboard for OS X should try this page.

OS X 10.11 El Capital: Customizing Character Picker

Users trying to customize the Character Picker feature via the methods that have worked since OS X 10.7 (reported here ) will find that it doesn't work in El Capitan.  First you will have to deactivate the SIP (System Integrity Protection).

OS X 10.11 El Capitan: New Language Features

El Capitan was released 9/30/15 and appears to have the following main new language features:

+Spell check added for Norwegian, Finnish, and Korean

+Reference dictionaries added for Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish, French-English, German-English

+Language keyboard added for Tongan (but surprisingly still none for Lao or Amharic, for which specific fonts have long been installed by default).

+Arabic/Hebrew dictation

+Improved Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Hindi input systems

+No new system localizations.

Apple has published some info for  Japanese, Chinese, and International.

iOS 9: Language Switching with Bluetooth Keyboard

It appears that with iOS 9 Apple has changed the standard hardware keyboard shortcut for switching among keyboard layouts.  Instead of the Command + Space used forever by earlier versions of OS X and  iOS, it is now Control + Space.

(This is now also the default shortcut for keyboard switching in OS X  10.11)

New Language Features in iOS 9

iOS 9 Language Support

From the tech specs for the iPad Mini 4 released today:

Language support:


• English (Australia, Canada, UK, U.S.), Chinese (Simplified, Traditional, Traditional Hong Kong), French (Canada, France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish (Mexico, Spain), Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese 
  
  
QuickType keyboard support:


• English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, U.S.), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Cangjie, Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke, Sucheng, Zhuyin), French (Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Kana, Romaji), Korean, Spanish (Mexico, Spain), Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Gujarati, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi (Devanagari, Transliteration), Hinglish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic, Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese 
  
  
QuickType keyboard support with predictive input:


• English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, U.S.), Chinese (Simplified, Traditional), French (Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish (Mexico, Spain), Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Thai, Turkish
  
  
Dictation languages:


• English (Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, UK, U.S.), Spanish (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, U.S.), French (Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch (Belgium, Netherlands), Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Swedish, Turkish, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
  
  
Siri languages:


• English (Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, U.S.), Spanish (Mexico, Spain, U.S.), French (Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Swedish (Sweden), Dutch (Belgium, Netherlands), Norwegian (Norway), Russian (Russia), Turkish (Turkey), Thai (Thailand), Portuguese (Brazil)
  
  
Definition dictionary support:


• English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
  
  
Bilingual dictionary support:


• Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
  
  
Spell check:


• English (Australia, Canada, UK, U.S.), French, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Russian, Swedish, Turkish

Automating Use Of Different Layouts With Different Hardware Keyboards

Users who would like to try having their keyboard layout switch automatically depending on which of two hardware keyboards they are using (e.g. a Macbook's internal keyboard or another one), should have a look at these possible solutions using the Karabiner app.

Word For Mac Now Does Connected Arabic

After applying an update of 8/11/2015, my Word for Mac 2016 suddenly displays connected Arabic script in a new document (not a doc created by Windows Word).  Is this for real?  It's been 14 years folks are waiting.

I'd welcome reports from readers regarding how complete this new support is.

Word For iOS Updated to Support Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai

Version 1.11 of MS Word for iOS, issued 7/24/15, adds support for editing bi-directional and complex scripts, namely Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai.

I wonder if this indicates MS Word for Mac might soon get this as well?

A doc created in the new Word for iOS and sent to my Mac opened with correct Arabic display in Word for Mac 2011 (!) and 2016.

Word For Mac 2016: Still No Arabic, But Devanagari Seems To Work

The release version of Word for Mac 2016 was provided to Office 365 subscribers July 9.  My initial tests indicate there is still no support for RTL scripts like Arabic (letters are disconnected), but Devanagari seems to work if you use Apple's Kohinoor font.

A list of the Proofing Tools included can be found here.   I think its accuracy is suspect, since it includes Persian (for which input is definitely not supported) and several Indic scripts (Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil).

For Arabic/Persian there is a kludge workaround which may meet the needs of some users  described here.

iBooks Author Update Adds ePub 3 Export Feature

The iBooks Author 2.3 version released June 19 includes 2 new templates for the creation of ebooks in the epub 3 format.  This is important because the iBookstore requires that books in a number of languages use that format (and not the .ibooks format that was the only option in earlier iBA versions).  Also epub 3 format can normally be read on a variety of platforms, unlike the .ibooks format which is restricted to Mac.

For some info see:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204884

OS X 10.11: Preview of New Chinese/Japanese Features

From the info provided by Apple on June 8:

Chinese:


New system font.

The new Chinese system font PingFang is designed for a modern appearance and crisp onscreen readability in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.

Enhanced keyboard input.

Inputting Chinese using the keyboard has never been simpler or faster, thanks to advanced learning capabilities that quickly memorize your word choices, an improved language prediction engine that better anticipates the words you’ll type next, frequently updated vocabulary lists that contain the latest words and phrases, and a smarter candidate window that displays more character selections.

Improved trackpad handwriting.

Enter characters on the trackpad as swiftly and accurately as you do on paper — just by using your finger. A new Trackpad window reflects the proportions of your physical trackpad, gives you more room to write, and lets you write multiple characters in a row.

Japanese:

Live conversion for keyboard input.

OS X El Capitan dramatically improves the ease and speed of entering Japanese text. With an enhanced vocabulary and improved language engine, it automatically transforms Hiragana into written Japanese as you type — eliminating the need to press the space bar for individual word conversions.

New fonts.

OS X El Capitan includes four new Japanese fonts — Klee, Tsukushi A Round Gothic, Tsukushi B Round Gothic, and YuMincho +36p Kana — and more weights for the Hiragino Sans font that add personality to your documents and presentations.

Apple Watch: OS Update Adds 7 Languages

Watch OS 1.0.1 released 5/19/15 adds support for Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Thai, Turkish.

This brings the total to 21 (compared to 40 for the iPhone).

Bug in Apple's Bangla Fonts

A poster in the Apple Support Communities has pointed out that Apple's Bangla fonts (Bangla MN and Bangla Sangam MN) do not display the combination r plus khanda ta correctly.  The r character is put over the preceding character instead of over the khanda ta.

The Ekushey Bangla fonts for Mac (Solaiman Lipi/Rupali) can be used to have proper display.

Script and Font Support in Windows

For those who run Windows on their Mac, this page which lists the script and font support provided by that OS may be useful.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb688099.aspx

10.10.3 Changes Name Of Special Characters

To provide an additional challenge to Yosemite users, with the 10.10.3 update Apple has decided to change the name of the item in the Edit menu for most apps long called "Special Characters".  Clicking on this brings up the Character Viewer where you can access all Unicode characters.  

The new name is "Emoji & Symbols".

Apple Watch: Language Capabilities Of First Release More Limited Than iPhone

According to the Apple Watch User Guide, the Apple Watch language is set independently using the Watch app on the iPhone, via My Watch > General > Language.

As of 4/24/15, the available languages are  English (U.S.), English (UK), English (Australia), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), French (France), French (Canada), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong).  This is rather less than the 40 supported by the iPhone.

Voiceover is reportedly available in all the 14 languages listed above.

I have seen a report that the Music app supports Russian in addition.

The dictation language for a contact is determined by the iphone keyboard normally used in the Message app for the contact.

Replacing OS X User Interface Fonts

Some users may want to replace the fonts used by OS X for menus and dialogues, especially for non-Latin scripts like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Thai.  For a tool that can be used to do this, see this page.

Bugs in Apple's Sinhala Font

A poster in the ASC (Apple Support Communities) has discovered some incorrect renderings in the Sinhala fonts provided by Apple in both OS X and iOS.  Details can be found at this page.

MS Word 2016 for OS X Preview: Still No RTL Support, but Indic Yes

I did a quick test with the preview of the new Word 2016 for Mac which was released by Microsoft March 6.   Arabic input was not connected and the characters ran in the wrong direction.  So it looks like the long-requested support for RTL text is still missing.

On the other hand, support for Indic scripts looks much improved:  Hindi conjuncts and vowel reordering were displayed correctly, which has not been the case in earlier versions.

Comments from readers who are able to give this app more thorough tests would be most welcome.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite: New Arabic Fonts

I recently found 14 new Arabic fonts in Yosemite under Library/Application Support/Apple/Fonts/iWork Arabic Support.  These must be installed manually before they become available in iWork and other apps.  Some of them seem to have potential legibilty problems when viewed in this rudimentary Pages 5 test page:

Yosemite Update Fixes Romaji Input Bug

Although Apple fails to say so in the notes for the update 10.10.2 released Jan. 27, this includes a fix for the bug in the Kotoeri Romaji keyboard which removed the ability to make accented characters like é by using the normal Option key shortcuts.  This capability has now been restored, which should please users who want to write in W. European languages while still in Japanese input mode.

Yosemite Update Fixes Keyboard Layout Switching Bug

Apple released Yosemite 10.10.2 on Jan. 27, which includes the following fix:

+ Addresses an issue that may cause the input method to switch languages unexpectedly

Languages Not Yet Supported in Apple iBookstore

The iBookstore Formatting Guidelines of September, 2014 lists books in these languages as not yet eligible for distribution:  Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Burmese, Persian/Farsi, Hebrew, Khmer, Lao, Malay (Jawi/Arabic), Sinhala, Tamil, Urdu.

My guess that that Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Persian, Malay, and Urdu are excluded because the iBooks app does not yet support the right-to-left page turning they require.  Burmese and Lao could be because proper line breaking is not possible.

From a separate list of "supported" languages it appears that in addition no books in other Indic scripts are currently accepted -- Devanagari, Gujarati, Bangla, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Telugu.

It's not clear why Indic scripts and Amharic are not accepted.  As far as I know Pages and iBooks Author support composing in them, and the iBooks app can display them OK.

Edit 3/20/15:  I have evidence that at least one Devanagari book has been accepted in the iBookstore.

Edit 12/17:  The 2017 edition of the Formatting Guidelines does not change list of unsupported languages.