Chinese handwriting input online and Cantonese voice typing
If you can say a Chinese word but cannot spell its pinyin, try the Speak button in Chinput. If you know how a character looks, use Draw. These are different input methods, and neither guarantees a correct transcription.
Mandarin and Cantonese voice input
- Open the site over HTTPS in a browser that supports speech recognition.
- Select the spoken language beside Speak: Mandarin, 國語, or Cantonese.
- Click Speak and allow microphone access only if you want to dictate.
- Speak a short phrase, stop recording, and review the characters before copying.
The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+M. Recognition support and language availability vary by browser, operating system, region, and speech provider. Chrome, Edge, and Safari may offer different results. Pinyin typing remains available if speech recognition is unsupported or microphone access is denied.
Why did Cantonese produce colloquial words?
Spoken Cantonese and standard written Chinese can use different vocabulary and grammar. Recognition may preserve what you said rather than rewrite it into standard written Chinese. The optional AI Tidy feature can help only when AI is configured; it is currently off on this deployment. Review any rewrite with a proficient reader.
Chinese handwriting input online: draw a character
Choose Draw and write with your mouse or finger. Draw strokes separately, then select a matching character. Recognition runs locally in the browser. Results depend on stroke shape and order, so try again more slowly if the desired character is missing. You do not need to know its pinyin to draw it. This is handwriting matching, not OCR for uploaded photos or scanned pages.
Check how to write it
Select a character in the editor and choose How to write. Play its stroke-order animation, step through strokes, or use tracing practice. Stroke data is loaded from an external provider; some Taiwan and Hong Kong stroke conventions differ from the mainland standard.
Where does the audio go?
Voice recognition uses your browser’s speech service. Audio may be processed by that service outside your device; voice input is not an offline privacy feature. Chinput’s pinyin and handwriting engines run locally. See privacy and limitations for the distinction.