Just trying to do the taxes with the Mrs, but for some reason every program we download, we don’t get Chinese but that mangled weirdness.
I’m running XP in English on my computer, but we can type Chinese and read it on here.
Anybody any idea if this could be the problem?
I had to configure my computer to dual boot due to this stupid problem.
Partition 1: English XP
Partition 2: Chinese XP
I only really boot into Chinese XP during May of every year for filing our taxes. I use the English XP all other times.
I’m sure there are other ways to get it to work, but I didn’t find any, and this way worked, so I went with it.
Edit: I guess I should also say that I can read and write Chinese on my English XP partition. It seems to just be some strange software design used by the tax people that is the problem.
I’ve done the same thing. All of my computers have dual systems on them. Partition 1 WinXP English; Partition 2 WinXP Chinese.
This way I’ve got the best of both worlds whenever I run into an issue like this.
Cheers for that lads, after a huge row where it was claimed that I (and foreigners in general) don’t love Taiwan enough because I (we) criticized the tax software, she managed to get it all done at work. The partition thing can be my project for next week.
You might have considered posting this in the Tech forum.
The problem is possibly because your English Windows doesn’t know how to display Chinese to you, or even that it should be displaying Chinese.
Try this:
Go to Start > (Settings) > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options
Click on the Languages tab and make sure both boxes are ticked. Then go to the Advanced tab and choose Chinese (Taiwan) from the list.
The first step may require that you insert your Windows XP CD, so it can get some language files off it. You will probably need to reboot afterwards too. You might have to do that final step after the reboot, and might even have to reboot a second time after doing it.
Yeah Stu, it was a toss up between here or your shiny, sweet smelling forum. I figured its more a tax issue though, and other tax folk may come here first.
Oh, and cheers for the ticking the boxes thing, but it appears that they are already checked.
[quote=“Funk500”]Yeah Stu, it was a toss up between here or your shiny, sweet smelling forum. I figured its more a tax issue though, and other tax folk may come here first.
Oh, and cheers for the ticking the boxes thing, but it appears that they are already checked.[/quote]
OK, well that’s good. How about the last bit?
I’m pretty sure I tried all that, Iris, but it was several years ago, so I can’t be completely sure anymore. I’ve never had a problem with anything Chinese related on my computer until the ROC Tax Bureau spent countless hours deciding how best to mess with me and my English version of XP. 
The good news is my wife finished the tax return already for this year, and we don’t owe as much as I thought we would.
[quote=“scomargo”]I’m pretty sure I tried all that, Iris, but it was several years ago, so I can’t be completely sure anymore. I’ve never had a problem with anything Chinese related on my computer until the ROC Tax Bureau spent countless hours deciding how best to mess with me and my English version of XP.
The good news is my wife finished the tax return already for this year, and we don’t owe as much as I thought we would.[/quote]
Very interesting, scomargo. Can any of you send me one of these documents so I can test it out for myself?
It’s not a document. As far as I can tell from watching my wife, it’s an exe file that you download from the tax bureau website. It just seems to have different properties than normal executables, and it plays by different rules. Sorry, I don’t know the link to it, and I’m starting my weekend right about now. Thanks for the offer to help, though.
It’s a dastardly plot to destroy Apple.
stupid exe files…
try downloading the Windows MUI. It will make your English XP multilingual.
Try searching for a torrent. It works well for me.
No need to install multiple versions of Windows or any of that! Some people at my work actually use two whole computers to do their daily tasks, it’s nuts! Any Windows computer can run any Windows software given the right bits and pieces.
There is a bit of software called Microsoft AppLocale which solves this problem. You basically use it to start the program, and it detects the program’s original language so that menus etc., don’t appear garbled.
Here’s the link: microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/apploc.mspx
I don’t suppose there’s a chance in hell that this software would work in (easily multilingual!) MS Office for Mac? Has anyone tried that?
(Now that taxes are taken care of…)
I installed it yesterday and got the Chinese to show.
Worked for me.