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Optional phone setup

Typing Chinese

Bamboo Island is English-first — you type or speak English and tap ✨ to get Chinese, so you never have to type hanzi. But if you'd like to type Chinese directly (in the app's Chinese text fields, or anywhere else on your phone), add Chinese to your keyboard once. Here's the whole path.

  1. Pick a keyboard — most popular ones have Chinese
    The keyboard already on your phone (e.g. Samsung Keyboard on Samsung phones), Gboard (Google, free), or Microsoft SwiftKey (free) — all three type hanzi the same way. No need to switch keyboards just for this.
  2. Add Chinese — the generic path
    Open your phone's Settings and search for "language" or "keyboard" — that's the reliable way in on any phone. Then: your keyboard → Languages / Manage input languages → add Chinese. Menu names differ slightly between phones; the search box is the constant.
  3. IMPORTANT: pick Simplified — not Traditional or Zhuyin
    Bamboo Island (and HSK) teaches SIMPLIFIED characters — your keyboard must match the app. The Chinese list in your keyboard may show several variants; only one is right:
Which "Chinese" to choose

✅ 中文 (简体) · Chinese (Simplified) · Pinyin — also listed as 简体中文 or 中文（中国大陆）. Inside it, choose the Pinyin layout (QWERTY Pinyin).

❌ 中文 (繁體) · Chinese (Traditional) — different character shapes: the app shows 爱, Traditional writes 愛.

❌ 注音 / Zhuyin / Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇ) — Taiwanese phonetic symbols (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ…), not pinyin. This app teaches pinyin.

A handwriting layout is a valid alternative if you'd rather draw the character with your finger.

  1. Switch English ↔ Chinese
    Tap the 🌐 key on the keyboard to switch to Chinese; tap it again to come back to English. On Samsung Keyboard and SwiftKey you can also swipe the spacebar left or right. Long-press 🌐 shows the full language list so you can jump directly.
q w e r t y u i o
a s d f g h j k l
z x c v b n m
🌐 EN space
English
tap 🌐 ──▶
type n-i-h-a-o
◀── tap 🌐
你 好  你  好  拟  号…
q w e r t y u i o
a s d f g h j k l
z x c v b n m
🌐 中 space
Chinese (Pinyin)
  1. Type pinyin, pick the hanzi
    Type n-i-h-a-o on the letter keys — the candidate bar above the keyboard shows matching hanzi. Tap the one you want; the first candidate is the usual tap. With a handwriting layout, draw the character instead.
n i h a o
你 好 你 好 拟 号
💡 Where you'll use it in the app

Every Chinese text field accepts typed hanzi — for example the Chinese side of a story line or dialogue line you're editing. English + 🎤 voice + ✨ translate remains the main workflow; typing hanzi is simply there when you want it.

Typing Chinese · Bamboo Island (语言岛)