MakeMusic Forum

Home | Log In | Register | Search | Help

MakeMusic Forum > Public Forums > Plug-In Development - FORUM HAS MOVED! > Using symbols to type lyrics in a foreign language

Forum Quick Jump

[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

Golnoush
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 12

Posted 1/27/2004 4:18 PM (GMT -6)

I need to type in the lyrics in several scores in a foreign language. The symbols necessary for this task can be found in the Word (insert, Symbol), and also in the Windows' Character Map. However, there seems to be no way to do this directly in Finale. The members of the tech support were not able to offer me a solution either. I tried to type it in Word and save and paste it in the Finale lyrics window. But most of the symbols appeared as plain letters, instead of a letter with a Macron or a Caron above it. These are the letters I need:

Ā, ā, Č, č, Ī, ī, Š, š, Ž, ž., As well as a Q, q with a caron above it.

Does anyone know if and how this can be done? Or is there a kind soul who would design a plug in for this? I would be most grateful for this. I would even be willing to pay for it. You can email me at musighi@cox.net if you like. Thanks Golnoush

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................here seems to be no way to do this directly in Finale. The members of the tech support were not able to offer me a solution either. I tried to type it in Word and save and paste it in the Finale lyrics window. But most of the symbols appeared as plain letters, instead of a letter with a Macron or a Caron above it. These are the letters I need:

Ā, ā, Č, č, Ī, ī, Š, š, Ž, ž., As well as a Q, q with a caron above it.

Bill Wadlinger
Registered Member

Date Joined Nov 2003
Total Posts : 694

Posted 1/28/2004 7:44 PM (GMT -6)

Check http://www.finalemusic.com/forum/?f=5&m=70649&g=70830#m70830 in the Windows notation forum. I posted a question about lyrics that, part way through the thread asked exactly the same question you are asking. I do a lot with Balkan folk/folk dance music, so these characters are important. Zuill, a very well versed Finale expert, wrote back with:

Guess what? I found out how to get the "c with hacek accent above it" in Finale. In the lyric edit window, select text, font. At the bottom of the dialogue box, choose the script you want. Baltic or Central European shoud do it. Click OK. From the text menu, select insert symbol. Scroll down to the "c with hacek accent above it". It should be 232 in the list. You can enter it by using alt-0232 instead of using insert symbol. I hope it works as well for you as it did for me. The same number (232) is in Times New Roman and Arial.

This should do it for you.

Bill

Notation program: Finale 2K4a

Beer: Anchor Steam. When I'm in the mood for beer. Which isn't often.

Oompah
Registered Member

Date Joined Dec 1998
Total Posts : 231

Posted 1/29/2004 12:49 PM (GMT -6)

The one thing to note is that, depending on your version of Windows, you may need to install a new locale in the control panel
before you will see the choices in the Script combo box. In Win 2K it's called Regional Options in the control panel.

Tim Rowland
...Rowland...Rowland, though the streams are...

Date Joined Dec 1998
Total Posts : 1250

Posted 1/29/2004 7:42 PM (GMT -6)

Take a look at http://allchars.zwolnet.com and see it that helps you. It's free.

Cheers,

Tim

Golnoush
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 12

Posted 2/1/2004 12:35 PM (GMT -6)

Bill, God bless you! What a life saver!! I have been searching everywhere for the answer to the lyrics question. All the symbols I need are in the Arial Baltic. I was dreading that my only solution was to use the phontgraher to design the needed fonts, and I sure wasn't looking forward to that! Thanks again a million times. Thanks to you (and the wonderful Zuill!) all that remains is to find the letter Q with a caron above it. Any ideas? Golnoush

Bill Wadlinger
Registered Member

Date Joined Nov 2003
Total Posts : 694

Posted 2/1/2004 5:25 PM (GMT -6)

You've got me on that one; in fact, I don't ever recall seeing a Q with that diacritic. What language are we talking about here?

You should certainly try the allchars website that Tim Rowland suggested. I haven't looked at it myself; it's on my to-do list.

Best wishes,

Bill

Notation program: Finale 2K4a

Beer: Anchor Steam. When I'm in the mood for beer. Which isn't often.

Golnoush
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 12

Posted 2/1/2004 7:23 PM (GMT -6)

The language is Persian. I did download Allchars as Tim suggested, but I have not found the letter Q with a Caron. I sent an email to Jeroen Laarhoven and asked for guidelines. Hope it works. Golnoush

Tim Rowland
...Rowland...Rowland, though the streams are...

Date Joined Dec 1998
Total Posts : 1250

Posted 2/6/2004 7:32 AM (GMT -6)

AllChars only makes it much easier to access symbols already in fonts on your system. If the fonts don't contain the symbol you need, then unfortunately you can't get that symbol :(

However, that program still comes in really handy!

Cheers,

Tim

bear
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 1999
Total Posts : 3

Posted 3/6/2004 12:48 AM (GMT -6)

I am Czech-Canadian and almost all my music lyrics are in in Czech language

which is specifically using the characters you are mentioning except q with caret. Are you shure about the Q?

Go to Setting>Install Programs>Window Istallations>Multilanguage Support and install support for a language of your choice.

Then go to Keyboards and install keyboard for that language.

You can then toggle between two of them.

You have to go through all the characters on the chosen keyboard and make yourself a map

of what key is for which character. Lowercase is given, for uppercase use lowercase with Caps lock.

Some letters have diacritics and are not on a keyboard. If you still interested how to get those,

send me e-mail and I'll let you know.

In Finale Edit Lyrics or Text Dialog Boxes open Fonts and set Script. In my case I use Centraleuropean.

Only 4 or 5 most used fonts would be available in English OS.

Good luck,

Jaroslav J. Bier

medved@shaw.ca

Golnoush
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 12

Posted 4/4/2004 9:47 PM (GMT -6)

Hello everyone, It's been a month since I last wrote. Since then I have been very busy. I ended up purchasing the Font Creator Program and created all the fonts I needed (even the q with a caron!) with the help of this program and its wonderful support team. The program costs only $50 (much less than similiar ones) and its support is absolutely excellent. I recommend it highly. It allows you to do whatever you want to do without having to depend on what's already available. Thanks to all who tried to help me with this task. Golnoush

**Rimas G.
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 469

Posted 4/8/2004 4:38 PM (GMT -6)

Hi, colleagues.
I know one very simple way to repair foreign font problems. Each normal text font has inserts table. For example get EXPRESSION TOOL.
and open Times New Roman font inserts table: EXPRESSION TOOL>Duble left click>Create>Text>Inserts>Symbol. Table shaws all inserts
possibilities. In each of squares you can see symbol and number. Write on a small paper numbers of symbols what you need. You will see
that you need only several of them. When you will put your text on the music, look at this paper and tape Alt+0... (number of your choise).
It works perfectly, but I'm not sure about computer keyboard and languages settings exactly, because my PC can type Lithuanian, Russian
and English. Can it work without additional languegages settings, try everybody by your own. I think, that is not too hard tape some more
often used symbols from memory (or from small paper-what you choose). Set keyboard and fonts to foreign language (baltic, cyrylic,
central european. etc.) is very hard way, because if you use standart (latin) , you can't see characters on keyboard what you type.

Good luck!
**Rimas G.

Golnoush
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 12

Posted 4/14/2004 12:03 PM (GMT -6)

Hello Rimas, As I had mentioned in my last note, I had to create a new font with the help of the Font Creater Program for the following reasons:
1) Some of the symbols needed for Farsi did not exist in any of the available fonts.
2) You can use only the first 255 symbols of any font in Finale. Therefore, I had to remap the other fonts I needed to move them to the first 255 glyphs.
I have been using this to type in lyrics into the pieces, but I had not discovered the possibility of the Expression tool. This is great! It would enable me to enter dynamic and performance instruction in Farsi. My works are being published in both English and Farsi and knowing this technic is a great help. Thanks for the input.

**Rimas G.
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 469

Posted 4/25/2004 3:53 AM (GMT -6)

Golnoush,
I am very glad if I can a little bit help you! I choose this method, because don't like to work with a dialog boxes when it's possible. I use Menu Shortcuts
plug - in from TG Tools and make many most needful shortcuts. They let me work more simply and operative.
And one more qestion. Tim Rowland recommended Allchars. When I installed this program (or plug-in?), my Samsung internet keyboard becomes crasy.
I can't type lithuanian correctly in all text redactors. I try set keyboard to english and type lithuanian (my language has some specific letters) with Allchars -
no changes. Than I uninstall it.

With a best regards
**Rimas

Forum Information

Currently it is Tuesday, December 19, 2023 8:19 PM (GMT -6)
There are a total of 403,820 posts in 58,165 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 0 new threads and 0 reply posts. View Active Threads

Need Support? | Forum Help Manual