How can I get Chinese/Japanese characters to display properly instead of squares?

Anonymous
2009-11-25T18:51:47+00:00

I'm using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and I have some songs in Chinese and Japanese.  In Windows Explorer, the characters would SOMETIMES show correctly and sometimes they would be blocks.  Whenever I use iTunes, they're always in blocks and in other programs (ex. synctoy 2.1 and google chrome). I've already installed the Chinese (Trad. and Simplified) and Japanese language packs but the file names still show up in blocks. I also restarted several times after installation of the languages to see if that fixed things but it didn't. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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Anonymous
2010-03-16T00:54:57+00:00

Okay fine.... I stopped being lazy and found the solution by trial and error. So the trick is to change the system locale to Chinese (PRC) and then changing the system locale back to English (United States). I can now see the Simplified Chinese characters correctly in my buddyllist as well as in browser titles. I've attached a screenshot of the menus to get to the system locale. Basically go where you changed your input method and follow the screenshot below:

http://www.twitpic.com/18uhgc

This is a bug with the IME, I think, but nothing a few changes and reboots won't fix! Good luck!

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-08-12T20:42:38+00:00

    Hi TimChoi89, 

    I had been experiencing the exact problem, except I have WIndows 7 home premium. Although, you seem to have figured out a solution, here is what i did and it seems to have worked for me.

    I noticed if i had a file/folder name in a foreign language (eg.japanese/chinese) on my desktop, i never seemed to have problems with foreign fonts from turning into boxes. So, i renamed my recycle bin in japanese and I haven't had a problem since.

    Hope this helps,

    Gyel.

    I have no idea how...but this seemed to have fixed it for me o____o however i'm gonna remain skeptical and see if it changes back after a day or two. If it stays fixed then you are my hero =D i'll reply again if it ends up only being a temporary solution in case other people reading this are having the same problem

    okay just so that people reading this are aware, this solution solved my problem of reading japanese and chinese characters for the most part but my songs that have korean characters are still being displayed as boxes.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-08-11T04:36:47+00:00

    Hi TimChoi89, 

    I had been experiencing the exact problem, except I have WIndows 7 home premium. Although, you seem to have figured out a solution, here is what i did and it seems to have worked for me.

    I noticed if i had a file/folder name in a foreign language (eg.japanese/chinese) on my desktop, i never seemed to have problems with foreign fonts from turning into boxes. So, i renamed my recycle bin in japanese and I haven't had a problem since.

    Hope this helps,

    Gyel.

    I have no idea how...but this seemed to have fixed it for me o____o however i'm gonna remain skeptical and see if it changes back after a day or two. If it stays fixed then you are my hero =D i'll reply again if it ends up only being a temporary solution in case other people reading this are having the same problem

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-08-06T05:04:44+00:00

    FYI my system already has that unchecked.  Just rebooting will temporarily fix the Chinese character problem...but it always starts failing again.  The only permanent fix I've found is to switch the system locale to Chinese.  Sure would like a better solution.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-07-19T06:17:59+00:00

    1.        START MENU > type fonts in the search box

    2.        CLICK ON fonts

    3.        Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Fonts

    4.        CLICK ON fonts settings AT THE TOP OF THE LEFT PANE MENU

    5.        A WINDOW WILL POP UP, JUST UNCHECK THE BOX WHICH SAYS hide fonts based on language settings

    6.        RESTART YOUR COMPUTER

    YOU SHOULD NOW BE ABLE TO SEE ASIAN CHARACTERS, SUCH AS ASIAN AND JAPANESE, INSTEAD OF SQUARE BOXES.

    ENJOY !

    tutorial with pictures available here : https://docs.google.com/document/d/15x378Mj6DIgiCjYeUnhTArWOwo3Mnh1V7LxCwFlPuig/edit

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