11/19/97 - 1243

Multilingual Word Processor

USA (VNN) - Multilingual Word Processor from Krishna Software, who created the Bhagavad-gita CDROM (see VNN story #1026), have now placed their famous multilingual word processor on CDROM. If you ever wished you could write in Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, or Assamese but never could find the time to learn the alphabet, this is the software for you. This phonetic-based word processor transliterates words into any of the 6 languages without the user having to know the rules of writing the foreign language. You still have to know how to say the words of the foreign language. This word processor also allows you to write diacritics (Roman form). For example, if you wanted to write "Hare Krsna" using diacritics, you would simply type "Hare Kr.s.n.a" and the software would automatically figure out what you meant. To write "Hare Krsna" in Hindi, you type "\hHare Kr.s.n.a" and the word processor will figure out all the consonant clusters, matras, viramas, etc.

The big advantage here is that the phonetics stay the same for all the languages! You merely change the language and the size of the fonts with the backslash commands. In this example, changing the "\h" to a "\g" would cause the output to be Gujarati instead of Hindi. You can also mix the languages and the diacritics within the same line. The CDROM includes some examples to get you started easily and also the entire manual is on-line. This word processor follows the same standard phonetic rules as Srila Prabhupada's books so if you need more examples, just type away from any of Srila Prabhupada's works such as the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Caitanya-Caritamrta! This Windows-based word processor, which is now at version 4.00, was initially created in 1990 for DOS. Currently, it supports Windows 3.x, Windows '95, and Windows NT. It uses TrueType fonts so you can easily copy items from this word processor into MS-Word, AMI-Pro, and other word processors. It also allows exporting files to RTF.

This word processor is currently being used by State Bank of India, some Indian film producers, some foreign language magazine and newspaper publishers. To order, see www.krishnasoft.com. Mention "VNN" to get an additional 10% off.