My Plan To Get Started...

[sayyes]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post and I knew nothing about IDNs 20 minutes ago, but I've been poking around and this is all very interesting!

I'd like to get started, but before I do I'd like your advice on my plans...

1. When I look at many of the domains listed here, I see ???.com. I'm guessing this is because I don't have the correct character set installed in my browser. That's the first thing I need to do.

2. Once I'm able to actually see the characters, I'm going to go to Google Translator and get some good Chinese/Japanese phrases.

(and this is where it starts getting a little hazy...)

3. I need to find a punycode converter where I can enter the Chinese/Japanese phrases I got out of G Translator and get the punycode.

4. I then go to a registrar that supports IDNs and grab my domains!

Anybody see anything wrong with this?

[thefabfive]

You've got the first step right in coming here.

Second step is to install all the fonts you can so that you can see all the languages out there.

There are many dictionaries and online translators that are probably better than Google. Just do a search for the specific language and 'dictionary' or 'translator' and you should be able to find a few websites. Check them out and make sure you're comfortable with the information they're giving you.

Now, you don't need a punycode converter. Many registrars accept the input of unicode characters and do the punycode convertion internally - Domainsite.com is my favorite, but there is also Enom, Idotz.net, dd24.net, Dynadot, and others.

Before you go registering words you got from some dictionary, check the words out. Do a Google search on them - make sure they have a good number of search results. Check the images associated with the words on Google - make sure it's what you think it is. Check Overture - some languages have their own Overture tool (like Korean, Japanese, French, German). Some you can use US Overture.

The key is to do enough research to feel comfortable that the word you have is what you think it is AND that it is used in that language.

Take some time and read about all the tools available for researching IDNs - then get to work.

Good luck.

[thegenius1]

Yes there are definetly way better translators than google , but just a piece of advice that will save you some money early in this game is to Register @ Dynadot.com because they allow you to delete domains up to 5 days ... that way you can registar and if you find out it doesnt mean what you thought you can get your money back :)

[OldIDNer]

Sounds good. Most font/character problems can be resolved in Windows via the control panel/date time language and regional options/ add other languages/languages/select those two on the bottom, install (press ok), restart. That should take care of east asian/thai languages.

You'll also of course need an IDN enabled browser. You can use the firefox browser or the new IE7 beta browser, which is truly IDN enabled in that it resolves Unicode IDNs. Alternatively, you can simply download a plugin from verisign to enable other browsers like IE6.

Many registrars can accept IDNs inputed in Unicode form however I would still look up the punycode just so that you can double check that it's matching what you are registering at an IDN enabled registrar (they often show the punycode) and you will need it for anything not IDN enabled like hosting, the verisign whois or a registrar that only accepts Punycode.

The main thing is to research, research, research - use all the tools like overture, dictionaries and translators, foreign language search engines and tricks like checking out words found in wikipedia and in foreign language directories. You have to play detective. It's work. A lot of stuff has already been registered. You might want to explore expiring IDNs too.

Good Luck!

[blastfromthepast]

A fairly comprehensive punycode converter can be found here:
http://www-950.ibm.com/software/globalization/icu/demo/domain?t=xn--vus&x=24&y=11/

See this thread for fonts:
http://www.idnforums.com/forums/1356-installing-language-support.html?highlight=Arial

Install this BIG Arial Unicode MS font (includes most charactersets in one font):
Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial_Unicode_MS

http://www.thinkgeek.co.uk/~spectre/Arialuni.TTF (Right click on the link and save as...)

Then install individual fonts as needed, see this page for a guide:
http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts.html

Japanese dictionary:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

Read up on how Japanese and Chinese language is used before you start registering!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character

[OldIDNer]

Chinese dictionary:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddictbasic