Use/switch between 3 different languages

[nyuwa43]

Good evening laydies and gentlemen
I am trying now for over a year (on and off) to "get friendly" with Linux, hoping that it would enable me to get away from Microsoft. So far with little succes.
**ALL** I want to do, is basically use word processors and dictionaries to do my work (translation).

Question: I need to be able to use 3 languages: English, German, Japanese.
I would like to be able to switch between languages, keyboard layouts with one simple hot key combination.
I do have a large number of (specialized) dictionaries for Windows. Is there a way I can use those under Linux?
And - 99.8% of the files translation agencies send me are Windows files. What elegant ways are there (if any) to use, edit, translate etc. those files in Linux and still send those companies at the end Windows (compatible) files.

All the rest of what can/could be done using Linux (or Windows for that matter) is rather unimportant for me. I want to work with the languages given above. Everything else should be as simple and light-weight as possible.

I know, my question itself is stupid - so am I, because it has already taken me over a year - but I would appreciate pointers into a direction, where even a computer illierate like myself could learn to manage linux.

Thank you in advance.

[micia]

I personally don't know how to switch between languages, do you mean on your keyboard or on
your system?

Which file do you receive? Are they doc files? If so OpenOffice should handle them properly,
there are a lot of useful office suites on Linux, you should try them, they should all be
available under entropy, the Sabayon package management system.
My favourites are OpenOffice and Lyx (but this is for LaTeX).

As for dictionary software there are some on Linux, but I don't know them very well,
I know about stardict but I never really used these softwares, maybe someone more
informed than I am will help you on it

[Fitzcarraldo]

OpenOffice allows you to type in many languages, including the three you mention. The OpenOffice Extensions Repository Web page shows that there are OpenOffice spelling dictionaries for English and German languages, but not Japanese. I do not use OpenOffice in Japanese, but from what I have read the support is good. You can also buy Japanese word processors for Linux or which work in Linux using the Wine* application (e.g. NJStar Japanese Word Processor). However, I am no expert in the use of OpenOffice with Japanese so cannot comment further. I think you need to do some Googling. (* Wine is an application that enables many, but not all, Microsoft Windows applications to run in Linux.)

Switching between languages/keyboards is very easy. You can define the key sequence you want but the default with KDE is Ctrl-Alt-k. I switch between three language keyboard layouts all the time. Also, it is easy to use SCIM (Smart Common Input Method) or similar with Linux, and this also supports Japanese.

When you say you have specialised dictionaries for Windows, do you mean stand-alone dictionaries, or dictionaries for Microsoft Word? If they are stand-alone, it may be possible to use them via the Wine application which allows people to run some Windows applications in Linux. This works with many, but by no means all, Windows applications. Again you need to do some Googling using the name of your stand-alone dictionary plus "Linux". If you mean dictionaries that are part of Microsoft Word, it is possible to run Microsoft Word under Linux using either Wine (works with most, but not all versions of Word) or the commercial version of Wine "CrossOver Office" (which even supports Office 2007).

Linux is popular in Japan, so you could also try asking on a Japanese Linux site. Again, some Googling will be necessary.