[TonyAhn]

I write in two languages simultaneously (English and Filipino) and it is customary to switch between them in the middle of sentences. The spell checker/predictive text goes haywire when I type in Filipino. I can't seem to figure out how to add that dictionary to the mix, and having to enter each word one at a time as I type them is a pain. Is there a way I can have it do English and Filipino at the same time? I don't need the keyboard to change, just the spell checker, really.

[N4Newbie]

Settings -> Language & input -> Android keyboard (tap the settings icon just to the right) -> Input languages. Select as many as you want.

Now, open any app which uses a keyboard, such as Messaging. Pop the keyboard and you will see that the spacebar now indicates the current language setting, for example, "English (US)". Look just to the left of the spacebar for a button with a world map icon. Tap it once to instantly switch to an alternate language (mine is Italiano). If you have just the two languages setup, tapping the world icon will swap between them; if you have more than two, it will cycle through them. You can also tap/hold the world map icon for a different method of choosing.

Normally, each time you switch language, the spellcheck dictionary changes as well. However, I don't see a Filipino language dictionary available for download, so not sure how this might work. Settings -> Language & Input -> Add-on Dictionaries

[KwietStorm]

Sort of on topic, is there any way to force the dictionary to accept whatever word you want to add?

[N4Newbie]

In the example below, I typed out: t-e-s-t-r:



Note that if I now hit the spacebar or any punctuation mark, Testr will be replaced by the suggesteed word in blue at the center of the screen just above the keyboard: Tester. However, if I tap the word in blue on the left (which is the spelling I actually want), this happens:



Not only does it accept Testr as the desired word, but it gives me the opportunity to permanently save it to the dictionary ("Touch again to save").

Alternatively, go to Settings -> Language & Input -> Personal Dictionary and add words til your heart's content.

[teleclimber]

TonyAhn: I use Swiftkey 3 to type in both French and English. The advantage is that you don't need to manually change the keyboard language all the time. It just accepts any word from any of your selected languages, and corrects to the closest match. The only annoyance is that Android still highlights the French words with a red underline because it thinks it's misspelled, but it's just cosmetic, it doesn't affect typing at all. (I just installed the French language dictionary as explained above but it didn't seem to help.) Other than that Swiftkey has been great for bilingual typing.

[royalpig180]

TonyAhn: I use Swiftkey 3 to type in both French and English. The advantage is that you don't need to manually change the keyboard language all the time. It just accepts any word from any of your selected languages, and corrects to the closest match. The only annoyance is that Android still highlights the French words with a red underline because it thinks it's misspelled, but it's just cosmetic, it doesn't affect typing at all. (I just installed the French language dictionary as explained above but it didn't seem to help.) Other than that Swiftkey has been great for bilingual typing.

Same here. I've been trying to get the stock spellchecker to recognize french, but I suspect it can only do one language at a time.

I think just disabling the spellchecker may work best. Swiftkey is spellchecker enough for me.

Sent from my Nexus 4

[fsnajafali]

How do you add that suggested word in blue?

[Ben Favored Son]

I use OKeyboard which is a small-sized keyboard unlike other keyboards that take up double digit mbs in space. OKeyboard is less than 1mb and the dictionary plugins are also code optimized which is the way to go now, not only storage space issues but efficiency and speed. I downloded OKeyboard, with English and Tagalog dictionary plugins PLUS Autotext/AutoNext (you'll want this awesome plugin !) and the total size of all app/plugins mentioned is still less than 1mb !!! So its fast when it needs to be fast and doesn't lack in features and highly highly configurable and customizable. I mainly use it for gesture and swiping (I set gesture sensitivity to 60%) features and it works great.

Another thing I discovered is that the Filipino dictionary plugin is the best I've come across. I can understand your gripe about having English and Filipino dictionaries separately yet want to make them both work together. Depending on what language you lean more to, use that dictionary and make it bilingual. This is what I did with OKeyboard (or some call it MultiLing Keyboard). Most probably like you, I'm more comfortable with English and then interspersed with Tagalog here and there then maybe later more Tagalog then back to English again. So I now use only English as it would indicate on the space bar of OKeyboard, but my User Dictionary is filled (!!) with Tagalog words from Aparri to Davao, from Boracay and back to Makati. If you can train your keyboard dictionary to accept this, do it. And with Autotext/AutoNext enabled in OKeyboard, I end up almost "picking" words from the suggestion bar most of the time rather than typing them. Come to think about it, as I realized, that I kept texting the same things, the same words, with almost anybody in my contact list over and over with only two main differences. The same words are used for ❶ friends and relatives and same words/terms for ❷ business contacts. I wish there was a bilingual dictionary for Filipinos (English and Filipino), but creating one for yourself is quite easy, surprisingly, as I found out using OKeyboard.

You will realize later that making your User Dictionary bilingual is the way to go to avoid any conflict with spell checker. It doesn't matter how aggressive your spell checker is so long as your User Dictionary has all the Tagalog words you frequently use. Though I have to mention no one really likes an aggressive spell checker. I actually disabled it in my phone.