This is a quick solution for the problem of "Garbled Japanese text" on the ProZ forums.

I've noticed that posters using Japanese make posts using four different encoding schemes

-Shift-JIS
-Japanese (EUC)
-Simplified Chinese (GB18030)
-Chinese Simplified (GB2417)

Japanese text encoded using a scheme different from your browser's setting will appear garbled until you change the setting. Fortunately, in Internet Explorer at least, this is very easy to do.

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HOW TO CHANGE ENCODING IN YOUR BROWSER -
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1. In IE, click "View" -> "Encoding" -> and select one of the four schemes I've listed above. If they aren't shown, click the "More" menu and find them there. If they don't appear on the "More" menu, stay tuned and I'll explain below.

2. After selecting an encoding scheme, the page should reload. If the text still doesn't make any sense, try a different encoding. After a few tries you should get something that makes sense.

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"But I don't have the proper languages on the "More" menu! Help!"
***

If the languages don't appear on your menu, you don't have them installed on your computer. Here's how you install Asian languages in Windows XP:

1. Open "My Computer"

2. In My Computer open "Control Panel"

3. In Control Panel open "Regional and
Language Options"

4. Click the "Languages" tab

5. In the "Supplemental Language Support" block, check "Install files for East Asian Languages" if it is unchecked. At this point Windows will install some files and may ask fo your CD. If it asks you to restart, go ahead and do so then begin again at step 6. If the box is checked go to 6.

6. Click the "Advanced" tab

7. In the "Code page conversion tables" area, make sure that any Japanese or Chinese related blocks are checked.

8. Click "ok"

Windows may go through and install some more files then ask you to restart. You should now be able to flip through your encodings whenever you're confronted with jibber-jabber Japanese on ProZ.

[This is a post I originally made in the Japanese forum (http://www.proz.com/topic/11779?post_id=138814), however, I still see people who use Kudoz that don't read the forums asking about this.]