Search Suggestion Enhancements for Yahoo! Taiwan and Yahoo! Hong Kong

We’ve enhanced search suggestion in Web search for Yahoo! Taiwan (Yahoo! Kimo) and Yahoo! Hong Kong. This feature helps users easily enter queries in traditional Chinese in the search box using Changjie and Cantonese Pinyin, which are language input systems used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively.

Instead of having to switch the language input method from English mode to Chinese mode, taking several clicks, this new search suggestion feature allows users to enter the phonetic representation of a Chinese query while still in English mode. This saves key strokes and makes using Yahoo! Search more convenient for our Chinese-language users.

For example, to search for “Shanghai World’s Fair,” searchers can start typing the Cantonese spelling of the query while in English mode and see search suggestion in traditional Chinese.

In February, we made this enhancement with the Zhuyin system in Taiwan. The Zhuyin and Changjie systems are now available in Search Assist for Yahoo! Taiwan users. The Changjie and Cantonese Pinyin systems are available in Search Assist for Yahoo! Hong Kong users.

With today’s enhancement, we are continuing our focus on the needs of international markets and features that are useful for non-English users.

James Ying, Product Manager, Yahoo! Search