A bilingual iOS keyboard for two languages at once
iOS lets you install as many keyboards as you like and use one at a time. If you write in two languages inside the same message, that sentence is the whole problem.
This page is about what to look for. It applies to any keyboard on the App Store, including the one Apple ships.
One keyboard, one language.
Every keyboard on iPhone has an active language, and autocorrect follows it. Type a Slovak word while English is active and the keyboard treats it as a typo, because from where it stands it is one. The globe key fixes that by making you press it.
Apple's keyboard does keep more than one dictionary open, and for some pairs it holds up. It also decides for you, and when it decides wrong you get an English word sitting in the middle of a Slovak sentence.
Multilingual means two things.
Most keyboards that advertise multilingual typing mean you can install several languages and move between them. That is a menu. The thing worth looking for is whether both dictionaries get consulted for the same sentence, word by word, with no switch in between.
Test it with one message.
Write a real message to a real person, in your real mix, and put a name in it. Then watch whether the second language survives to the end of the line.
Names are where most keyboards give up. A keyboard that does not know your friend is called Zuzana will correct her into something else every time, and you will spend more time undoing that than the correction ever saved you.
Where EFKey fits.
EFKey corrects two languages at the same time, in the middle of a sentence, with the globe key untouched. Type dakujem dont worry and you get Ďakujem don't worry. It reads up to three words of context, so the language is chosen by what you are saying and not by a setting you forgot to change.
There are 74 languages. Turn multilingual off and you can keep five of them ready and move between them by holding 123. Diacritics come back as you type: vecer becomes večer and perche becomes perché. Names are covered by a list of 1 904 of them across 17 languages.
Where it does not.
Two is the ceiling for simultaneous correction. Put three languages in one sentence and one of them loses.
Of the 74 languages, 26 have been read over by a native speaker and 48 are in beta. Beta means the language works and nobody has checked it. And on the first day prediction is generic, because EFKey starts from public word lists rather than years of watching you type. It takes about three days to catch up.
Quick answers.
Do I have to press the globe key?
No. Both languages are corrected in the same sentence, so there is nothing to switch.
Can I have three languages at once?
Not corrected at once. Two is the limit for simultaneous correction, and you can keep five installed and hold 123 to move between them.
Does my typing go somewhere to be worked out?
No. Correction and prediction run on the phone. There is no EFKey server to send them to.
Keep reading.
Ready when you are.
One conversation is enough to tell.
