homophonic keyboards in use abroad?

[Kevin Hawkins]

Thanks to all who have provided feedback on my preprint on multilingual computing in Cyrillic.

One question to those who have used computers in Russia recently: have you found homophonic ("phonetic" or "transliterated") keyboard layouts in use outside the US -- that is, a layout in which non-Latin characters are arranged similar to on the standard QWERTY keyboard?  One person commented thought he used a homophonic layout in Internet cafes in Petersburg, but I don't remember ever seeing this last time I was there.

So, have you ever used or heard of people using homophonic layouts abroad?  If so, where?  Were they available instead of the standard national layout or in addition?  Do you by chance know the exact homophonic layout in use?

I appreciate as much or little detail as you may know.  Specifics aren't critical for the paper -- I'm more interested in knowing how common homophonic layouts are as a whole.

Please reply to me off list.  I'll post a revised preprint of my article, addressing this issue and including other revisions, when I finish it.

Thanks.

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