switch input (language) quick with keyboard

Question

I am a Taiwanese and study in France now. My major requires read and write in English.

I get a iMac with 10.6 on it. It really bothers me to switch between these 3 input languages with mouse.

Is there any, easy and reliable, way to switch with keyboard? Applications, scripts or official Apple tricks are all appreciated if it works fine.

Thanks to Patrix and Lizzan. It is good to know this setting. I tried that solution and it works fine. But I want to (if it is possible) have a shortcut for each input, so I don't have to pay attention to which input source is selected. (If I have only 2 language concerned, it works perfect. But I use 3 input language.) However, that solution is good enough, I just want to know if there is a "perfect" solution.

Answer 1

In Preferences, go to Keyboard, select the second tab and then "Keyboard and Text Input" (or similar). The key combinations to switch Input Sources should be shown on the right (and may need to be re-assigned because the default assignment conflicts with Spotlight).

Answer 2

To get different shortcuts for each input source, save something like this as private.xml in KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<item>
<name>test</name>
<identifier>private.test</identifier>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F1, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_ENGLISH</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F2, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_CHINESE_TRADITIONAL</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F3, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_FRENCH</autogen>
</item>
</root>

⌥E would be KeyCode::E, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE. The input source names are defined in inputsourcedef.xml. KeyCode::JIS_KANA also changes to Japanese and KeyCode::JIS_EISUU changes to English even if you don't have a Japanese keyboard.

Answer 3

Under System Preferences -> Language & Text -> Input Sources, you can set your own keyboard shortcuts for switching between keyboard layouts.