Things to know about Nepali
Nepali is primarily spoken in Nepal, where it is the official language. It is also used in parts of Bhutan and India.
If your Nepali lessons require you to type Nepali characters, follow the instructions immediately below to do so. If your lessons use transliterated Nepali, see the Using Transliterated Nepali Lessons section further down.
Using Nepali Lessons
Nepali is written in the same Devanagari alphabet used by Hindi. This writing system consists of a syllabic alphabet that is very different from the English alphabet. In the Nepali alphabet, all consonants have an inherent vowel sound, although special diacritic marks can be used to change the default sound. There are separate characters that can be used to write the vowels independently and a large assortment of special conjunct characters that can be used to write consonant clusters.
There are no uppercase or lowercase forms for Nepali letters. The Nepali language is written from left to right, like English. Most Nepali letters have at least a partial bar at the top, which connects to the other letters in a word.
Typing Basic Vowels and Consonants
You can use the virtual keyboard to type Nepali characters. Each of the basic vowels and consonants can be typed directly from the keyboard. To type one of these characters, locate the character on the virtual keyboard, then press the corresponding key on your keyboard or use your mouse to click on the virtual keyboard on the screen. If you do not immediately see the character you want, try holding down the Shift key to see an additional set of characters.
Typing Vowel Diacritic Marks and Modifier Symbols
In addition to stand-alone vowels and consonants, the virtual keyboard also shows vowel diacritic marks and special modifier symbols. These characters are shown with a dotted circle that indicates the position of the base character relative to the diacritic or modifier. To type a diacritic or a modifier along with a Nepali character, press the key for the base character first, then press the key for the diacritic mark. You may need to hold down the Shift key to see some of the diacritics and modifiers.
Typing Nepali Numerals
You can find the Nepali numerals on the top row of the virtual keyboard when you hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys at the same time.
Typing Punctuation Marks
You can find punctuation marks on the virtual keyboard, too. For example, the Nepali period, which looks like a vertical line, appears on the period key when you hold down the Shift key. The question mark is available by holding down the Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys at the same time, then pressing the ? key.
Typing Conjunct Characters (Consonant Clusters)
In Nepali, when two or more consonants form part of a consonant cluster, they are written using special conjunct characters. There are many conjunct characters in Nepali. Typing these characters is perhaps the trickiest part of typing in Nepali, but as you learn to do so, you will also be learning the valuable skill of recognizing and reading these common characters.
To type a consonant cluster, start by typing the first consonant, then type the 
symbol, which indicates the removal of the consonant's inherent vowel sound. This symbol is associated with the d key on the keyboard. You will see the appear under the first consonant. Next, type the second consonant. The first consonant and the will be replaced by the correct conjunct form for the two consonants. If you need to add a third consonant to the cluster, press the d key to add another , then press the key for the third consonant. Again, the correct conjunct form for the cluster will appear.
The tricky part is recognizing which consonants make up a cluster, as the combination may not always be obvious from the conjunct form. Listen carefully to the sound of that character to determine the consonants included in it, look to see which keys would be used to type those individual characters, then type the conjunct character according to the instructions above. Note that the application may not allow you to combine characters that are never used together in Nepali.
If you want to learn Nepali without having to type the Nepali characters, you can concentrate on the activities which do not require typing. Alternatively, you can use transliterated Nepali lists instead.
Using Transliterated Nepali Lessons
Some of the Nepali lessons in this application are transliterated - written with the letters of the Latin alphabet. Transliterated lessons can help you master vocabulary and pronunciation before tackling a new writing system.
You do not have to type actual Nepali characters in transliterated Nepali lessons. You can type the transliterations in any activity or assessment that requires typed answers. Transliterated Nepali does not require any special characters.