Or would I actually have to know how to speak the language itself? I wanted to email a friend who is half chinese, but didn't know if that was possible. Thanks gang.
If you're on Windows, you just have to enable the Chinese characters, I think. You may have to do something with your email program, too, depending on what program it is.
Of course, then you have to know how to make the characters using your keyboard.
Or just go to a translation site and copy and paste.