Quick how-to for those wanting to know.
Under Ubuntu system settings click on “Language Support”:
Under the “Language” tab in the window that appears go to the “Keyboard input method system:” drop down list, and select ibus:
Log out of the computer and log back in. You should now observe the presence of a keyboard input method icon in the system status area:
Click on this, and from the menu that appears select “Preferences”:
In the window that appears, click on the “Input Method” tab:
Now, enable the “Customize active input methods” setting. From the drop down list select “Chinese” -> “Pinyin”, then click on the “Add” button:
Now open an application – in this example we are using Firefox. Go to the keyboard input method icon, and from the drop-down list that appears select “Chinese – Pinyin”:
The keybord method input icon should change accordingly, and now typed text should reflect the language:
