An input locale specifies the keyboard layout of a particular language. You can set an input locale on a Windows machine to type characters of a specific language.
You can use the Windows Input Method Editor (IME) to enter multibyte characters from any language without having to run the version of Windows specific for that language. For example, if you are working on an English operating system and need to enter text in Chinese, you can use IME to set the input locale to Chinese without having to install the Chinese version of Windows. You might want to use an input method editor to enter multibyte characters into a PowerCenter repository that uses UTF-8.