15. A system for translating user input into at least one word having multiple characters, the system comprising: a display configured to display a keyboard, wherein the keyboard comprises multiple character indicators; an input device configured to receive a sequence of user inputs; one or more processors; and a memory; wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: encode the sequence of user inputs into a sequence of discrete input directions by selecting, from a set of predetermined primary directions, a discrete direction most closely matching, or exactly matching, each user input; and identify, using the sequence of user inputs, at least one word in a stored dictionary, by matching the sequence of discrete input directions to one or more patterns corresponding to words stored in the dictionary; wherein each of the one or more patterns corresponding to a word specifies a relative directional relationship between; A) a position or area of the keyboard associated with a first character of a pair of sequential characters in the word corresponding to that pattern, and a position or area of the keyboard associated with a second character of the pair of sequential characters; and wherein matching the sequence of discrete input directions to the one or more patterns comprises finding matches between: items in the sequence of discrete input directions, and items in the sequence of discrete directions corresponding to each of the one or more patterns.
15. A system for translating user input into at least one word having multiple characters, the system comprising: a display configured to display a keyboard, wherein the keyboard comprises multiple character indicators; an input device configured to receive a sequence of user inputs; one or more processors; and a memory; wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: encode the sequence of user inputs into a sequence of discrete input directions by selecting, from a set of predetermined primary directions, a discrete direction most closely matching, or exactly matching, each user input; and identify, using the sequence of user inputs, at least one word in a stored dictionary, by matching the sequence of discrete input directions to one or more patterns corresponding to words stored in the dictionary; wherein each of the one or more patterns corresponding to a word specifies a relative directional relationship between; A) a position or area of the keyboard associated with a first character of a pair of sequential characters in the word corresponding to that pattern, and a position or area of the keyboard associated with a second character of the pair of sequential characters; and wherein matching the sequence of discrete input directions to the one or more patterns comprises finding matches between: items in the sequence of discrete input directions, and items in the sequence of discrete directions corresponding to each of the one or more patterns. 20. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the characters in the at least one word is not independently discernable from a corresponding user input without reference to the previous user inputs in the sequence of user inputs.