Systems and methods to process and correct spelling errors for non-Roman based words such as in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages using a rule-based classifier and a hidden Markov model are disclosed. The method generally includes converting an input entry in a first language such as Chinese to at least one intermediate entry in an intermediate representation, such as pinyin, different from the first language, converting the intermediate entry to at least one possible alternative spelling or form of the input in the first language, and determining that the input entry is either a correct or questionable input entry when a match between the input entry and all possible alternative spellings to the input entry is or is not located, respectively. The questionable input entry may be classified using, for example, a transformation rule based classifier based on transformation rules generated by a transformation rules generator.