kubuntu input method

You may want to take a look here: http://code.google.com/p/ibus/wiki

 sudo apt-get update 
 sudo apt-get install ibus-gtk ibus-qt4 ibus-pinyin ibus-pinyin-db-open-phrase  

I have also installed packages for ibus-chewing - as I noticed the name of chapter on ibus site

then

 im-switch -s ibus

Logout and re-login

works like a charm :) good luck!