Finally, a solution.  I must have right-clicked an de-selected the language toolbar 50 times.  You'd think I'd lose patience waaaay before this and look for an actual answer. 

http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/144689.html

In case that link becomes unavailable, the answer is in Control Panel>Languages and Regional Settings.  Look around in there for the 'load language bar on startup' checkbox (that's paraphrased)...