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Viewing How to Type Foreign Language Characters on Your KeyboardHow to Type Foreign Language Characters on Your Keyboard
By Kathy Steinemann
Many foreign languages use characters you will not see on the typical English keyboard. Various applications provide unique ways to recreate them - or might recommend copying and pasting from the Windows Characters Map, employing ALT-number key sequences, or switching your keyboard language. Unfortunately, most methods require an inordinate amount of memorization or take a lot of time to implement. This article presents an easier way! Foreign language students and professional translators alike will benefit from the information presented here. The first step is to locate a macro program for your computer. Windows used to come with a utility called "Recorder" back in the Windows 3.11 days. However, Microsoft phased it out with newer versions of its operating system. To be honest, it wasn't very robust anyway. Nowadays there are hundreds of freeware and shareware macro programs. These timesaving utilities allow you to use shortcut keys to perform repetitive tasks and keystrokes. I have used Hot Keyboard (from hot-keyboard.com) for years. It is not free, but it is an excellent program with more features than most people will ever use. In order to make my own foreign language activities easier, I developed a series of macros that requires very little memorization. By learning five different keystroke combinations, I am able to type all the letters of the German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish alphabets - without switching keyboard layouts. This article will not provide specific information on how to run any particular macro program. Instead, it gives you a suggested layout for producing foreign language characters that is logical and easy to learn. Letters with Grave Accents: • À à È è Ù ù Create lower case characters by using CTRL-SHIFT-(letter) and upper case characters with CTRL-SHIFT-(letter above lower case letter). For example, à = CTRL-SHIFT-a and À = CTRL-SHIFT-Q. Letters with Acute Accents: • Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú Create lower case characters by using ALT-SHIFT-(letter) and upper case characters with ALT-SHIFT-(letter above lower case letter). For example, á = ALT-SHIFT-a and Á = ALT-SHIFT-Q. Letters with Circumflex Accents: •  â Ê ê Î î Ô ô Û û Create lower case characters with WIN-ALT-(letter) and upper case characters with WIN-ALT-(letter above lower case letter). For example, â = WIN-ALT-a and  = WIN-ALT-Q. Letters with Umlauts and Quotation Marks: • Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ü ü Ÿ ÿ ‚ ‘ „ “ « » Create lower case characters with CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-(letter) and upper case characters with CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-(letter above lower case letter). For example, ä = CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-a and Ä = CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-Q. The logic for the various quotation marks should become clear when you look at your keyboard. Letters with Cedilla or Tilde Accents: • Ç ç Ñ ñ Create lower case characters with CTRL-WIN-ALT-(letter) and upper case characters with CTRL-WIN-ALT-(letter above lower case letter). For example, ç = CTRL-WIN-ALT-c and Ç = CTRL-WIN-ALT-D. This means that you only need to learn five different key combinations: • CTRL-SHIFT for letters with grave accents • ALT-SHIFT for letters with acute accents • WIN-ALT for letters with circumflex accents • CTRL-SHIFT-ALT for letters with umlauts • CTRL-WIN-ALT for letters with cedilla and tilde accents Tip: Create a post-it note with the following information and place it where it is easy to see while you type: ‘ = CTRL-SHIFT ’ = ALT-SHIFT ^ = WIN-ALT ¨" = CTRL-SHIFT-ALT ~¸ = CTRL-WIN-ALT The Complete List: à - CTRL-SHIFT-a À - CTRL-SHIFT-Q á - ALT-SHIFT-a Á - ALT-SHIFT-Q â - WIN-ALT-a  - WIN-ALT-Q ä - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-a Ä - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-Q ç - CTRL-WIN-ALT-c Ç - CTRL-WIN-ALT-D è - CTRL-SHIFT-e È - CTRL-SHIFT-3 é - ALT-SHIFT-e É - ALT-SHIFT-3 ê - WIN-ALT-e Ê - WIN-ALT-3 ë - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-e Ë - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-3 í - ALT-SHIFT-i Í - ALT-SHIFT-8 î - WIN-ALT-i Î - WIN-ALT-8 ï - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-i Ï - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-8 ñ - CTRL-WIN-ALT-n Ñ - CTRL-WIN-ALT-H ó - ALT-SHIFT-o Ó - ALT-SHIFT-9 ô - WIN-ALT-o Ô - WIN-ALT-9 ö - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-o Ö - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-9 œ - CTRL-WIN-ALT-o Œ - CTRL-WIN-ALT-9 ß - CTRL-WIN-ALT-S ù - CTRL-SHIFT-u Ù - CTRL-SHIFT-7 ú - ALT-SHIFT-u Ú - ALT-SHIFT-7 û - WIN-ALT-u Û - WIN-ALT-7 ü - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-u Ü - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-7 ÿ - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-y Ÿ - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-6 ‚ - L B quote - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-[ ‘ - R U quote - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-] „ - L B quote CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-; “ - R U quote CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-' « - angle quote - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-< » - angle quote - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-> (c) Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author's note below (with active links) are included. About the Author: Kathy has written a book about learning foreign languages, with hundreds of tips, ideas, and free Internet resources. The free resources alone will save you many times the book's cost. Be sure to visit her site, A-Language-Guide.com as well, for language tips and articles by other authors. Article Source: A Language Guide - http://www.a-language-guide.com More free articles: 1st Rate Articles - 1stRateArticles.com |
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