Writing foreign letters

[Yellow Fang]

I was reading a bit of H P Lovecraft today, who spelt aëroplane and aërial with those funny dots over the e's. Then there are names like Zoë and the Brontë Sisters. I can never remember what the keystrokes are. There's more than one way of doing it. Usually when I want to write a letter with an accent or a diaresis, I either have to find the Windows utility, or I open a word processor, insert the foreign letter and copy and paste it across. Once I modified my own keyboard layout, in which I also replaced that funny symbol on the top left key with the ° symbol, but I don't recommend it. Every time my operating system updated it overwrote the keyboard file.

 

[slowmotion]

You need a list of ALT codes next to your keyboard. You'll be able to umlaut away to your heart's content.

https://usefulshortcuts.com/alt-codes/accents-alt-codes.php

Edit: this link is better...
https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Another way of doing it is to install a second keyboard. I tend to use the US International layout as default. It's easy for doing French and German accents, though the £ sign disappears. On a Windows PC, you can toggle between the standard UK and International layout using the Windows key + space.

 

[figbat]

You need a list of ALT codes next to your keyboard. You'll be able to umlaut away to your heart's content.

https://usefulshortcuts.com/alt-codes/accents-alt-codes.php

Edit: this link is better...
https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html

I have a handy little chart of the Alt codes on my PC desktop, although I have memorised my most commonly-used ones.

This thread has interested me though as it piqued my interest and I looked up the use of diareses in words such as aëroplane and aërial (archaic spellings and pronunciations) and also the reason for the spelling of Brontë. Thanks!

 

[Drago]

Don't forget Spinal Tap!

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I work for an American company and the laptop they issued me only speaks American. It has a Dollar key but no Pound or Euro. That's more annoying than you ever thought it might be when you're having to quote costs in Europe!

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I work for an American company and the laptop they issued me only speaks American. It has a Dollar key but no Pound or Euro. That's more annoying than you ever thought it might be when you're having to quote costs in Europe!

Are you sure that you can't install a more suitable keyboard? There's loads of them pre-loaded but not active.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Blimey - you live and learn:-

"The diaeresis[a] (/daɪˈɛriːsɪs/ dy-ERR-ee-sis; also known as the trémahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic)#cite_note-2) and the umlaut are two different homoglyphic diacritical marks. They both consist of two dots ( ¨ ) placed over a letter, usually a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï.[1]
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics marking two distinct phonological phenomena. The diaeresis represents the phenomenon also known as diaeresis or hiatus in which a vowel letter is pronounced separately from an adjacent vowel and not as part of a digraph or diphthong. The umlaut (/ˈʊmlaʊt/), in contrast, indicates a sound shift. "

 

[Alien8]

There's a different forum if you're having trouble with french letters.

 

[winjim]

Blimey - you live and learn:-

"The diaeresis[a] (/daɪˈɛriːsɪs/ dy-ERR-ee-sis; also known as the trémahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic)#cite_note-2) and the umlaut are two different homoglyphic diacritical marks. They both consist of two dots ( ¨ ) placed over a letter, usually a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï.[1]
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics marking two distinct phonological phenomena. The diaeresis represents the phenomenon also known as diaeresis or hiatus in which a vowel letter is pronounced separately from an adjacent vowel and not as part of a digraph or diphthong. The umlaut (/ˈʊmlaʊt/), in contrast, indicates a sound shift. "

If you've got diaeresis where your tittle should be, you should probably see a doctor.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I have frigged /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/gb to replace the NOT symbol with ° and to make ë accessible by pressing the e and Alt Gr keys together. However, I don't recommend this method, because if you screw it up your keyboard might not work.

 

[pjd57]

There's a different forum if you're having trouble with french letters.

Back in the 90's when I was studying French I had a digital typewriter ( one line display window ) which was QWERTY not AZERTY
I managed to get a replacement daisywheel (?) which had the appropriate accent markings, but I had to try all the various options to find how to type them.
It was easier to just print work out without them then pencil them in and photocopy the amended version

 

[Yellow Fang]

I have a handy little chart of the Alt codes on my PC desktop, although I have memorised my most commonly-used ones.

This thread has interested me though as it piqued my interest and I looked up the use of diareses in words such as aëroplane and aërial (archaic spellings and pronunciations) and also the reason for the spelling of Brontë. Thanks!

You say archaic, but that's how I'm going to spell them from now on. I wonder what the archaic pronunciation of aëroplane and aërial was.

 

[Ridgeway]

Get a Swiss keyboard, we have 3 languages with all relevant accents already on the main keys, plus the usual English language.

Turkish throws up some interesting accents, have to copy paste those usually.

 

[figbat]

You say archaic, but that's how I'm going to spell them from now on. I wonder what the archaic pronunciation of aëroplane and aërial was.

Apparently they were pronounced with the hiatus.
Which brings us to Citröen... it isn’t a “sitrun”.