Typing in Spanish . . ?

¿ Yo tengo una pregunta? Who on here types using Spanish Characters? you know … these characters ¡¿áéóú etc. You can accomplish this by using the U.S. International keyboard layout. I was wondering how many of you would use a small piece of software that created a small “always on top” dialog box that allowed you to just point and click on the specail character you needed. That character would then be automatically populated into whatever you were working on. This would eliminate the need to memorize the keystroke combinations on the keyboard layout. Please post some comments with your thoughts. Cory Hughes http://www.AccessToSpanish.com http://www.SpanishLearningBlog.com

Hola, Cory. I've replied to another message about typing Spanish characters here: *__http://www.rocketlanguages.com/spanish/bb/viewtopic.php?t=165__* As I point out there, I don't use a different keyboard; I've simply memorized the ALT + 4 digit combinations for the relatively few Spanish keys I need: e.g., ALT + 0233 produces é, ALT + 0241 = ñ, etc. I find I can do this pretty easily by now, so I haven't felt the need for another method. On my laptop, however, where it's not so easy to use this method, I use a freeware program call AllChars, which is probably even easier to use than ALT+4. In the URL I provided above, you can find a link to information about ALT+4 and also a link to the AllChars program. The advantage of the ALT+4 method is that I can use it on any desktop computer--I don't have to have a special program or keyboard installed.

cchughes: Your idea sounds really good to me. I've tried the ALT + method suggested by nohablo, but it does not work for me. However, the other suggestion made by nohablo (AllChars) works well. Claude

When using Word, I've just created short cuts where "alt ?" will give me an upside down question mark, "alt n" and n with a tidle, etc. Unfortunately, while easy to set up in Word, it doesn't carry over to your email or websites. When you first use one of these Spanish characters, insert it as a symbol, and while doing so, create the short cut.

[quo]*Quote from * ivanlare When using Word, I've just created short cuts where "alt ?" will give me an upside down question mark, "alt n" and n with a tidle, etc. Unfortunately, while easy to set up in Word, it doesn't carry over to your email or websites. When you first use one of these Spanish characters, insert it as a symbol, and while doing so, create the short cut.[/quo] Welcome to the forum! Your method is clever, but it sounds like a lot of work to go through for something that will work in just one program (Word). It would probably take someone a lot less time to download and install AllChars, which can be used in all programs--email, websites, Word, etc.

Hi Guys All of the above is a solution, however, I also found all of it being a hassle, and not natural. So, I bought myself a $15 Spanish USB keyboard...configured my system/setup and now I just change between English keyboard and Spanish keyboard with a single click. The only problem I have with it is that my English keyboard is a Microsoft Natural keyboard, where I can type on really fast, and My Spanish one is a Dell ( standard ) and I have to learn this keyboard, but that was a choice I made before I bought . I should have done that 2 years ago :lol: Antonio

What I've found when chatting to Spanish speaking natives online, is that they often do not bother with the accents or upside down exclamation or question marks when they are typing informally. So unless you actually need to write something 100% gramatically correctly, then I don't think there's any real need to do it. I myself use an English keyboard setup and do control + alt + vowel for the accented vowels áéíóú and alt + 164 for ñ, I haven't felt the need for anything else yet, but then again I am only starting on my Spanish learning journey.

[quo]*Quote from * Dawsmonkee I myself use an English keyboard setup and do control + alt + vowel for the accented vowels áéíóú and alt + 164 for ñ[/quo] I know about alt+164 for ñ, but I'm not familiar with the method you use to produce accented vowels. I tried what you said (control + alt + vowel) and got absolutely nothing. I'm in the United States and am using a standard American English keyboard. I don't know whether there are other English keyboards available elsewhere. Did you do anything else to get your keyboard to produce accented vowels with CTL + ALT + vowel? [Later Edit] Ah, I think the mystery has been solved. I saw another post of yours, Dawsmonkee, where you mention meetup groups in London. I think that the English keyboard available in the UK is different from the English keyboard available in the US. I vaguely recall a message on another forum some time ago where the writer was claiming he could do something on this keyboard, and none of the people who responded were able to duplicate what he did. It turned out that he was in the UK and had a somewhat different setup than the responders, who were all in the US. I really like the method you use for getting accented vowels, but it may not work on US keyboards. I know it doesn't seem to do so on mine. :(

Well, if you switch your keyboard setup in Windows to English (UK), then it should work like mine does :-) And I don't think there's any downside is there? There's no US English that you can type with your US English keyboard... is there? :)

[quo]*Quote from * Dawsmonkee Well, if you switch your keyboard setup in Windows to English (UK), then it should work like mine does :-) And I don't think there's any downside is there? There's no US English that you can type with your US English keyboard... is there? :)[/quo] I thought about doing what you suggest, but then I read a description of the differences between the UK English and the US English keyboards in Wikipedia, complete with diagrams. From what I can tell, there are some keys that change position between the UK and US versions. These include @, #, ", ~. Since I'm a pretty fast typist, I think I'd find it frustrating to make these changes. So I think I'll simply keep my US keyboard and continue to use the ALT + 4 method. I've memorized all the codes that I use a lot, like those to make á. é, í, ó, ú, ñ, ¿. and ¡, as well as ç and ü. It's also useful for making lots of other symbols as well, such as ¶, €, £, and ©. Thanks, however, for the suggestion.

Hehe, yeah I forgot about the different positioning of things, " and @ reversed, etc - very annoying for if you forget to setup English UK when first installing an operating system :)