Accents
Macintosh keyboards - hold down the option key and press the letter e once; then, any vowel pressed is accented.
| option + e, then a = á | option + n, then n = ñ | |
| option + e, then e = é | shift + option + ? = ¿ | |
| option + e, then i = í | option + ! = ¡ | |
| option + e, then o = ó | (option + i, then a = â) etc. | |
| option + e, then u = ú | (option + `, then a = à) etc. | |
| option + c = ç | (option + u, then a = ä) etc. |
IBM keyboards -
Windows 95 - Option #1. The easiest keyboard layout is "English (United States-International)." The sequence for setting this keyboard layout is as follows:
| Click on the | START icon, |
| then go to | SETTINGS |
| then click on | CONTROL PANEL |
| then double click | the KEYBOARD icon |
| click on | the LANGUAGE tab |
| click on | the ADD button |
| click on | the arrow beside Afrikaans |
| and scroll down to | English (United States) |
| and click once. | |
| Then click on | OK. |
| Next click on | Properties |
| and scroll down to | United States - International |
| Finally, click on | OK, and then OK again. |
With this "English United States International" keyboard, special characters are created as follows:
| Press this key once | and then this key once | to get this character: |
| '(apostrophe) | a | á |
| '(apostrophe) | e | é |
| '(apostrophe) | i | í |
| '(apostrophe) | o | ó |
| '(apostrophe) | u | ú |
| ` | a ( e i o u ) | à ( è ì ò ù ) |
| Shift and " | a ( e i o u ) | ä ( ë ï ö ü ) |
| Shift and ^ | a ( e i o u ) | â ( ê ô î û ) |
| '(apostrophe) | c | ç |
| Note: in Spanish there is an upside down exclamation point
and question mark. Hold down the RIGHT ALT key and press ? once to get the ¿ Hold down the RIGHT ALT key and press ! once to get the ¡ Also use the RIGHT ALT key and press n to get the ñ and use the RIGHT ALT key and press s for the German ß (It is also possible to get the Spanish accented vowels by holding the RIGHT ALT key and pressing the vowel.) |
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Windows 95 Option #2 . It is possible to select a variety of keyboard layouts including the following Spanish one. However, this will cause some conflicts with keyboard letters like the semi-colon.
| Click on the | START icon, | |
| then go to | SETTINGS | |
| then click on | CONTROL PANEL | |
| then double click | the KEYBOARD icon | |
| click on | the LANGUAGE tab | |
| click on | the ADD button | |
| click on | the arrow beside Afrikaans | |
| and scroll down to | SPANISH (MEXICAN) | |
| and click once. | ||
| Then click on | OK. | |
| Next under | Switch Languages | click "None." |
| There should be a check beside “Enable indicator in the task bar.” | ||
| Finally, click on | OK. | |
Now notice a small box [En] on the taskbar in the bottom right hand side of the screen. Clicking on that icon, when you have your word processor open or your e-mail open, will change between English and Spanish [Es] so you can make the special letters. The Spanish [Es] keyboard pattern is as follows:
| Press this key once | and then this key once | to get this character: |
| [ (left bracket) | a | á |
| [ (left bracket) | e | é |
| [ (left bracket) | i | í |
| [ (left bracket) | o | ó |
| [ (left bracket) | u | ú |
| = | ¿ | |
| ; | ñ | |
| Note: in Spanish there is an upside down exclamation point. Hold down the shift key and press = once to get the ¡ |
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A Windows 95 Option #3 is to skip all of the above setting of the keyboard. It iseems a little tedious but works as follows (after opening your word processing software or e-mail):
| Click on | START |
| go to | Programs |
| then to | Accessories |
| and click on | Character Map. |
| Then under FONT, select | Standard. |
| Click a character (á, etc.) then click | Copy. |
| Then go to your document and | PASTE. |
The Character Map can be left open so as to switch back to it as needed.
A fourth alternative - which works on any IBM compatible machine - is the following. Hold down the ALT key and at the same time type a number on the number pad. Then release the ALT key. The letter then appears.
| ALT + 160 = á ALT + 130 = é ALT + 161 = í ALT + 162 = ó ALT + 163 = ú |
ALT + 133 = à ALT + 138 = è ALT + 141 = ì ALT + 149 = ò ALT + 151 = ù |
ALT + 131 = â ALT + 136 = ê ALT + 140 = î ALT + 147 = ô ALT + 150 = û |
ALT + 132 = ä ALT + 137 = ë ALT + 139 = ï ALT + 148 = ö ALT + 129 = ü |
| ALT + 168 = ¿ ALT + 164 = ñ ALT + 173 = ¡ |
ALT + 135 = ç ALT + 225 = ß |
Finally, for Windows 3.1 the "US International" keyboard works just like the Windows 95 "English United States International" keys described above. However, the set up in Program Manager is slightly different.
| Double click on the | MAIN icon, |
| then double click on | CONTROL PANEL |
| then double click | the INTERNATIONAL icon |
| (NOT the keyboard icon) | |
| click on | the "Keyboard Layout" tab |
| and scroll down to | US International |
| and click once. | |
| Then click on | OK. |
This page is maintained by Bruce R. Swayne, Director of the Modern Languages Resoruce Center at Boise State University. Please send suggestions to bswayne@boisestate.edu