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[Guide] German keyboard and German Diacritics

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dakanga

[Guide] German keyboard and German Diacritics

Post by dakanga »

##International US keyboard Functions & Alt codes for German
![Imgur](
ä, Ä, ö, Ö, ü, Ü, ẞ, ß, € , « »,

Operating the Windows International Keyboard

First off , check out:
https://support.duolingo.com/hc/en-us/a ... keyboards-

This tells you how to load different keyboards in different devices. i.e. it covers selecting different keyboards for a : Windows, or a Mac, or an iPad device.

##Windows Keyboard

With Windows, you need to select an appropriate keyboard to type all the required German characters.

For typing in German, for people who already are familiar with the US/English QWERTY keyboard, I highly recommend selecting the US-International keyboard. So in your "Text Services and Input Languages" select : [EN] English (United States) keyboard, and
go under "English (United States)/Keyboard/" select United States-International. Click here for more [detailed instructions for selecting a keyboard](
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/2939 ... d=29397967).


eszett (also called scharfes S, 'sharp s') ligature in German orthography: ẞ, ß

As the ß derives from a ligature of lower-case letters, it is exclusively used in the middle or the end of a word.
For all caps usage, an uppercase ß was added to the German alphabet on 29 June 2017;[6] however, the former version SS is still allowed as an alternative.
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography


I hope if others have any useful tips and advice about keyboards, that you may choose to also share them here.
![iGuide iGuideKeyboards](


Other Keyboards:

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dakanga

Re: [Guide] German keyboard and German accents

Post by dakanga »

##Detailed instructions for selecting a keyboard:

  1. Go to the Windows menu.
    ![](

  2. Select "Control Panel"

  3. Select "Region and Languages"

  4. Select "Keybords and Languages", and select "Change keyboards"
    ![](https://imgur.com/b6XpzHB.jpg)
    ![](
    You will see something similar to this above.

  5. Under the section "Installed services"

check for "EN English (United States)"
if this is not selected, then select "English (United States)"

  1. Under "English (United States), then select "Keyboard", and "United States-International"
  2. Then make sure you remember to press the Apply button !
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dakanga

Re: [Guide] German keyboard and German accents

Post by dakanga »

![](http://xahlee.info/kbd/i/kb/Apple_iMac_ ... 42-big.jpg)
A Mac keyboard is very similar to the varieties available for Windows. Above is a photo of one of the common Mac keyboards.
However you will notice that instead of (ALT) keys, the keys are labelled :
Alt
Option

So if you press the (Option) key, and then the letter you are after, the Mac system will bring up a set of optional characters for you to select from.

So for the keys for "question mark" and "explanation mark" , if you press first (Option) and then the (?) or (!) mark, then other options will be displayed.

  • The Exclamation mark is located on the (1) key.
  • The Question mark is located 3 keys to the left of (M)

Thus for, a letter like (e) or (c), if you press first (Option) and then the key, then the system will provide you with options for this character to select.


The iPad works in a similar way. Yet you instead hold your finger on the virtual key you are after, and if there are options, they will be displayed.

This is also similar to how it works for Android.

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dakanga

Re: [Guide] German keyboard and German accents

Post by dakanga »

##Alt codes : Keyboard shortcuts for German Diacritics
Sorted in type order.

Alt Codecharacter
0132 ä
0142 Ä
0148 ö
0153 Ö
0129 ü
0154 Ü
0223ß
0128
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dakanga

Re: [Guide] German keyboard and German Diacritics

Post by dakanga »

###Operating the Windows International Keyboard

You need to understand about new function keys at your disposal. The common term for them is dead keys

![Imgur](

The dead keys are highlighted in red. And the Right Alt key in blue.

A dead key is a key that has become a modifier key, that is used to type special characters. The dead key when used in conjunction with another key (or combination of 3 keys) will generate a special character.

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