The assignments in WileyPLUS require you produce accent marks. The
program provides an accent palette, from which you can select the
appropriate accented letter. However, it is much faster to produce
accented letters with key strokes. Lerning the keystrokes will also
help you write the three formal compositions this quarter.
You should experiment with the methods of producing accents listed
below until you find one, or a combination of several, that works for
you.
The MSWord Spanish language spell check will tell you when you have
left an accent off of a word that requires one. Set the
"Language" under the "Tools" pull-down menu to "Spanish" as the default
language.
Microsoft Word produces accents in Spanish by means of multiple
keystrokes. The system is quite simple, and easy to learn through
repetition. Here's how it works: as you draft your composition
and come to a word that requires an accented letter, go to the "insert"
pull-down menu. From that menu, click on "symbol," and a chart
will appear on the screen. Find the desired accented letter on
the chart, highlight the letter, click on "insert" below, and the
letter will appear in your text. In order to type the letter
directly into the text, learn the "short cut keys" that appear below
the chart when you highlight each letter. The short cuts are
logical and will become second nature to you as you write more in
Spanish.
Macintosh
All accented characters and diacritics are produced on a Macintosh computer in one consistent way, using the Option key in combination with another letter. For example, to produce an accented vowel á, hold down the Option key and then the letter e, and then press the letter a. All of the other vowels and diacritical marks are produced in the same way:
Opt-e+e=é
Opt-e+i=í
Opt-e+o=ó
Opt-e+u=ú
Opt-u+u=ü
Opt+n=ñ
Opt+?=¿
Opt+!=¡.
Capital letters are produced by simply holding down the shift key in the last step of each of the above:
Opt-e+[shift]e=É.
PCs
There are two ways to handle accents on a PC: (1) change your keyboard; (2) use the ALT key to generate the required codes.
1. If you plan to do a lot of typing in Spanish, it is a lot easier to simply select an international keyboard and use it to type with. The only difference between it and your regular keyboard is that some of the keys behave differently. For example, the "/’ (open quote/apostrophe) key becomes a "dead key" which, when first depressed will not produce any character on the screen. However if you press this key and make your next keystroke any one of the vowels, your computer will produce á, é, í, ó, or ú. If you press it and then follow with the space bar, it will generate the original "/’ marks. Simultaneously pressing the Ctrl+Alt+! or ? keys will produce the ¡ and ¿ marks. Please do not make this keyboard change to any computer other than the one that you own.
To set the keyboard on your computer, double-click on the icon titled My Computer.
There, look for a folder titled Control Panel.
Among the control panels, locate the keyboard icon and double-click on it.
Select the tab at the top titled "Input Locales." Highlight the keyboard, probably "English-US," and then click on the button titled "Properties."
There, you will be able to select a number of different keyboards. Navigate to the bottom of the list and select "US International."
Click "Apply" and "Okay." You may be prompted to insert the appropriate Windows CD-ROM or disk when you click "Apply." You must have that CD-ROM or disk for these changes to work. Finally, Windows will ask you to reboot so that your changes will take effect.
2. An alternative to the above is to depress the ALT key on the left hand side of the keyboard and type in the ANSI numeric equivalent for the accent or diacritical mark using the number pad (set Num Loc "On") on the right hand side of your keyboard. The following chart gives the equivalents. You may safely use this with any PC in any program.
á= ALT+0225
Á= ALT+0193
é= ALT+0233
É=ALT+0201
í= ALT+0237
Í = ALT+0205
ó= ALT+0243
Ó = ALT+0211
ú= ALT+0250
Ú = ALT+0218
¿= ALT+0191
¡= ALT+0161
ü= ALT+0252
ñ= ALT+0241
Ñ= ALT+0209