steve - How to type áéíúóñ¿¡

On a Mac, you can type these characters straight from the English keyboard layout. To get any accented character, first you type the key combination for the accent, then you type the letter that should be accented. The accent mark on áéíóú is produced by typing option + e, then you type the letter you want accented. The ñ is produced by typing option + n and then the letter 'n'. The ¿ is produced by just holding the option key and typing a normal ?.

Oh, I missed one: ¡ is typed by pressing option + 1, not option + shift + 1.

I'm so impressed! Listen, switching to a Spanish keyboard is only one way to do it. If you are using a version of Microsoft Word and you don't want to do the keyboard switch, just do a help search on "Type International Characters." This is what I usually recommend to my students who write compositions. The secret to using that system is that you have to LET GO of the keyboard between steps. For example, if they tell you to do: CTRL + ', e That means you hit 'control' and 'apostrophe' together, LET GO OF THE KEYBOARD, and then type your 'e.' I've had may a tearful student come to me and say that they didn't do their homework because their computer wouldn't do accent marks. I march them over to the computer and ask them to show me what they were doing, and usually I find them trying to press seven keys at once. No, child, you have to learn to let go. It's not a piano.... That 'letting go' step is standard, even in the Spanish keyboard that Steve descibed above, but I think there were enough traumatized Spanish students who complained that they redesigned it for the simultaneous pressers.

"I've had may a tearful student come to me and say that they didn't do their homework because their computer wouldn't do accent marks." Don't they learn how to use pens in America?

AuntySue, No.

But how do I type ü??? Don't leave me hanging!

Gee, John, looks to me like you found a way... Shift apostrophe LET GO u That goes with any vowel.

Ok, so it's time for a haiku challenge, John. 5-7-5. You must use the words lingüística, Papa Noël, and Israël. And one of your lines must be a question or exclamation. Ready, go!

JP, I copied and pasted the "ü" from Chinese software. :( Soy Papa Noël. ¿Te gusta lingüística? ¿La de Israël? BAM!

I have one more "pingüino." !

What's "lingüística"? What does "Papa Noël" mean? "Israël"? Oh! Sussed!

You didn't want the haiku in Spanish, did you?! :-)

Ay, thank goodness for the tips, steve. I actually *have* been using the Alt + numeric keypad version all along ... Muchas gracias--now I'm one of those joining the ranks of those 'letting go' ;)

thank you very much for these wonderful tip =D somehow my keyboard makes the ñéóí etc. automatically but not the ¿or ¡ (lol.. I just copied and paste it there..), no I finally know how to use them :D AuntySue, Papa Noël is Father Christmas.. Or Santa ^_^

¡Sí, funciona! Es muy útil, ¿no? (Took me forever to find "?" relocated to the "+" key though!)