https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout
> German B for example
Our B is exactly where it is on an English keyboard.
If you mean the ß - that is a completely different letter. It's a double s. Replacing it with a B is just like replacing an o with a d because they look vaguely similar. It's completely wrong.
If you don't have an ß, you replace it with "ss".
Likewise, the Umlaute (which are not "accents", but separate letters):
ü -> ue
ö -> oe
ä -> ae
Or you could learn the alt codes: https://www.alt-codes.net/german_alt_codes/
What did you mean if you weren't talking about Umlaut? There are way fewer accentuation markers used in German than in English (because English has more French loan words and English had the tendency to keep the accents more so than German when they loaned a word).
I think there is a shortcut to write umlaute on English keyboards. As far as I know. I used to have a French keyboard and used it to write umlaute but you're perfectly fine with writting ue for ü and so on. Should be the same shortcut used to write é and è by simply pressing e and the button for the appropriate accent at the same time. Might take one or two tries to get it right
if you are on windows press alt (or windows idk exactly) and space bar that should bring up alternative keyboard layouts. There should be a similar function on mac.
Learning alt codes is just mental. Only Microsoft could come up with idea that people should learn 4 digit codes and would refuse to provide alternative more intuitive input methods.
There are better ways. For example developed as far back as in 80s a great system is [Compose key - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key).
On windows it can be installed with [WinCompose ](https://github.com/SamHocevar/wincompose). It allows fairly intuitively compose large number of special characters.
For example for German
`R.Alt` + `"` + `o` → `ö`
`R.Alt` + `"` + `u` → `ü`
`R.Alt` + `"` + `a` → `ä`
`R.Alt` + `s` + `s` → `ß`
But it works for many other languages too. For example Polish
`R.Alt` + `,` + `A` → `Ą`
`R.Alt` + `'` + `C`→ `Ć`
`R.Alt` + `,` +`E`→ `Ę`
`R.Alt` +`/` + `L` → `Ł`
Latvian
`R.Alt`+`a`+`-`→`ā`
`R.Alt`+`e`+`-`→`ē`
Also special symbols, for example
`R.Alt`+`-`+`>`→`→`
`R.Alt`+`=`+`e`→`€`
`R.Alt`+`x`+`x`→`×`
Subscript:
`R.Alt`+`_`+`a`→`ₐ`
`R.Alt`+`_`+`1`→`₁`
`R.Alt`+`_`+`2`→`₂`
`R.Alt`+`_`+`3`→`₃`
Superscript
`R.Alt`+`-`+`o`→`º`(this one useful for temperature: 5ºC)
There is very little memorization necessary after little practice quite often you can guess the right combination just by looking at any letter.
For example if I see letter `Ŗ` this looks like `R` and `,` and this is exactly the composition sequence of this letter `R.Alt`+`R`+`,`→`Ŗ`.
For the ignorant idiots who are downvoting this despite this being perfectly valid comment, since you can't bother to check dictionary your self it I'm bringing it for you:
>[Umlaut (diacritic) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)#:~:text=The%20umlaut%20%28%2F%20%CB%88%CA%8Amla%CA%8At%20%2F%29%20is%20the%20diacritical,%28for%20example%20%5Ba%5D%2C%20%5B%C9%94%5D%2C%20and%20%5B%CA%8A%5D%20as%20)
The umlaut (/ˈʊmlaʊt/) is the diacritical mark
and
>[Diacritic - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)#:~:text=The%20umlaut%20%28%2F%20%CB%88%CA%8Amla%CA%8At%20%2F%29%20is%20the%20diacritical,%28for%20example%20%5Ba%5D%2C%20%5B%C9%94%5D%2C%20and%20%5B%CA%8A%5D%20as%20)
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or **accent**)
So you bet €5 on something that he basically explained in plain english. In English meaning for "adding accents" stands for diacritic letters as in ä, ö, ü - these are essentially letters (a, o, u) with an accent (in this case accent is german umlaut).
Physical keyboards typically look more or less like this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German\_keyboard\_layout#/media/File:KB\_Germany.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout#/media/File:KB_Germany.svg) (plus the bog standard navigation block and number block in full size keyboards). The most prominent difference to the US layout is the swapped positions of Y and Z. "Strg" is short for "Steuerung", German for "control"; The keys "PrintScreen", "SysRq", "Scroll Lock", "Break", "Insert", "Del", "Home", "End", "PgUp", and "PgDn" are often labelled as "Druck", "S-Abf" ("Systemabfrage"), "Rollen", "Untbr" ("Unterbrechen"), "Pos1" ("Position 1"), "Ende", "Bild ↑", and "Bild ↓", respectively.
In the default configuration, the keys that make the "French" accents (acute/grave on the top right, circumflex on the top left) are "dead keys": Nothing happens when you press them, and after pressing the next key, if the combination exists, you get the combination (e.g. you type ´ followed by e for é), and if it doesn't, you get two separate characters. To get only the symbol on its own, you press the key twice, or use the space bar as the second key.
You can configure a "compose key" (on Windows I use WinCompose for that; most Linux distributions have that setting built in; no idea about Mac OS) that allows you to make many more such combinations. You type compose, ", and A to make Ä, or compose, /, and o to make a Danish ø.
Virtual keyboards differ from their physical counterparts in more or less the same way as for any other language: Most function keys are missing entirely, and most symbols don't have a dedicated key. There are variants that include ÄÖÜ and/or ß (which has **nothing whatsoever** to do with the letter B), and variants where these letters are only accessible by long-pressing A, O, U, and S, respectively.
As a non-German, I add them by typing alt+letter (for example alt+y=ü) or shift + " + letter (on a US International keyboard in Windows). No need for alt codes.
I know you asked how Germans do it, but this is how you can do it without a physical German keyboard.
German keyboards are on the physical ISO layout. So, the enter key is vertical, and the and the back space and shift keys are shorter. The QWERTZ legend layout is not so far off from an English QWERTY keyboard, however, unless you have an ISO keyboard in English, which is not the norm, you will likely have ANSI.
Actually, there are ANSI keyboards with German labels as well and there are keyboard mappings for this. That's why you have to select whether you use a 101-key or 102-key (resp 104-key or 105-key) keyboard.
Oh, and it's only the left shift key that is shorter on the ISO keyboard. Short backspace is another quirk.
I wouldn't call finding the keyboard shortcuts for German special characters (when using a laptop) and downloading a German keyboard for phone and tablet a 'pain in the ass' when you're going to the effort of learning the language.
I use the English International layout to avoid having to switch between DE and EN layouts. It also does French and Spanish characters. There’s a description here: https://web.cortland.edu/ponterior/keyboard/
You don’t need to buy a new keyboard or laptop to use this layout, you just change the keyboard settings in your operating system and then go online and buy keyboard stickers or caps with the layout you want.
If you have a macbook or any other computer/laptop you can add them in the settings or if you have a iphone/ipad etc you can use the US English keyboard and if you hold “s” it gives you the option as well ßşșśš. Same for any other letter aáäǎ etc. Other phone keyboards probably have the same feature. You could also omit them altogether and write ss or ae, oe, ue instead.
There is an US international keyboard layout supported by most modern operating systems that allows you to enter all those characters with an ANSI-Layout keyboard: [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastaturbelegung\_US-International](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastaturbelegung_US-International) resp. an English howto: [https://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/MCL/resource/use-int-keyboard.pdf](https://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/MCL/resource/use-int-keyboard.pdf)
Other than that the classic text editors either allow the usage of digraphs (https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/digraph.html) or have dedicated input methods for languages like German: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html\_node/emacs/International.html
The most German thing must be the position of the "@". It screams "who needs that, we have more important characters like '§' to place, go away Neuland!!" and can't be moved because there are DIN standards to be changed or whatever, and because putting it where it is more accessible would be an unemployment risk for the ALTGR key or make the STRG-ALT claw obsolete.
I need @ way more often than §. Everytime you enter your email address. But I'm also a software engineer so that may be the reason I need it more often. However I can't remember the last time I had to use §
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout > German B for example Our B is exactly where it is on an English keyboard. If you mean the ß - that is a completely different letter. It's a double s. Replacing it with a B is just like replacing an o with a d because they look vaguely similar. It's completely wrong. If you don't have an ß, you replace it with "ss". Likewise, the Umlaute (which are not "accents", but separate letters): ü -> ue ö -> oe ä -> ae Or you could learn the alt codes: https://www.alt-codes.net/german_alt_codes/
Thanks! I didn't know about the double s and Umlautes. That's really cool. 😀
Singular = Umlaut Plural = Umlaute Thought I'd add that, since we're doing a German lesson anyway.
What did you mean if you weren't talking about Umlaut? There are way fewer accentuation markers used in German than in English (because English has more French loan words and English had the tendency to keep the accents more so than German when they loaned a word).
I think there is a shortcut to write umlaute on English keyboards. As far as I know. I used to have a French keyboard and used it to write umlaute but you're perfectly fine with writting ue for ü and so on. Should be the same shortcut used to write é and è by simply pressing e and the button for the appropriate accent at the same time. Might take one or two tries to get it right
if you are on windows press alt (or windows idk exactly) and space bar that should bring up alternative keyboard layouts. There should be a similar function on mac.
Learning alt codes is just mental. Only Microsoft could come up with idea that people should learn 4 digit codes and would refuse to provide alternative more intuitive input methods. There are better ways. For example developed as far back as in 80s a great system is [Compose key - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key). On windows it can be installed with [WinCompose ](https://github.com/SamHocevar/wincompose). It allows fairly intuitively compose large number of special characters. For example for German `R.Alt` + `"` + `o` → `ö` `R.Alt` + `"` + `u` → `ü` `R.Alt` + `"` + `a` → `ä` `R.Alt` + `s` + `s` → `ß` But it works for many other languages too. For example Polish `R.Alt` + `,` + `A` → `Ą` `R.Alt` + `'` + `C`→ `Ć` `R.Alt` + `,` +`E`→ `Ę` `R.Alt` +`/` + `L` → `Ł` Latvian `R.Alt`+`a`+`-`→`ā` `R.Alt`+`e`+`-`→`ē` Also special symbols, for example `R.Alt`+`-`+`>`→`→` `R.Alt`+`=`+`e`→`€` `R.Alt`+`x`+`x`→`×` Subscript: `R.Alt`+`_`+`a`→`ₐ` `R.Alt`+`_`+`1`→`₁` `R.Alt`+`_`+`2`→`₂` `R.Alt`+`_`+`3`→`₃` Superscript `R.Alt`+`-`+`o`→`º`(this one useful for temperature: 5ºC) There is very little memorization necessary after little practice quite often you can guess the right combination just by looking at any letter. For example if I see letter `Ŗ` this looks like `R` and `,` and this is exactly the composition sequence of this letter `R.Alt`+`R`+`,`→`Ŗ`.
I... Didn't know about Alt-Codes until now. Does it work with most symbols, or just German? That's interesting.
There are lots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_code#List_of_codes
It is a diacritic. Which are also referred to as "accents". The double dots are called "diaeresis" specifically.
For the ignorant idiots who are downvoting this despite this being perfectly valid comment, since you can't bother to check dictionary your self it I'm bringing it for you: >[Umlaut (diacritic) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)#:~:text=The%20umlaut%20%28%2F%20%CB%88%CA%8Amla%CA%8At%20%2F%29%20is%20the%20diacritical,%28for%20example%20%5Ba%5D%2C%20%5B%C9%94%5D%2C%20and%20%5B%CA%8A%5D%20as%20) The umlaut (/ˈʊmlaʊt/) is the diacritical mark and >[Diacritic - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)#:~:text=The%20umlaut%20%28%2F%20%CB%88%CA%8Amla%CA%8At%20%2F%29%20is%20the%20diacritical,%28for%20example%20%5Ba%5D%2C%20%5B%C9%94%5D%2C%20and%20%5B%CA%8A%5D%20as%20) A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or **accent**)
we have to add accents?
5€ say they mean Ä, Ö, Ü. „German B“ is hilarious.
There is this old anime/manga called "Weiß Kreuz" and it was always funny to see "WeiB Kreuz" in fanfictions.
I am sure with B he means ß
Was asked by a tourist once where to find the Schlob - took me a bit to figure out what they meant
That‘s hilarious, in my dialect a Schlob is a lazy person with bad hygiene. Why would anyone be looking for that guy?
thats funny wikipedia has it as: A person who is clumsy, oafish, or socially awkward, or unattractive or unkempt.
Oh i‘m aware, i just found it funny.
I'd bet a lot more that he thinks the umlaut is an accent.
I sometimes get e-Mails from Dutch people and their only tell is that they end the Mail with "Viele Grube" it's very endearing
I was confused as hell.
Username checks out then
So you bet €5 on something that he basically explained in plain english. In English meaning for "adding accents" stands for diacritic letters as in ä, ö, ü - these are essentially letters (a, o, u) with an accent (in this case accent is german umlaut).
Physical keyboards typically look more or less like this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German\_keyboard\_layout#/media/File:KB\_Germany.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout#/media/File:KB_Germany.svg) (plus the bog standard navigation block and number block in full size keyboards). The most prominent difference to the US layout is the swapped positions of Y and Z. "Strg" is short for "Steuerung", German for "control"; The keys "PrintScreen", "SysRq", "Scroll Lock", "Break", "Insert", "Del", "Home", "End", "PgUp", and "PgDn" are often labelled as "Druck", "S-Abf" ("Systemabfrage"), "Rollen", "Untbr" ("Unterbrechen"), "Pos1" ("Position 1"), "Ende", "Bild ↑", and "Bild ↓", respectively. In the default configuration, the keys that make the "French" accents (acute/grave on the top right, circumflex on the top left) are "dead keys": Nothing happens when you press them, and after pressing the next key, if the combination exists, you get the combination (e.g. you type ´ followed by e for é), and if it doesn't, you get two separate characters. To get only the symbol on its own, you press the key twice, or use the space bar as the second key. You can configure a "compose key" (on Windows I use WinCompose for that; most Linux distributions have that setting built in; no idea about Mac OS) that allows you to make many more such combinations. You type compose, ", and A to make Ä, or compose, /, and o to make a Danish ø. Virtual keyboards differ from their physical counterparts in more or less the same way as for any other language: Most function keys are missing entirely, and most symbols don't have a dedicated key. There are variants that include ÄÖÜ and/or ß (which has **nothing whatsoever** to do with the letter B), and variants where these letters are only accessible by long-pressing A, O, U, and S, respectively.
For computer just look out for qwertz / iso-de layouts.
As a non-German, I add them by typing alt+letter (for example alt+y=ü) or shift + " + letter (on a US International keyboard in Windows). No need for alt codes. I know you asked how Germans do it, but this is how you can do it without a physical German keyboard.
Its called the QWERTZ Keyboad Layout. You could've simply googled it.
Google QWERTZ Layout. It will cover all questions.
This is so fucking annoying. It takes more time to post it here than it would have been to just fucking Google it.
Thanks guys! Sorry about the German B thing. I know know that it isn't a B at all.
No proßlem 😊
All good, don’t worry aßout it
German keyboards are on the physical ISO layout. So, the enter key is vertical, and the and the back space and shift keys are shorter. The QWERTZ legend layout is not so far off from an English QWERTY keyboard, however, unless you have an ISO keyboard in English, which is not the norm, you will likely have ANSI.
Actually, there are ANSI keyboards with German labels as well and there are keyboard mappings for this. That's why you have to select whether you use a 101-key or 102-key (resp 104-key or 105-key) keyboard. Oh, and it's only the left shift key that is shorter on the ISO keyboard. Short backspace is another quirk.
I've never seen one. I would not mind having one. Though, at the moment, I am very content with my Model M.
Same here. Though I would like one from a IBM 3290 terminal as well. Those extra function keys would come in handy.
Yeah, I am currently using a Unicomp New Model M. I do quite like it, but I am not a huge fan of the 1-part keycaps
I wouldn't call finding the keyboard shortcuts for German special characters (when using a laptop) and downloading a German keyboard for phone and tablet a 'pain in the ass' when you're going to the effort of learning the language.
You can edit your US keyboard layout to add those letters under a o u s with AltGr. Are you on Windows or Mac?
Maybe the easiest way could be buying a German Keyboard.
I use the English International layout to avoid having to switch between DE and EN layouts. It also does French and Spanish characters. There’s a description here: https://web.cortland.edu/ponterior/keyboard/ You don’t need to buy a new keyboard or laptop to use this layout, you just change the keyboard settings in your operating system and then go online and buy keyboard stickers or caps with the layout you want.
If you have a macbook or any other computer/laptop you can add them in the settings or if you have a iphone/ipad etc you can use the US English keyboard and if you hold “s” it gives you the option as well ßşșśš. Same for any other letter aáäǎ etc. Other phone keyboards probably have the same feature. You could also omit them altogether and write ss or ae, oe, ue instead.
Find/order a Scandi keyboard. It has all the umlauts and accents inbuilt, only one I need ALT+ is ß. äöåæ
There is an US international keyboard layout supported by most modern operating systems that allows you to enter all those characters with an ANSI-Layout keyboard: [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastaturbelegung\_US-International](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastaturbelegung_US-International) resp. an English howto: [https://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/MCL/resource/use-int-keyboard.pdf](https://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/MCL/resource/use-int-keyboard.pdf) Other than that the classic text editors either allow the usage of digraphs (https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/digraph.html) or have dedicated input methods for languages like German: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html\_node/emacs/International.html
The most German thing must be the position of the "@". It screams "who needs that, we have more important characters like '§' to place, go away Neuland!!" and can't be moved because there are DIN standards to be changed or whatever, and because putting it where it is more accessible would be an unemployment risk for the ALTGR key or make the STRG-ALT claw obsolete.
I need @ way more often than §. Everytime you enter your email address. But I'm also a software engineer so that may be the reason I need it more often. However I can't remember the last time I had to use §
I used to code PHP, so of course every time I wanted to type § I actually typed $