Using French and German characters in Skype, etc.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Sometimes I write in French or German. For LibreOffice Writer, I've solved the issue of using the various accent marks over vowels that these foreign languages use, but English doesn't. I've made a couple toolbars that look like this:


image upload no compression

I used LO Writer's macro system to create each of the characters, and I can choose whichever I need via the toolbar or a hot key. In other words, in LibreOffice I'm in great shape for my foreign language needs. However, that's not the case in other applications, most notably Skype. I Skype about 3 times a week with people in France and Canada, and we don't just speak. We write things. I've been typing what I need to say in French in LO Writer and then pasting it into Skype. That's really awkward. There must be a way to type the special characters directly in via some kind of hot key set.

I did find what I think might be the answer, but I'm not quite there yet. I found this:

System Settings ===> Input Devices ===> Keyboard ===> Advanced ===> Miscellaneous compatibility options ==> Enable extra typographic characters

I would think that has turned on some way to type the French and German characters. However, the hot keys I've guessed have not worked. I tried Ctrl+' and then e hoping to get "é" for example. I tried it with the Alt and with the Meta key also. No luck.

I did find a widget to put in the panel where you can choose special characters from a menu, but that's about as awkward as splicing from LO Writer. If there's some way for me to type French and German directly into Skype with hot keys, that would be a God-send to me.

[Teunis]

The easy way is to select the correct keyboard, it's called US-International and allows you to use international characters via the AltGr key like ßðø.
The Dead Key option allows the adding of accents to letters like éâ.
This will work system wide, not just for a single application.

[Tom_ZeCat]

The easy way is to select the correct keyboard, it's called US-International and allows you to use international characters via the AltGr key like ßðø.
The Dead Key option allows the adding of accents to letters like éâ.
This will work system wide, not just for a single application.

Thanks for the info. I just looked for the US-International keyboard, but did not find it. I went into: System Settings ==> Input devices ==> Keyboard.

I had previously chosen Lenovo 560Z (I have a Lenovo 570). I looked through every keyboard on the list, but did not find US-International. Am I looking in the right place?

[Snowhog]

System Settings > Input Devices > Keyboard > Add

[Tom_ZeCat]

Okay, I'm getting closer. Here's what I've chosen. I want to use QWERTY, not Dvorak, so I've chosen as follows:



When I click on preview, I get this:



This leads me to believe I should be able to hold down the right alt key while hitting the letter e and get the French accented one like this: é. I don't get that. Instead, I get the symbol for the Euro. What am I missing?

[Snowhog]

Did you log out / log back in after the change?

[Tom_ZeCat]

Did you log out / log back in after the change?

No, let me try that.

Edit: I rebooted, but I still get the same result. The right alt plus E gets me the Euro sign. I tried switching back to the generic 101 keyboard instead of the Lenovo one. After the reboot, I still get the same thing, still the Euro sign instead of é.

[Teunis]

Weird, on this Lenovo the AltGr + e gives é, personally I'd use the Dead Key option and type ' followed by e making it é.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Weird, on this Lenovo the AltGr + e gives é, personally I'd use the Dead Key option and type ' followed by e making it é.

Still doesn't work. All I get is 'e. The thing must be turned off somehow even if it shows as being on.