Accents

French accents • Entering accents with a PC • Entering accents with a Mac • HTML & other Internet languages

 
French accents

In this course, you will need to type accents for written assignments, both for compositions and for web assignments and messages for the electronic bulletin board (CUBBoard). In writing, accents are required for correct spelling. These accents are:

• L'accent aigu (é)
• L'accent grave (à, è, ù)
• L'accent circonflexe or "chapeau" (â, ê, î, ô, û)
• La cédille (ç)
• Le tréma (ë, ï, ü)

Accents with uppercase letters are not necessary in most circumstances and you don't need to use them (French spelling checkers will often suggest accented capitals, and it is certainly fine to leave them).

Entering accents into your document using a PC or Mac with a US keyboard can be a little tricky…

 
PC

Using a word processor such as Microsoft Word
Using a word processor will probably be the easiest way to enter accents with your text, not only for compositions, but also for electronic messages that you can type first and then paste it into the CUBBoard. (You should also take advantages of your word processor's spelling checker—if a French dictionary is installed, it will check and correct your answers with your spelling).

Microsoft Word will allow you to insert characters with accents by clicking Insert-Symbol. Even better, however, are the keyboard shortcuts available since Word 97:

é: Press Ctrl and type "'" (apostrophe). Release both keys and type "e".

à-è-ù: Press Ctrl and type "`" key (left-hand side, top of the keyboard). Release both keys and type "e", "a", or "u".

â-ê-î-ô-û: Press Ctrl and Shift and type "^" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u".

ç: Press Ctrl, and type "," key. Release both keys and type "c".

ä-ë-ï-ü: Press Ctrl, Shift, and type ":" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", or "u".

œ: Press Ctrl, Shift, and type "&" key. Release both keys and type "o".

Using Extended ASCII characters
If you need to write a message directly into Columbia's electronic bulletin board—if you are, for example, at a public terminal that does not have a word processor—you will need to use Extended ASCII codes to enter accents. (You can use Extended ASCII codes in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, but they are more complicated than Word's own codes). These characters are generated by holding down the "ALT" key and typing in a three-digit numeric code with the numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard. In addition, Windows also uses an extra system of keystrokes for entering these ASCII characters, which uses "ALT" plus a four-digit numeric code. In a Windows application, either code can be used. For example, typing ALT + 130 or ALT+ 0233 will produce "é":

â: ALT + 131 or 0226
à: ALT + 133 or 0224
ä: ALT + 132 or 0228
ç: ALT + 135 or 0231
é: ALT + 130 or 0233
è: ALT + 138 or 0233
ê: ALT + 136 or 0234
ë: ALT + 137 or 0235
î: ALT + 140 or 0238
ï: ALT + 139 or 0239
ô: ALT + 147 or 0244
ù: ALT + 151 or 0249
û: ALT + 150 or 0251
ü: ALT + 129 or 0252
œ: ALT + 0157

For a complete table of ASCII codes, see www.asciitable.com; for a table of Windows Extended ASCII codes, see http://www.waunakee.k12.wi.us/midlschl/ascii.htm

Using a built-in keyboard
You can switch the keyboard settings to reflect the standard French keyboard layout. You might want to use stickers to indicate which keys are which, since the French keyboard is somewhat different from the standard U.S. keyboard. Check your computer's Settings folder to see if this option is available.

 
Macintosh

Using the Option key (all applications)
You can generate all the characters you need in Macintosh by using the "Option" key. To generate accents, you press the Option key and another key together to generate the accent, and then type the letter which contains the accent:

é: Press option and type "e". Release both keys and type "e".

à-è-ù: Press option and type "`" key (left-hand side, top of the keyboard). Release both keys and type "e", "a", or "u".

â-ê-î-ô-û: Press option and type "i" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u".

ä-ë-ï-ü: Press option and type "u" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", or "u".

ç: Press option and type "c".

œ: Press option and type "q".

«: Press option and type "|" key (right below the delete key).

»: Press shift + option and type "|" key (right below the delete key).

Using a built-in keyboard
You can switch the keyboard settings in your Macintosh to reflect the standard French keyboard layout. You might want to use stickers to indicate which keys are which, since the French keyboard is somewhat different from the standard US keyboard. Check Control Panels-Keyboard in your computer's Apple Menu to see if this option is available.

 
Writing in HTML & Other Internet Languages

If you are writing in HTML, cutting and pasting text from another document (for example, a Microsoft Word document) can often result in loss or distortion of accents. You can use special codes to generate diacritics in your HTML documents. For example, the combination...

é
à
è
ù
â
ê
î
ô
û
ä
ë
ï
ü
ç

produces é à è ù â ê î ô û ä ë ü ç

For further information, check out Webmonkey Guides for using the Web, including the page on HTML special characters