How to get Spanish to work in my computer?

December 1, 2005 12:51 AM

I would like to add a Spanish keyboard (language interface pack?) to Windows XP in order to make typing Spanish more efficient.

Unfortunately when I go to choose a Spanish keyboard, 20 Spanish dialects are presented. These choices can be found in the Input language form in the Add Input Language window.

The options range from Argentinean Spanish to Venezuelan Spanish, along with two non-dialectic options, International Sort and Traditional Sort.

This is exactly where I went in Windows XP to find this form:
Control Panel > Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options > Add other languages > Regional and Language Options / Languages Tab > Details Button > Text Services and Input Languages / Settings Tab > Add Button > Add Input Language > Input Language Form

Should I choose International Sort or Traditional Sort? What is the difference between these two options?

I currently use a United States Dvorak layout for typing. Typing in English. Is there a Spanish equivalent?

Or am I going about this the wrong way? Is there an easier way to insert vowels with accents or umlauts, and Ns with tildes without resorting to typing unicode? (Or opening up separate programs like character map and inserting one character at a time, for example.)

Thank you o muchas gracias.

posted by Colloquial Collision to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: There's a much easier way. Go to the same place you were and add the "English (US) US-International" layout.

How To Use the United States-International Keyboard Layout in Windows XP

The only big difference between this layout and any other is that you have to hit space right after hitting " or ' or ` otherwise you get àccéntéd lëttérs líkè thïs. Holding r-alt and r-alt-shift and the numbers get you this:
¡²³¤€¼½¾‘’¥×
¹£

Anyway, why do you use Dvorak?
posted by raaka at 2:12 AM on December 1, 2005

The difference between traditional and international (modern) sort is that in traditional sort, ch is treated as a letter between c and d, and ll is treated as a letter between l and m. Here's a brief example:

International sort: caballero, chiste, colegio, lago, llegar, luz
Traditional sort: caballero, colegio, chiste, lago, luz, llegar
posted by grouse at 3:36 AM on December 1, 2005

There are various international layout, but everything I found for Dvorak sucks quite badly. e.g. 1 2

What I suggest is to download Keyboard Layout Manager Medium version, and add the accents yourself in the logical places (á, é, í, ó, ú, ñ under AltGr-a, AltGr-e, AltGr-i, AltGr-o, AltGr-u, AltGr-n)

Make sure to enable the "AltGr-used" checkbox, and then you'll be able to use the right Alt key as AltGr to type the accents.
posted by Sharcho at 5:51 AM on December 1, 2005

Response by poster: Anyway, why do you use Dvorak?

I wanted to be one of the cool kids and type faster.

Büt thïs (English (US) US-International) röcks töö.

Examinando. Español. ¡Que bueno!

Thank you for the helpful suggestions!
posted by Colloquial Collision at 11:17 PM on December 1, 2005

Response by poster: Also, thank you, Sharcho for the Keyboard Layout Manager. I eventually plan to map my keyboard akin to Robert Bringhurst's keyboard mentioned in The Elements of Typographic Style. But, I plan to get a new Macintosh first; my six year-old Toshiba does not excel at running Adobe software.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 11:26 PM on December 1, 2005