Typing in German made easier

I’ve been studying German for 4 years or so now, and since I began, I’ve been pounding away with alt-code keys. Alt+0220 for Ü, alt+0246 for ö, etc. I just discovered something which will save me quite a bit of time: DeKey.

It’s a custom German keymap for Windows Vista or Windows XP, which allows you to easily type letters commonly used in German, e.g.:

ü, ö, ä, ß, «, », etc.

Instead of using the alt-codes, all you have to do is hold down the Alt key and hit the corresponding letter, so:

R-alt + u = ü
R-alt + a = ä
R-alt + shift + o = Ö

You can download the installer here; instructions on how to enable the keyboard are included in the zip file.

This entry was posted in German, Language Learning, Tools. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Typing in German made easier

  1. Nils says:

    Dang! Lol, should’ve had this when I was still translating. I still have two strips of alt-codes tacked to the sides of my display from back then.

  2. Rmss says:

    Why not use the US International layout?

    ” + u = ü
    ” + a = ä
    ” + o = ö
    Left ctrl + left alt = ß

  3. Josh says:

    Rmss: I just checked out the US international layout, and it works great, except I can’t get ß to be produced with left ctrl + left alt. Any ideas?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>