# Icelandic: ö



## Kumpel

In German, when using a keyboard without Umlaut keys, you can just write an _e_ after the vowell, e.g. "_Ich *höre* gern Musik_" = "_Ich_ _*hoere* gern Musik_."

Is there anything similar in Icelandic, or do I just have to hunt down the _ö_?


Takk,
Lloyd


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## Alxmrphi

I've also seen oe to represent it, but only when no other characters are accessible, i.e. "th" for þ/ð. I decided to pick a reasonably common Icelandic word and change it (mörg -> moerg) and got a few results, I wouldn't say it was "common" but you essentially get the idea it's like what happens in German...



> Allmennt virdist mér netnotkun hér vera mikil og ég  fer fram hjá *moerg*um búdum og skólum sem sérhaefa sig í Interneti. Í  málaskólanum hafa nemendur adgang ad einum fjórum sítengdum tolvum og  eru alltaf allar uppteknar í frímínútum.


As you can see there is no *þ/ð* (why I don't know) a "d" is used in place of a "ð" in virðist (virdist) in the first line.
I actually can't find another good example of this in the whole of Google...

I can't see why anyone can't just do alt+0246 like I do, after a few dozen times it's almost as easy / natural as doing a capital letter.


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## hanne

We had a similar discussion a while back (not for Icelandic, but I think the conclusions mostly apply all the same - the similarities should be bigger between the Nordic languages than in comparison with German). I think the general recommendation was to use the proper letters if possible.

Somewhere on these forums I believe you can find suggestions for input methods, depending on you OS.


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## Wilma_Sweden

hanne said:


> Somewhere on these forums I believe you can find suggestions for input methods, depending on you OS.


Yes, they are in the Nordic forum resource FAQ at the top of this forum. There are instructions for Windows users in the first post, which is by far the most efficient way of dealing with the problem. Further down in that FAQ there are also alternative ways of getting those characters, but they are more cumbersome.


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## hanne

Wilma_Sweden said:


> Yes, they are in the Nordic forum resource FAQ at the top of this forum.


That's just the bare minimum - this is what I was thinking of (not exhaustive either, but gives more options).



Wilma_Sweden said:


> There are instructions for Windows users in the first post, which is by far the most efficient way of dealing with the problem.


Being a Windows user is the best way of dealing with the problem?  I'm not so sure I agree with that


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## Kumpel

Thanks for the help, all.


Lloyd


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## kepulauan

Kumpel said:


> In German, when using a keyboard without Umlaut keys, you can just write an _e_ after the vowell, e.g. "_Ich *höre* gern Musik_" = "_Ich_ _*hoere* gern Musik_."
> 
> Is there anything similar in Icelandic, or do I just have to hunt down the _ö_?
> 
> 
> Takk,
> Lloyd



When you say "hunt down the ö" I guess you already have the Icelandic/Swedish/German layout running. I thougt you meant that oe turned into ö automatically but I just tried that with the windows DE setting and it didn't work. Anyway.. the key next to 1 (on the left) writes Scandinavian diacritics in the standard Icelandic layout.

Shift + (key next to 1) + a = å
Shift + (key next to 1) + (any vowel) = ä ë ÿ ü ï ö

There is no difference between English Shift + ` + o and English - , both sequences produce the same ö.




Alxmrphi said:


> I can't see why anyone can't just do alt+0246 like I do, after a few  dozen times it's almost as easy / natural as doing a capital letter.



I often hear this regarding Icelandic quotation marks (which do not exist on the Icelandic layout for some strange reason) but I've always felt this is a shortsighted approach. The machine is supposed to work for the person, not vice versa.

The best way to deal with the problem is to edit one's preferred layout so that it meets all of the users input needs. I have arranged for my keyboard to write every language i have learnt and beyond without ever leaving my native layout, and I couldn't be happier with it.


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## Alxmrphi

> The best way to deal with the problem is to edit one's preferred layout  so that it meets all of the users input needs. I have arranged for my  keyboard to write every language i have learnt and beyond without ever  leaving my native layout, and I couldn't be happier with it.



I suppose it's better for you, with the Arabic lettering system, I am happy with my alt keyboard, I know all the codes like the back of my hand and it covers all the symbols I need, but on a laptop, I am truly stuck..

How do you edit your keyboard by the way? What do you do? I've never tried it, who knows it could be better for me!


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## Kumpel

pollodia said:


> When you say "hunt down the ö" I guess you already have the Icelandic/Swedish/German layout running. I thougt [sic] you meant that oe turned into ö automatically but I just tried that with the windows DE setting and it didn't work.



By "hunt down," I meant using one of the Windows programs (Office/Live Messenger, etc.) and using the _Ctrl + Shift + :_ then _vowel_ shortcut, or coming onto WR and using the buttons above, then copying that into which ever program I need it in. (Long-winded, I know, but it saves learning the Alt+ codes.) I have no other keyboard layouts running.

_Ae_, _oe _and _ue _are used in print in German, when accessing 'umlauted' vowels could be difficult, or if the font used has no way of representing them, etc.

Lloyd


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## kepulauan

Kumpel said:


> _Ae_, _oe _and _ue _are used in print in German, when accessing 'umlauted' vowels could be difficult, or if the font used has no way of representing them, etc.



I thought that was only English practice, but I see the Germans also need to do it somehow.



Alxmrphi said:


> I suppose it's better for you, with the Arabic lettering system, I am happy with my alt keyboard, I know all the codes like the back of my hand and it covers all the symbols I need, but on a laptop, I am truly stuck..
> 
> How do you edit your keyboard by the way? What do you do? I've never tried it, who knows it could be better for me!



Are you saying the alt-codes only work on desktops? That explains what I was doing wrong.

I use http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx for adding AltGr sequences to existing layouts in XP & Vista. It handles all the most basic tasks and creates an easy-to-use executable file when you're done. I don't know how it's done in Linux. 

I only add latin letters to the Icelandic layout, like ß ¿ and pinyin tone marks. Adding a whole new script one would soon run out of keys.


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## Silver_Biscuit

On a related, but slightly different, note: is it possible to type @ on an Icelandic keyboard? I have my keyboard set to Icelandic and it's no problem at all, except for I always have to switch back to English for the at sign. I mean, it only takes seconds but it's still annoying.


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## kepulauan

This is starting to look like a resources post, but yes, @ can be seen here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KB_Iceland.svg along with the others.

I know, I used to switch to Spanish to write ñ, which real is quick but yet so far away.


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## Wilma_Sweden

hanne said:


> That's just the bare minimum - this is what I was thinking of (not exhaustive either, but gives more options).
> 
> Being a Windows user is the best way of dealing with the problem?  I'm not so sure I agree with that


OK, it looks like I'll need to explain myself properly. The instructions for Windows were are in fact detailed instructions on how to install the US-International keyboard settings. This keyboard layout contains all the foreign characters of the Nordic languages, and if you use it as the default keyboard layout in Windows, you wouldn't even need to switch between different keyboard layouts . If you can't remember where the special characters are, just print out the US-international keyboard layout and keep it handy by the computer or keep the image file handy on your desktop. 

The problem with Windows is of course that you change *country settings* with the Alt-Shift combination. Your date formats, number formats and spelling tools change, too, along with the keyboard layout. The good news is that you can install whatever keyboard layout you want with each country setting, even multiple ones, and tie a shortcut key of your own to a specific keyboard layout. I have also found that many web sites these days are country-sensitive,  which means you get different content depending on whether your computer  has Swedish, UK or other country settings active.

Example: I type a little in multiple languages, and a lot in Swedish and English. I Alt-Shift to UK settings, which has the US-International keyboard installed, for any characters that are not available on the Swedish keyboard layout, i.e. special characters for French, German, Danish/Norwegian and Spanish. I can type in English with either layout, of course. That way, I only need to keep track of two different keyboard layouts: The Swedish one, which is hard-wired into my body, and the international one, which is on my desktop. 

The Alt+nnn sequences are in fact available on some laptops, too, they're just darn cumbersome, because you have to activate the numeric keypad available on the main keyboard by pressing Fn + some key, then Alt+nnn, then de-activate the numeric keypad.

Dear Mac users: Please do not think that I am disrespecting you or your  excellent computers in any way. I just happen to know a lot about PCs  and very little about Macs. I would welcome tips for Mac users for the  forum FAQ if you feel they are missing (by PM).

All the different PC keyboard layouts are in this Wikipedia article, and there are some tips for Mac users, too (see the 'Dead keys' section). 

I don't mind this thread turning into a resource discussion. Until I have time to clean the FAQ up, I'll simply add a link to this thread in the resource FAQ.


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