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France Says AZERTY Keyboards Fail French Typists (arstechnica.com)

Posted by timothy on from the but-how-are-the-umlauts? dept.

Ars Technica reports that the AZERTY keyboard layout used in France has a problem: it's not very good for writing French words, many of which require accents that can be accessed only awkwardly. An excerpt from the Ars story: In a statement released this week, the ministry lamented the fact that French keyboards, which use the AZERTY layout rather than the QWERTY layout familiar to English speakers, make it unnecessarily difficult to type common symbols and letters. While the 26 letters of the alphabet as well as common accented letters like é, à, è, and ù are generally represented similarly on an AZERTY keyboard, the ministry said that the @ symbol and the € symbol are inconveniently or inconsistently placed, as are commands to capitalize symbols like "ç". The trouble of finding how to properly capitalize accented letters is a big issue in written French, especially for legal texts and government documents where every letter of the names of people and businesses are capitalized. Often, an accent is the only distinguishing factor between two similarly spelled words.

8 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Zimply yooz Qwerty by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I 'av ner problem typing zee french on zis keyberd layoot!

    1. Re: Zimply yooz Qwerty by WarJolt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wrong. Clearly you have your keyboard misconfigured in dvorak mode.

    2. Re:Zimply yooz Qwerty by mjwx · · Score: 4, Funny

      I 'av ner problem typing zee french on zis keyberd layoot!

      Speak for yourself, I have always found the "snooty" key too far to reach, considering the amount I need that accent when typing French.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. Just use whatever the Germans do by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Look, just take a standard keyboard from Germany, walk down the Champs-Ãlysées with it, and I'm sure the French will surrender to it in a very organized fashion.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    1. Re: Just use whatever the Germans do by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hmm, they come out as gibberish on Slashdot.

      So do most of the articles, and many of the comments :-)

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  3. Status: WONTFIX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Often, an accent is the only distinguishing factor between two similarly spelled words."

    Sounds like a problem with the language, not the keyboard. WONTFIX

  4. Re:The more you tighten your grip... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

    You looser ....

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  5. Re:The more you tighten your grip... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Stop being a racist. You need to respect the Qu'ran, and that means wearing a burqa if you're female. If you don't follow Islamic modesty codes, then you're being a racist.