Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Printing alphabets and Keyboard stickers in Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Korean, Thai and more

How do you print out keyboards?
The foreign language keyboard is not in alphabetical order but jumbled up, as is the English layout QWERTY.


For Hebrew I found this site:
http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm
It shows the Hebrew letters on the English letters. For example the Hebrew better l or lamed is on the English letter K key. So if I want to touch type the Hebrew letter L called lamed I can do it with taking my eyes off the print just by typing the english letter K.
http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm

Another way would be simply to type all the letters in Hebrew in bold. (All you need to do is run a fingertip or fingernail along all three rows of English keys, after clicking on the Hebrew letter symbol for the language you have installed - with the symbol now at the top right of your screen - on mine left of the date.

You then print that off.

If you are not sufficiently au fait with your computer or laptop to do a screen capture, print the foreign alphabet. Photograph it on your smart mobile phone. Load the picture onto your laptop. If you are using an Apple laptop such as the MacBook Pro, you can crop the photo in iPhoto to show just the screen. Then either paste it into your diary, or onto a triangular stand.

I do not need a stand because the paper seems to stand of its own accord.

How do you make a triangular stand?
Take an out of date of wanted flip over calendar with a firm cover. Pull off a piece of thick card. fold the card in half longways.  Turn the calendar open with the spiral binding at the top so it forms an A shape on your desk. Stick tape or glue the piece of card to link the two sides of the A and form a base. If you have taken a piece of card from the calendar, it should be the same width. Alternatively cut a piece from a cereal box.

Your printout of the alphabet in the foreign language on a keyboard can stand against the A frame, or be stick taped to it for a permanent aid.

Photo
Alternatively photograph your qwerty keyboard. Print onto white paper. type out the foreign symbols for each letter on your laptop or computer screen. Copy the foreign letters onto the printed sheet alongside the corresponding key. Use a coloured marker for the second alphabet.

Post it or mini sticker for keys
If you are bilingual or working with two languages all day, it might be worthwhile to print off the alphabet and stick a tiny letter on each key. I suspect if you use post its your fingers will soon slide if off. On the other hand if you use a glue, you risk getting your keys stuck down and making a mess, getting glue on your fingers. It depends how neat a person you are.

http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm

Somebody on a Duolingo forum suggested I should buy 'keyboard stickers'. I looked them up on the internet and immediately found them on eBay in several languages and colours. I would want a different colour from my keyboard as contrast.

I presume these stickers are ready gummed and the sort of gum which is suitable and won't melt or slide and a suitable size. You must check what is available in your location and if they would suit your situation. You could even leave them as a sign on the table without sticking them onto your keyboard.

Russian Keyboard Stickers
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUSSIAN-KEYBOARD-STICKERS-TRANSPARENT-SUPER-DURABLE-NON-FADE-various-colours-/151785029563?var=&hash=item235717bfbb
The price for these is £1.99 (my eBay site is set to record that I am in the UK so the price appears in pounds sterling).

Greek Keyboard Stickers
See through stickers sounds good idea. On Amazon I found this set, prices quoted in dollars, American dollars I presume, $2.36 plus $4.49 to post to the UK. A bit dearer, but if you are buying them for business use and claiming them as a business expense I presume you will want the most suitable product, smart in appearance and quick to stick, rather than the cheapest.
https://www.amazon.com/KEYBOARD-STICKERS-TRANSPARENT-BACKGROUND-LETTERING/dp/B002FYFU8Q

The stickers are very reasonably priced. They come in various colours. If you have a white keys on your keyboard you will want to use any colour except white, preferably different to the colour of the English. If you have a black keys, you will want any colour except black, and probably a contrast to the white letters of QWERTY.

You can also buy stickers for other languages such as Arabic.
Or Hebrew and Arabic.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAC-ARABIC-HEBREW-ENGLISH-KEYBOARD-STICKER-NON-TRANSPARENT-BLACK-FOR-COMPUTER
From the USA. $6.85 (approx £5.20 depending on exchange rate) plus postage and packing $3.99, approx £3.03.

Check that you are buying stickers which are for your size keyboard and positioning of letters.

Other languages available in stickers are French, German, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Farsi and Persian.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, language teacher.

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