Problem
1 I can't type accents.
2 When I do, I still don't know what they mean. How do I look them up?
3 What are their names? In English French Spanish German, Russian, Czech, Norwegian Greek, Swedish
Answers
1 Typing
Hold down the vowel key on your laptop when you type and the letters with the accents appear. Sometimes you are offered a number and you press the number key at the top of your keyboard at the same time to select the correct vowel.
On a smart mobile phone without a keyboard, you slide your fingertip across to the vowel with your chosen accent in the pop-up box.
2 Diacritics
Check Wikipedia under diacritics.
Check Wikipedia under alphabet and the language you want.
3 Accents in general
Accents have two purposes. They tell you which syllable in the one you emphasize or accent. They change the pronunciation of a consonant or vowel.
alphabetically by name
acute - see French
cedilla - used in French and Romanian
circle - see Swedish
circumflex - see French
grave - see French
tilda - see Spanish
umlaut - see German
Alphabetically by language
Czech
The wedge or downward point over the letter c changes the pronunciation to ch as in the English words Chili and church. (Note that the word Czechoslovakian uses cz for the ch sound.)
English Accents
The double dot called an umlaut in German, also known as dieresis, is rarely used except in dictionaries and tells you to pronounce both letters as in coöperative. Pronounced co - op not coop. (Another English word with a double vowel sound is a vacuum cleaner, pronounced vac-you-um, although many people rush the word so it sounds like vac-ume. When giving a scientific paper at a conference you would be sure to pronounce the word vacuum.)
French Accents
Acute - Goes upwards from left to right
Grave - Goes downwards from left to right
Circumflex (From the Latin meaning bent around, circum is around like circle, flexible bends. The symbol looks like a pointed Chinese coolie hat or a roof on a house.
When I was taught French at Grammar school by a native French speaker I was told the hat accent often indicates a missing s, as in the French word hôpital - so an English speaking person reading the French, like me and you, can guess the translation.
Table d'hôte is the table of the host, so often the dish of the day in a restaurant, with no choice. Therefore, you can also recognize île de France as the island of France.
German
unlaut - double dot
Spanish
Tilda - wave line turns n into a n+y sound as in canyon (in English) and piña colada prounced pinya colada in Spanish.
Swedish and Norse
Circle
Useful Websites
https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Diacritical.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185751,00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_accent
I'm taking a tea break. I'll add more details shortly. Come back later.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, former school teacher and home tutor, polyglot learner of languages, and teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters International English and advanced and bilingual speaking groups and university and poly students and businesses.
1 I can't type accents.
2 When I do, I still don't know what they mean. How do I look them up?
3 What are their names? In English French Spanish German, Russian, Czech, Norwegian Greek, Swedish
Answers
1 Typing
Hold down the vowel key on your laptop when you type and the letters with the accents appear. Sometimes you are offered a number and you press the number key at the top of your keyboard at the same time to select the correct vowel.
On a smart mobile phone without a keyboard, you slide your fingertip across to the vowel with your chosen accent in the pop-up box.
2 Diacritics
Check Wikipedia under diacritics.
Check Wikipedia under alphabet and the language you want.
3 Accents in general
Accents have two purposes. They tell you which syllable in the one you emphasize or accent. They change the pronunciation of a consonant or vowel.
alphabetically by name
acute - see French
cedilla - used in French and Romanian
circle - see Swedish
circumflex - see French
grave - see French
tilda - see Spanish
umlaut - see German
Alphabetically by language
Czech
The wedge or downward point over the letter c changes the pronunciation to ch as in the English words Chili and church. (Note that the word Czechoslovakian uses cz for the ch sound.)
English Accents
The double dot called an umlaut in German, also known as dieresis, is rarely used except in dictionaries and tells you to pronounce both letters as in coöperative. Pronounced co - op not coop. (Another English word with a double vowel sound is a vacuum cleaner, pronounced vac-you-um, although many people rush the word so it sounds like vac-ume. When giving a scientific paper at a conference you would be sure to pronounce the word vacuum.)
French Accents
Acute - Goes upwards from left to right
Grave - Goes downwards from left to right
Circumflex (From the Latin meaning bent around, circum is around like circle, flexible bends. The symbol looks like a pointed Chinese coolie hat or a roof on a house.
When I was taught French at Grammar school by a native French speaker I was told the hat accent often indicates a missing s, as in the French word hôpital - so an English speaking person reading the French, like me and you, can guess the translation.
Table d'hôte is the table of the host, so often the dish of the day in a restaurant, with no choice. Therefore, you can also recognize île de France as the island of France.
German
unlaut - double dot
Hungarian
The sz looks confusing, but it's simply as, with a slight z sound as on bus stops with the sign BUSZ and more clearly in the girl's name Suszanna.
Romanian
Tilda - wave line turns n into a n+y sound as in canyon (in English) and piña colada prounced pinya colada in Spanish.
Swedish and Norse
Circle
Useful Websites
https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Diacritical.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185751,00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_accent
I'm taking a tea break. I'll add more details shortly. Come back later.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, former school teacher and home tutor, polyglot learner of languages, and teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters International English and advanced and bilingual speaking groups and university and poly students and businesses.
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