Typing, Email and Word Processing in Foreign Languages

Setting up Foreign Language Keyboards or IMEs on Your Computer

Windows 7
- Add or change an input language - follow these instructions to activate keyboard layouts for different languages on Windows 7
- The language bar - How to show, hide or close the language bar
Windows XP
- Set up Keyboards and/or Input Device to Type in Another Language (View Quick Guide online)
- Install and use East Asian Languages - alternative, detailed set of instructions on how to activate Chinese, Japanese and Korean under Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista
Mac OS X 10.6
- Turn on input languages - follow these instructions to activate keyboard layouts for different languages on Mac OS 10.6

Windows
- United States-International Keyboard Layout (activating and using the US International keyboard may be the easiest way to type accented characters in Windows, e.g., for French, German, Spanish, etc.)
  - Another site explaining how to use the U.S International keyboard layout in Windows
- Shortcut keys for typing accented characters using the default U.S. keyboard layout in Windows (if you do not want to or are unable to activate the U.S. International layout)
- Diagrams showing the layouts for the Arabic, Bulgarian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu keyboards in Windows (Downloadable PDF)
- View any of the Windows keyboard layouts online
- Use the On-Screen Keyboard to see the layout of the keyboard that is currently active in Windows
Mac
- Shortcut keys for typing accented characters using the default U.S. keyboard layout on a Mac
- Keyboard Viewer - allows you to see the layout of the keyboard that is currently active (instructions for Mac OS 10.6)
  - Keyboard Viewer in Mac OS 10.5

Sending and Receiving Non-Western Language E-Mail (View Quick Guide online)
Sending and Receiving Emails in Foreign Languages via Mozilla Thunderbird on Windows XP (Downloadable PDF)
Sending and Receiving Emails in Foreign Languages via Mozilla Thunderbird on Mac OS X (Downloadable PDF)

Non-English Keyboards for Windows XP, Vista and 2000/NT - includes screen shots on how to activate Russian, Central European and Greek keyboards; and install and activate East Asian and complex script keyboards
RTL Languages in Word for Windows Office 2007 and Earlier – with instructions for configuring Word to allow easier input of RTL languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and others
RTL Languages on a Mac – suggestions for optimizing the Macintosh free application TextEdit to handle RTL languages

Last update: 7/28/10