On a Mac, use the following:
For accents, hit Option + e, then the vowel you want
For ñ, hit Option + n, then n
For ?, hit Option + Shift + ?
For ¡, hit Option + !
In Windows 7, to write accents and typographic symbols in any program, including Word, Blackboard, and email, you have two choices:
1. To create an English international keyboard that allows you to create international characters:
- Go to your Control Panel (through Start).
- Click Clock, Language, and Region.
- Click Change keyboards or other input methods.
- Click Change keyboards...
- Click Add.
- Under English (United States) check the box for United States-International.
- Click OK.
- United States-International will now appear on your keyboard list. To be able to switch keyboards through hitting a certain key combination on your computer, click the tab Advanced Key Settings and follow the directions to select the key combination. To show an indicator of which keyboard you are using, click the tab Language Bar and follow the directions.
- Click OK and close the Control Panel.
In the United States-International keyboard:
- for accents hit ‘, which is now a dead key, then the vowel you want
- for ñ, ~ then n
- for ü, ” then u
- the ¿ is Alt + ?
- the ¡ is Alt + !
2. To create a Latin American keyboard:
- Go to your Control Panel (through Start).
- Click Clock, Language, and Region.
- Click Change keyboards or other input methods.
- Click Change keyboards...
- Click Add.
- Under Spanish (Mexican or any other Latin American country) and then under Keyboard, check the box for Latin American keyboard.
- Click OK.
- Spanish will now appear on your keyboard list. To be able to switch keyboards through hitting a certain key combination on your computer, click the tab Advanced Key Settings and follow the directions to select the key combination. To show an indicator of which keyboard you are using, click the tab Language Bar and follow the directions.
- Click OK and close the Control Panel.
In the Latin American keyboard:
- for accents hit the “[” key, which is now a dead key, then the vowel you want
- for ñ, use the “;” key
- the ¿ is “=”
- the ? is the underline key “_”
- the ¡ is “+”
- the ! is in the same place, over the 1
If you don’t want to change the keyboard, in Word, click the Insert tab and you will see a pull-down menu called Symbols on the far right. Among the symbols are international characters and punctuation. If you are using another program, you can create the document in Word and then copy and paste into the other program.