Comments on: Inserting accented characters in OpenOffice.org http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/ ...the translation industry and becoming a translator Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:30:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Helen http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-3370 Helen Sun, 09 May 2010 10:01:39 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-3370 I use Open Office for typing up my assignments for my Spanish course and have struggled with this issue. My slightly fiddly solution has been to type my assignments in the dialogue box offered on the writing section of this site: http://www.lenguajero.com/write-in-spanish/ Then copy my text complete with inserted Spanish characters into my Open Office document. Only problem is, I have to be careful not to accidentally post my assignments on the Lenguajero site by mistake! Obviously this is not suitable for all languages but perhaps other sites offer something similar? I use Open Office for typing up my assignments for my Spanish course and have struggled with this issue. My slightly fiddly solution has been to type my assignments in the dialogue box offered on the writing section of this site:

http://www.lenguajero.com/write-in-spanish/

Then copy my text complete with inserted Spanish characters into my Open Office document. Only problem is, I have to be careful not to accidentally post my assignments on the Lenguajero site by mistake!

Obviously this is not suitable for all languages but perhaps other sites offer something similar?

]]> By: Update 2: Accented characters in OpenOffice.org « Thoughts On Translation http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-590 Update 2: Accented characters in OpenOffice.org « Thoughts On Translation Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:02:06 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-590 [...] 24, 2008 by Corinne McKay Bill Hibbert just sent an addition update about his macro for inserting accented characters in OpenOffice.org. Here it [...] [...] 24, 2008 by Corinne McKay Bill Hibbert just sent an addition update about his macro for inserting accented characters in OpenOffice.org. Here it [...]

]]> By: Post updates: Mac backups, accented characters in OpenOffice.org « Thoughts On Translation http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-577 Post updates: Mac backups, accented characters in OpenOffice.org « Thoughts On Translation Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:05:37 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-577 [...] then Bill Hibbert, whose macro was featured in the post Inserting accented characters in OpenOffice.org wrote in with an update on that [...] [...] then Bill Hibbert, whose macro was featured in the post Inserting accented characters in OpenOffice.org wrote in with an update on that [...]

]]> By: bill hibbert http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-572 bill hibbert Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:44:20 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-572 Hi I've been pointed here by someone who found my macro via your blog and was kind enough to write and say thank you for it. I'm not a professional translator, although have done a lot of French->English translation, and often work in the two languages together (I'm English living mostly in France). I developed the macro because my memory isn't good enough to remember all the ALT,0 combinations needed to input even a modest set of special characters, and picking them off the special character menu is far too clumsy for frequent use. The problem is a long-standing one in OO - these two bug reports, which were opened in 2002, give an idea of the history: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=6847 http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=4579 The latter in particular should amuse - I post as redi2go there, and you can see how irritated I was getting around the middle of last year. Having had the insight that there was a simple solution that nobody had spotted in five years of searching and done the work to develop and test it, I was then infuriated by the sheer impossibility of making it into an extension and putting it into a generally available library. My post on the 4579 bug of May 8th gives a pretty accurate view of my feelings on the matter! I like my solution because it doesn't need the mouse, it's quick and intuitive to use, it has no practical limits on the number of special characters made available, and it's easy to customise to key combinations that make sense to you. Anyway, thought I'd just check in and say hello, and how pleased I am that this little piece of software is useful to somebody - I really thought it had sunk without trace! Hi
I’ve been pointed here by someone who found my macro via your blog and was kind enough to write and say thank you for it.
I’m not a professional translator, although have done a lot of French->English translation, and often work in the two languages together (I’m English living mostly in France). I developed the macro because my memory isn’t good enough to remember all the ALT,0 combinations needed to input even a modest set of special characters, and picking them off the special character menu is far too clumsy for frequent use.
The problem is a long-standing one in OO – these two bug reports, which were opened in 2002, give an idea of the history:
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=6847
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=4579
The latter in particular should amuse – I post as redi2go there, and you can see how irritated I was getting around the middle of last year.
Having had the insight that there was a simple solution that nobody had spotted in five years of searching and done the work to develop and test it, I was then infuriated by the sheer impossibility of making it into an extension and putting it into a generally available library. My post on the 4579 bug of May 8th gives a pretty accurate view of my feelings on the matter!
I like my solution because it doesn’t need the mouse, it’s quick and intuitive to use, it has no practical limits on the number of special characters made available, and it’s easy to customise to key combinations that make sense to you.
Anyway, thought I’d just check in and say hello, and how pleased I am that this little piece of software is useful to somebody – I really thought it had sunk without trace!

]]> By: Irishpolyglot http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-500 Irishpolyglot Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:47:33 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-500 Hey again Corinne :) Even though I also only translate into English, I use MS Office's shortcuts for Mathematical symbols and Greek characters (for Maths/Physics related documents) a lot. This may explain why the macro was originally developed by Bill. Despite running Linux, I still use a virtual box so that I can use MS Office because of particular macros I need and some problems I've had in viewing Word documents the way they are seen in MS Word that I've been too lazy to investigate. But I use OpenOffice for all non-work related typing so this macro will come in handy! I do quite hate resorting to copying and pasting a single character, but I too have been guilty of it... Otherwise I specifically bought my laptop with a SPANISH keyboard printed on it. (Despite buying it in Ireland, Dell were happy to oblige). In all keyboards I've used, this one let's you write the most European languages on it by default áèïñõ纷ô <-- did all of that with no extra programming needed and from within any piece of software :) Of course you don't need the keyboard actually printed on the PC. You can just set it to Spanish, and even buy new sticky covers for your keys off ebay for whatever language you like to help you remember. Thanks for the link! By the way, congratulations on getting in the top 100 Language Blogs!! :) :) Hey again Corinne :)

Even though I also only translate into English, I use MS Office’s shortcuts for Mathematical symbols and Greek characters (for Maths/Physics related documents) a lot. This may explain why the macro was originally developed by Bill. Despite running Linux, I still use a virtual box so that I can use MS Office because of particular macros I need and some problems I’ve had in viewing Word documents the way they are seen in MS Word that I’ve been too lazy to investigate.
But I use OpenOffice for all non-work related typing so this macro will come in handy! I do quite hate resorting to copying and pasting a single character, but I too have been guilty of it…

Otherwise I specifically bought my laptop with a SPANISH keyboard printed on it. (Despite buying it in Ireland, Dell were happy to oblige). In all keyboards I’ve used, this one let’s you write the most European languages on it by default áèïñõ纷ô <– did all of that with no extra programming needed and from within any piece of software :) Of course you don’t need the keyboard actually printed on the PC. You can just set it to Spanish, and even buy new sticky covers for your keys off ebay for whatever language you like to help you remember.

Thanks for the link! By the way, congratulations on getting in the top 100 Language Blogs!! :) :)

]]> By: Jean-Christophe Helary http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2008/08/05/inserting-accented-characters-in-openofficeorg/#comment-499 Jean-Christophe Helary Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:40:08 +0000 http://corinnemckay.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-499 Corinne, I was going to write a description of how to do that on the Mac but it started to become an article in its own so I transfered it to my blog... "Accented letters and other symbols on the Mac" http://mac4translators.blogspot.com/2008/08/accented-letters-and-other-symbols-on.html What I describe is how to do what you describe for (almost) any application on the Mac since the functions are system-wide. Thank you for the article, it prompted me for a long over due update on my blog ! Corinne,

I was going to write a description of how to do that on the Mac but it started to become an article in its own so I transfered it to my blog…

“Accented letters and other symbols on the Mac”

http://mac4translators.blogspot.com/2008/08/accented-letters-and-other-symbols-on.html

What I describe is how to do what you describe for (almost) any application on the Mac since the functions are system-wide.

Thank you for the article, it prompted me for a long over due update on my blog !

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