If you’ve ever learned a language, you’re familiar with the four basic skills to learn: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. But people always tend to leave one out… typing! Typing on a different language keyboard takes some practice. Though many languages use the QWERTY keyboard, which English speakers know well, some require you to learn a whole new keyboard configuration! Today, we’ll explain how to change keyboard language settings on any computer and why you might want to make this part of your language exploration.
Last updated 6/18/2024
How to Change Your Keyboard Language Settings for Any Device
Ever wondered why the letters on keyboards aren’t in alphabetical order?
Keyboards are designed based on the use of the specific letters in a language and the frequency of each letter in that language.
For example, take a look at the letters on your keyboard and which ones are the furthest from your active fingers – letters like Q, P, Z, and X. That’s because these letters don’t occur as often. Meanwhile, “E” lies underneath your left middle finger when you rest your hands on the keyboard.
Many languages that use the Roman alphabet stick with the QWERTY setup used in English.
The French keyboard layout is one notable exception!
When you learn French, not only do you have to learn to read, write, listen, and speak, but you might also have to learn to type on an AZERTY keyboard. Luckily, there aren’t a ton of differences between the AZERTY vs. QWERTY boards, but it does take a little getting used to!
And if you’re learning a language with a whole new alphabet, such as Arabic or Russian, forget about it! You’ll go back to basic-level typing.
In this case, it may be a good idea to take some typing tests to practice and get up to speed. Once you have switched your keyboard language and are used to it, of course.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to change your keyboard language, both on your phone and on your computer.
How to change keyboard language on your phone
Changing the language settings on your phone can be especially helpful for the autocorrect feature.
Autocorrect and word prediction can be great learning tools if you know how to use them. Your phone can often even predict the correct conjugation if you’re unsure!
However, if you use autocorrect on your phone, it’s even more important that you
know how to switch keyboard language. Otherwise, if you’re typing in French and your phone thinks you’re trying to type in English, you might end up with some interesting autocorrections!
Luckily, it’s very easy.
How to add and change a keyboard language on your iPhone
First, you’ll need to add the language-specific keyboard to your phone’s settings:
- Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards.
- Tap Add New Keyboard, then choose a keyboard.
Once you’ve added your new keyboard, you can switch between your keyboards in any app that uses the keyboard, such as Messages. Here’s how:
- While typing text, touch and hold the smiley face or world network icons.
- Slide your finger to the name of the keyboard you want to switch to.
You can also tap smiley face or world network icons to switch from one keyboard to another. Continue tapping to access other enabled keyboards. For more information, you can check out Apple’s help pages on how to change keyboard language on your iPhone.
How to add and change a keyboard language on your Samsung device
Open any app that uses the keyboard. Tap the Settings gear icon that appears at the top of the keyboard.
- Select the option that allows you to choose languages (on most devices, this is called “Languages and types”).
- Tap on “Manage input languages” and select the languages you want your device’s keyboard to support. When you select more than one language here, you can quickly switch between languages by swiping your finger across the space bar.
- Press Update to view additional languages that are available for download.
You can also change this by going into your Settings app and scrolling down to the General Management menu, but this way is much quicker.
You’ll see how much this helps, especially when you’re texting your foreign friends!
For more help with this, check out Samsung’s help pages.
How to change keyboard language settings on your computer
How to change keyboard language settings in Windows 10
In Windows 10 (as well as Windows 8):
- Press the Windows logo key and type “Control” to search for the Control Panel app.
- Click Control Panel.
- Under “Clock, Language, and Region,” click “Change input methods.”
- Click “Advanced settings.”
- Under “Switching input methods,” select the “Use the desktop language bar when it’s available” check box, and then click Options.
- In the Text Services and Input Languages dialog box, click the Language Bar tab, and make sure that either the “Floating on Desktop” or the “Docked in the Taskbar” option is selected.
- After you have enabled the keyboard language you want, open your document and place the cursor in the document where you want to start typing text in a different language.
- Click the language icon on the Language bar, which should appear on your taskbar near the clock, and then click the language you want to use. QWERTY TO AZERTY keyboard shortcut: to switch between keyboard layouts, press Alt+Shift.
- Repeat steps 7 and 8 to change your keyboard to English or switch between different languages.
For more help, you can check out Microsoft’s pages on the topic.
How to change keyboard language on Mac
- Choose Apple menu > General > then click Language & Region.
- Do one of the following:
- Add a language: click the Add button, select one or more languages in the list, then click Add.
- Change the primary language: Drag a different preferred language to the top of the Preferred languages list.
Once you’ve added your desired keyboards, you can tap the world network shortcut key to switch between keyboards in any app.
For more information on this, you can head to Apple’s support pages.
On your phone, you can switch your keyboard whenever you want to type in a different language, and the keys will automatically switch.
It’ll take your thumbs some getting used to, but you’ll be able to see the changes made very easily.
It’s a little more tricky on your computer because you will have to remember which keys are where. Your physical keyboard won’t magically change! We recommend getting keyboard stickers to help you remember which keys change until you get used to the new keyboard language.
You can also find silicone keyboard covers on Amazon. These covers can be taken on and off your keyboard as you switch back and forth between keyboard languages. This is great for language lovers who want to branch out!
Why Change Your Keyboard Language?
So, if most languages use the QWERTY keyboard language, why should you switch your keyboard language?
Top-Speed Typing
First, as I mentioned above, keyboards are specifically designed with the most frequent letters of a language at convenient locations on the keyboard.
So, changing your keyboard layout to match the language you’re learning is helpful. For example, the “Q” is in the top left on an English keyboard because you don’t use it much.
On a French keyboard, however, it takes the place of the “A,” because a “Q” is much more frequent. (Think of all the times you’ll type qui, quoi, and que!) Having frequent letters in the right place will help you to type much faster in the long run.
Easy-Access Accents
But some keyboards are a lot closer. So why switch? If you’re learning Spanish, you may think it’s not necessary.
When you start typing a lot, though, you’ll soon get sick of having to press 3 different keys in order to get an accent on a vowel, to type an ñ, or to add upside-down question marks or exclamation points. All of this is much easier to do if you have a Spanish keyboard.
The ñ appears on all keyboards just to the right of the L, and doesn’t require you to type any other keys.
If you don’t have Spanish keyboard settings activated, however, here’s how to type the Spanish ñ: press alt + n, and then type n on a Mac. Or, press alt + 0241 (lowercase ñ) or alt + 0209 (uppercase Ñ) on a Windows computer.
To type vowels with accents, instead of typing long sequences of commands, all you have to do is type the apostrophe (‘) key on your keyboard followed by the vowel you want to accent on your Windows keyboard, or (´) followed by the vowel you want to accent on Mac.
How to type Spanish punctuation with and without changing keyboard language
Don’t forget upside-down punctuation, which is unique to Spanish! Spanish is the only language that uses upside-down question marks and exclamation points. This is another reason that it’s important to have a Spanish keyboard when typing in Spanish!
If you have a Spanish keyboard on your Mac, here’s how to type an upside-down exclamation point (¡): shift + 1
If you don’t: press alt + 1.
On a Spanish keyboard, to type an upside-down question mark on Mac (¿): press shift + ,
If you don’t have a Spanish keyboard, to get the inverted question mark: press alt + shift + ?
And if you have a Spanish keyboard on Windows, these symbols are next to Backspace at the top right corner of your keyboard. Otherwise, press and hold Alt, then type 0191 for the upside-down question mark. Press and hold Alt, then type 0161 on the number pad for the upside-down exclamation point.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has helped you learn how to change language settings on a keyboard.
So, when you learn a new language, remember that you actually need to learn 5 basic skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and typing! Don’t worry; typing comes easily and is a lot like riding a bike. Once you’ve learned how to do it, you’ll never forget!
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Of course, if you want to type Russian or Arabic, you’ll have to use the appropriate keyboard. But if French isn’t your first language, switching to an Azerty keyboard is just madness. It’s far too complicated and will confuse your brain and slow you down enormously. The same with the German keyboard, which is slightly different from the qwerty one.
I’m used to the qwerty keyboard, and have learned the shortcuts for accents and umlauts and whatnot. If your first language is English, the best keyboard is the International qwerty keyboard.