: Guide to Writing in a Foreign Language |
While learning a foreign language here at CSUSM, you will more than
likely find the need to write in the language being studied. If you have
already had to do so, you probably realized that many characters do not
appear on your keyboard. Beyond that, you may have also realized that
your word processing application only has spell checker and grammar
checker for English. This page is here to provide you with information
to facilitate your writing in foreign language.
The Language Learning Center is here for you. We have computers armed
with the applications you need to write in a foreign language, spell
checkers, grammar checkers and all. We even have Word, Netscape and
other applications in foreign language format. You may come in during
our operating hours to use these computers.
On this page, you will find information about:
Sharing Documents - Hints on bringing a document in for checking, or
taking one home to type.
Special Characters - Hints on typing characters that you don't see on
your keyboard.
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: : Sharing Documents |
We know that we're not always open, and sometimes you just can't make it
in while we are. Feel free to type up a document outside of the lab and
bring it in to check your spelling, grammar, etc. Here are a few hints
that may save you some headaches later on:
SAVE AS - When you save your document, either in the lab or at home,
make sure you save it in a format that the other can read. For example,
if you type up a paper here and save it as a Word 2000 document, you
will most likely not be able to open it up on a computer that uses Word
5.0 or earlier version. Make sure when you save it, that you "Save As" a
document that can be read on the destination computer.
TOOLS, LANGUAGE - Did you type a foreign language document in an English
format, but now want to check it in another language? Well don't get
annoyed by all the red squiggly lines under the words when you bring it
in to the Language Learning Center. Even if you are using Word in, say,
Japanese or Spanish, you may still have to set the language of the
document to the target language (because when you originally typed it,
it registered the default to English). Don't get confused. Just follow
these steps to correct it:
Select All (click on EDIT at the top, then SELECT ALL)
Now that everything is highlighted, go to TOOLS
Place the pointer on LANGUAGE, then click on SET LANGUAGE
Choose the desired language for your document and click OK
The word processor will now recognize your entire document as being in
the language you mean it to be in. Proceed with your spell and/or
grammar check. If you are typing your document at home, you may set the
document to the desired language there, but unless you have the
"proofing tools", you will now be able to check it in other languages
(information on proofing tools in foreign languages is located on this
page).
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: : Special Characters |
There are basically two ways to enter the characters that you want while
using the standard QWERTY keyboard (the keyboard you probably have).
The first is the most universal method: ASCII Codes. These are three
number codes entered while holding down the Alt key to the right of your
spacebar. When you release the Alt key, the character will appear. For a
list of these codes on the PC, click here. If you are looking for these
codes for the Mac, click here.
The second method involves changing your keyboard set up. This is
something that can be done on your home computer (you will not be able
to change the settings with on-campus computers). The result is a simple
and quick way to type your characters. For example, and accented "a"
comes by typing the apostrophe key followed by the "a". This may cause a
little extra patience when later typing apostrophes and quotes in
English. |
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