Typing Esperanto in MacOSX

February 11, 2012

Pablo Fernandez

In one way or another you can type Esperanto in any operating system without using the x-system (which I really dislike). Of all the operating systems and UIs I used (many!), the one that makes typing Esperanto the best is MacOSX, but you have to configure your keyboard properly first (this is for English based Qwerty keyboards, not sure how it would work with others). You want U.S. Extended:

To type the pointy hats, you press ⌥+6 (that is, alt or option plus the letter 6) which gives you:

and then the following letter, g, c, S, G, whatever: Ĝ

For ŭ is the same, but you have to press ⌥+b to get the other kind of hat:

and that’s all there’s to it.

10 responses to “Typing Esperanto in MacOSX”

Eric

2012-02-11

For those who want this same functionality with the Dvorak keyboard layout, you’ll need to download Dvorak Extended Custom from here: http://fwvdijk.org/

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1. Pablo
  
  2012-02-11
  
  Nice! Dvorak for the win! I actually use Dvorak, but my keyboard can switch and send the corresponding Qwerty key when I press the Dvorak key, which is quite convenient, specially when there are other keyboards connected to the same computer being used by other people.
  
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  1. Eric
    
    2012-02-11
    
    Wow, no kidding… I’ve never heard of that. Very nice. What kind of keyboard is that and where can I get one? haha
    
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  2. Pablo
    
    2012-02-11
    
    It’s the Kinesis Advantage, the “Advantage Qwerty/Dvorak Switchable, USB, Black. Contoured Keyboard for Mac & PC, KB500USB/QD-blk” comes with dual key-caps, both qwerty and dvorak, although I think you can switch any of them to dvorak as the software is the same.
    
    It is an expensive keyboard, but if you really value your hands and spend a lot of time in a keyboard, I believe it’s the best one to have.
    
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2. Jessica Sideways
  
  2015-05-28
  
  I was just wondering about that (just started learning Esperanto and I’ve been a Dvorak typist for the last year and a half). Merci. :)
  
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Jonathan

2012-02-17

If you ever are stuck with Windows, I reckon AutoHotkey (installed with the Unicode setting) would be the way to go.
It can automatically put accents into some words, for example, one line of AHK code for (sorry, not a Spanish example…): “::cafe::café”, and/or you can define any convenient key sequence to put accented characters in, like 6G for Ĝ in AHK code would be “:*?:6G::Ĝ”. Any easy to type but as yet unused pattern would be a candidate…

P.S. I also use AutoHotkey for Lisp programming, typing 7opt to get &optional, among other things…

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Federico Gobbo

2012-02-18

Dankon por via blogero! Mi estis serĉanta solvon sen bezono instali ion ajn!

Amikajn salutojn de Italio,

Federico

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Pancho (Armin) Doneis

2014-10-24

Fine, iu klarigis la simpla metodo por usi la specialajn literojn en la lingvo sur la Macintoŝ computilo.
Me tre dankas vin pro via helpon.

Pancho (Panĉo)

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Esther Schor

2018-02-01

I have Mac OS 10.13.3 (High Sierra) – There is no “English Extended” – I tried ABC extended but these instructions do not work. Thanks.

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1. J. Pablo Fernández
  
  2018-03-21
  
  Yeah. This article is very old. I’m not sure what the current situation is.
  
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