# English/French Keyboard



## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between, say, the English keyboard on a Power/MacBook and the French keyboard? The reason I ask is if I purchase a PB from someone in Montreal, should I inquire about the keyboard, or does it really matter at all?


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Definitely ask. I remember some time ago that someone really didn't like the french keyboard when they were used to the english keyboard. It's laid out a little different.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I'll post up a photo as we have a few MacBooks with French Canadian ( different than French ) keyboards.


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

Unless you type in French regularly, you are not going to want a French keyboard. The layout is quite different, mostly for the symbols, which will mess you up bigtime if you're used to an English keyboard. I worked in Montreal for a couple of years and hated every time I had to use a French keyboard. Nothing against French, I'm sure someone who used a French keyboard all their life would find it annoying to work on an English keyboard just the same.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Yeah, definitely ask. Swapping a French PB keyboard is expensive, both the labor involved and the part itself ($140+ for the English keyboard on that kind of unit).


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Thanks for your advice. The unit I had my eye on has been sold. I never did actually find out if it was a Canadian French keyboard. Just an assumption.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

madgunde said:


> Unless you type in French regularly, you are not going to want a French keyboard.


This is a bit off-topic, but you've inspired a short venting episode.  

I type in French regularly, though not primarily, and I still wouldn't want a French keyboard. After years of occasional use (usually on PCs) I've finally figured out where all the accents are, but I still find it a great big drag and still have to hunt for question marks, quotation marks, the @ sign and slashes. I find it much easier to type option+[e, i, u, `]+vowel to get accented characters. (Or option-c for ç. I don't think I know where that one is on a FR keyboard.)


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## Gabbadude (Nov 17, 2005)

I've used both kind of keyboards. I prefer the english one (even if my main language is french) but both keyboards have the exact same keys (expect on old keyboards).

You can switch the layout in the OS... but you will have to remember where all the keys are.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

French Canadian MacBook keyboard for reference


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## sloow (Jan 25, 2001)

*How about a France French keyboard.. the AZERTY?*

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/KeyboardLayout-French.png


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Thanks for the pic MacDoc. I don't think I'd want to get stuck with that keyboard.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

I found this Canadian French keyboard layout file for use with an "English" keyboard a while ago. It might be worthwhile to study. The original source has disappeared - see lisezmoi.rtf enclosed in the _.sitx_. In reality the keycaps mean little - it is the layout file that does the lifting. In many respects a keyboard is a keyboard once you know your layout.


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## harzack86 (Jan 30, 2005)

Being from France, it took me a while to get used to the US layout (QWERTY vs AZERTY), but I'm now using "US-International" layout on Windows and I found the same layer available on the Mac.
Basically, it allows me to type accents by typing the ' key once and then the "e" for instance will produce "é". ' is simply ' + "space", etc...
Having the same layout on both computers is very convenient, and I'm now more used to the US layout than the France layout


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