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Wellesley College Research Guides

Writing in Foreign Languages: French

A guide to using foreign characters, software for writing in foreign languages, and using foreign language keyboards.

Welcome

This guide is always evolving. Suggestions for software or resources to link to are welcome.

Table of Contents

Accent & Diacritical Marks

Software for Macs

Software for PCs

Setting Up Foreign Language Keyboards

Accent & Diacritical Marks

The following accent shortcuts work with most applications and browsers, including Microsoft Word and Gmail.

Typing French accent marks on a Mac:

Accute Accent é option + e , then e
Grave Accent à, è, ù option + `, then the letter
Cédille ç option + c
Circumflex â, ê, î, ô, û option + i, then the letter
Tréma

ë, ï, ü

option + u, then the letter
Quotation Marks

«
»

option + \
option + shift + \

 

Typing French accent marks on a PC:

Accute Accent é alt + 130 É alt + 144
Grave Accent à
è
ù
alt + 133
alt + 138
alt + 151
À
È
Ù
alt + 0192
alt + 0200
alt + 0217
Cédille ç alt + 135 Ç alt + 128
Circumflex â
ê
î
ô
û
alt + 131
alt + 136
alt + 140
alt + 147
alt + 150
Â
Ê
Î
Ô
Û
alt + 0194
alt + 0202
alt + 0206
alt + 0212
alt + 0219
Tréma ä
ë
ï
ü
alt + 132
alt + 137
alt + 139
alt + 129
Ä
Ë
Ï
Ü
alt +142
alt + 0203
alt + 0207
alt + 154
Quotation Marks «
»
alt + 174
alt + 175
   

Software for Macs

The Microsoft Office suite supports French spell check. You can set it as your default language in Office for Mac using these instructions.

Gmail also supports French spell check. To use this, click on the drop-down menu for spell check in an email and select Francais. You may still have correctly spelled words appear misspelled depending on your browser settings.

To change your browser language:

Firefox: In the Preferences window go to the Content tab and set the Language.

Chrome: Settings -> Advanced settings -> Languages

Software for PCs

The Microsoft Office suite supports French spell check. You can set it as your default language using these instructions.

Gmail also supports French spell check. To use this, click on the drop-down menu for spell check in an email and select Francais. You may still have correctly spelled words appear misspelled depending on your browser settings.

To change your browser language:

Firefox: In the Options window go to the Content tab and set the Language.

Chrome: Settings -> Advanced settings -> Languages

Setting Up Foreign Language Keyboards

Here are the LTS instructions for setting up a foreign language keyboard:

Subject Technologist

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Rebecca Darling
Contact:
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rdarling@wellesley.edu
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Office: Clapp Library Room 219B