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Keyboarding and accentuation

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Keyboarding and accentuation   Keyboarding in Spanish Create a Spanish keyboard for your computer running Windows XP:         (For Windows Vista click here. For Mac, click here.) Start Control Panel Regional and Language Options Languages tab Click on "Details" button Click on "Add" button choose Spanish (traditional sort) Hit the "Language bar" button Make sure "Show additional language bar icons in the task bar" is checked Hit the "Okay" button Hit the "Key settings" button Highlight "Switch between input languages - Left alt+Shift" Hit the "Okay" button Keep hitting "Okay" buttons until you're out. Now when you want to shift quickly from an English to a Spanish keyboard, all you have to do is hold the left alt button and hit the Shift button. Do the same thing and it will switch back to English.  You can also do it by mouse-clicking on the button in the task bar (bottom bar on your screen). ª ! " · $ % & / ( ) = ? ¿ º 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ' ¡   Q W E T R T Y U I O P ^ * Ç q w e r t y u i o p ` + ç   A S D F G H J K L Ñ ü    a s d f g h j k l ñ é      Z X C V B N M ; : _ z x c v b n m , . - This is what your keyboard is probably going to produce.  Check it out for yourself!  Notice that at the end of the third row down, these are accent keys.  You strike the key, it appears as though nothing has happened, and then you stike the key for the vowel you want accented.  That vowel then appears with the accent over it. Using your keypad to input accented letters The abbreviated verstion of what you find in the link above. á  alt-160     ¿  alt-168  (as in ¿Dónde?) é  alt-130     ¡  alt-173  (as in ¡Cuidado!) í   alt-161     ª  alt-166  (as in 2ª - sedunda) ó  alt-162     º  alt-167  (as in 3º - tercero) ú  alt-163     ñ  alt-165 Rules for stress in Spanish (la acentuación) Learn the simple rules under the above link and you'll almost never have to wonder if a vowel gets an accent. Memorize this: If the word ends in a vowel, "n" or "s" The penultimate syllable gets the stress. This means that if it ends in a consonant (excepting "n" and "s"), the last syllable gets the stress. However... with a few words, the stress is not on the last nor the penultimate syllable. These words have helpful accents to show where you give the stress: penúltimo (penultimate, next-to-last) teléfono número contármelo (tell it to me) águila (eagle) There are others like those above, but they are not all that common. How to use Spanish characters with any PC running Win 95 or newer.

Online chat and forums for Spanish language learners
Warning!  this is about.com, which used to be a really fine place until they put a bazillion pop-up windows all over the place.  So if you can put up with closing them all, it's still a really fine place.
 

WebEntrada web boards

If you like to take your time, try participating in a web board (foro) in Spanish.  You don't even have to write.  Just go on in and spend some time reading the details of the lives of people who are finding companionship on the Web.

If you do post something, please go back a day or two later and answer any people that have responded to you.  It's only polite.

CLICK HERE to get to a list of web boards.
 

MundoHispano

Okay, so MundoHispano is my baby.  My son and I, plus a ton of Spanish-speaking programmers and a handful of really dedicated teachers, created this text-based virtual world, back in 1994.  The thing is still running, but the technology is so old (it is only text, after all), that few people visit it any more.  Wander around inside it sometime, even if no-one is logged on, and you'll feel like you've made a round-the-world trip.
 

MundoHispano- MOO for Spanish language learners and native speakers MundoHispano Activity Page This is an entire text-based virtual world that makes it possible for you to create your own rooms and objects, as well as chat in real time with other students and native speakers of Spanish logging on from around the world.  MundoHispano has has been developed over the past eight years, mostly by native speakers of Spanish.  Many of them are programmers, and they've created thousands of "rooms" and hundreds of programs that can help you learn Spanish as it's actually used by Spanish speakers.  The learning curve on a MOO is a little steep, but it's worth it because the rewards can be tremendous.

The above site needs a wee bit of updating, but basically, you need to download the Pueblo client in order to connect to MundoHispano.

If you want to just download without reading a lot of instructions, try either of these sites:

http://www.engl.niu.edu/mday/529/pblo201.exe
http://www.slcc.edu/wc/pblo201.exe

After installation, select the Pueblo icon to start the program from your start menu. Pueblo should start and you will briefly see a Pueblo title screen and then the main program screen with "Edit your personal list" on it among other things. To make a quick link to MundoHispano MOO from you main Pueblo screen, select "Edit your personal list." The "Personal World List" box should appear.
 
 

Click on the "Add" button. In the "World Information" box that next appears.  Enter the following information:  Name: MundoHispano admiral.umsl.edu Host: http://www.umsl.edu/~moosproj/mundo.html Type: select MOO  Port: 8888  User name: leave blank (for now) Password: leave blank (for now) Web page: http://www.umsl.edu/~moosproj/mundo.html Description MOO for Spanish language learning  Log in style: Select "Send the user name, then the password" Okay Okay To connect, click on the link to MundoHispano, and when you see the MundoHispano login screen, do as it says:  type   connect guest