Belgian Keyboard Layout
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AZERTY
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The AZERTY layout is a keyboard layout used in several (at least partially) French-speaking countries, including France and Belgium. The French language uses several accented letters, such as é, à and ô, as well as a few other symbols such as œ that do not occur in English. A QWERTY keyboard is therefore insufficient.
While preserving the position of most letters, AZERTY keyboards represent a significant departure from the QWERTY layout:
A and Q are swapped.
Z and W are swapped.
M is moved from the right of N to the right of L (where colon/semicolon is on a QWERTY keyboard).
The digits 0 to 9 are on the same keys, but the shift key must be pressed to type them. The non-shifted keys are used for accented lowercase characters.
Most non-alphanumerical symbols are in different locations.
The swapping of letters was made to accommodate letter frequencies in French, which are different from English ones.[citation needed] For instance, the letter W is much rarer in French than in English, while Z is slightly more frequent.
AZERTY keyboards do not fully meet standards for the French language. The Imprimerie Nationale recommends that capitalized letters be printed with their accent, but the AZERTY keyboard does not provide a simple way to type capitalized accented letters. French quotation marks « » are also missing.
The AZERTY keyboard is also criticized[citation needed] for having seldom-used symbols, such as § and µ, on the normal and shifted state of keys. These symbols could be transferred to the AltGr state, and be replaced with more common characters. Similarly, the period and semicolon are on the same key, but shift has to be pressed to obtain the period, even though periods are far more frequent than semicolons. The same goes for the percent sign and ù, which is found in only one word, où (”where”).
The Belgian AZERTY was developed from the French AZERTY and some adaptations were made in the 1980s. All letters are the same as on the French keyboard, but some punctuation signs (? ! @ - _ + = §) are in different positions. Unlike French AZERTY which has English terms such as “Escape” translated as “échap”, the Belgian layout uses the traditional English words and terminology for all keys. It is also notable that this layout is commonly used in the whole of Belgium, while Dutch is the native language for more than half of its citizens.
In Canada, where the practice of writing accents on capital letters is generally followed, enhanced QWERTY keyboard layouts are used instead of AZERTY. Two slightly different layouts coexist, the Canadian Multilingual Standard and the Canadian French layout. Both allow easy typing of accented capital letters and of French quotation marks. However they too lack an œ key.
On the Wii video game console, regardless of region, if the menu language is set to French, the AZERTY layout is used, although the North American instruction manual calls it a “QWERTY” keyboard in French.
Languages of Belgium
The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages, which are, in order from the greatest speaker population to the smallest, Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages are spoken as well.
Dutch
Close to 60% of the country’s population speaks Dutch as their primary (Belgian) language.[1] Though the Dutch language version officially spoken in Belgium is almost identical with the one spoken in the Netherlands, it is often colloquially called “Flemish”. Dutch is the official language of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region (merged to Flanders) and, along with French, an official language of the Brussels-Capital Region. The main Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are Brabantian, West Flemish, East Flemish and Limburgish. Some sub-dialects may be quite distant from standard Dutch and not be readily intelligible for other Dutch-speakers. Words which are unique to Belgian Dutch are called belgicisms (as are words typical for Belgian French). The original Brabantian dialect of Brussels has been very heavily influenced by French, and in most cases replaced by it during the Frenchification of Brussels.
French
The second-most spoken primary (Belgian) language, with 40%, is French.[1] It is the official language of the French Community (which, like the Flemish Community, is a political entity), the dominant language in Wallonia (having also a small German-speaking Community) as well as the Brussels-Capital Region. Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region are able to speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a lingua franca (45%).[2][3] There are also many Flemish people that are able to speak French as a second language. Belgian French is in most respects identical to standard, Parisian French, but differs in some points of vocabulary, pronunciation, and semantics. Ma vie en rose and Man Bites Dog are important Belgian films in the French language.
German
German is the least prevalent official language in Belgium, spoken natively by less than 1% of the population. Of the 71,000 person population of the German-speaking Community almost all are 100% German-speaking. This area of Belgium was taken as part of the Treaty of Versailles with Imperial Germany following World War I, and Nazi Germany re-annexed them during their invasion of Belgium during World War II.
Kingdom of Belgium
Koninkrijk België (Dutch)
Royaume de Belgique (French)
Königreich Belgien (German)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Eendracht maakt macht (Dutch)
L’union fait la force (French)
Einigkeit macht stark (German)
“Strength through Unity” (lit. “Unity creates Strength”, “Unity makes one strong”)
Anthem: The “Brabançonne”
Location of Belgium (dark green)
– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Capital Brussels
50°51′N 4°21′E
Largest metropolitan area Brussels Capital Region
Official languages Dutch, French, German
Demonym Belgian
Government Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy
- King Albert II
- Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy
Independence
- Declared 4 October 1830
- Recognized 19 April 1839
EU accession 25 March 1957
Area
- Total 30,528 km2 (139th)
11,787 sq mi
- Water (%) 6.4
Population
- 2008 estimate 10,666,866[1]
(76th [2005])
- 2001 census 10,296,350
- Density 344.32/km2 (2006) (29th [2005])
892/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
- Total $377.215 billion[2]
- Per capita $35,387[2]
GDP (nominal) 2007 estimate
- Total $454.283 billion[2]
- Per capita $42,617[2]
Gini (2000) 33 (medium) (33rd)
HDI (2005) ▲ 0.946 (high) (17th)
Currency Euro (€)1 (EU)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD .be
Calling code 32
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