France Wants a New Keyboard to Protect Its Language
23rd January 2016
This week, the French government announced a plan to standardize the French-language computer keyboard, as part of an effort to help protect and nurture the language. The ministry of culture and communication says it’s “nearly impossible to correctly write French” on keyboards sold in the country today, meaning that the language’s strict grammatical rules are being flouted more regularly. The ministry has partnered with a standardization group to develop a new keyboard norm, which will be presented for public feedback this summer.
Unlike the QWERTY keyboards on most devices in the US and Europe, French-language keyboards follow an AZERTY layout, and they’ve never been standardized. That means that the layout can vary from one manufacturer to another, making it difficult for users to locate important keys or accented characters.
Good luck with that.
More from the BBC here.