"German" vs. "English" inverted commas in Word 97 Thread poster: Armorel Young
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For some reason when I type inverted commas in the Word 97 document I'm working on they appear in the German form (i.e. in the lower position at the start of the quotation and in the upper position at the end, in both cases facing the "wrong" way). That would be fine if I were working on a German document, but it's an English one - how do I get it to revert to "English" quotation marks, or, even better, how do I toggle between the two depending on which language I'm working in?
| | | | | You do not really have to use them | Aug 25, 2004 |
In German Word 2000 the navigation path is:
Extras / AutoKorrektur / AutoFormat während der Eingabe / "Gerade Anführungszeichen" durch „typographische“
Another way to affect the type of quotation marks is to select the text and define the correct language for it (Extras / Sprache / Sprache bestimmen)
Generally I am using "English" quotation marks also in German (the Duden does not mind it). I think it looks better in IT texts, although I would prefer ... See more In German Word 2000 the navigation path is:
Extras / AutoKorrektur / AutoFormat während der Eingabe / "Gerade Anführungszeichen" durch „typographische“
Another way to affect the type of quotation marks is to select the text and define the correct language for it (Extras / Sprache / Sprache bestimmen)
Generally I am using "English" quotation marks also in German (the Duden does not mind it). I think it looks better in IT texts, although I would prefer the „German“ ones for literature (which I did not translate, yet).
HTH,
Harry ▲ Collapse
| | | | pidzej 
Poland
Local time: 12:26
Polish to English
+ ...
| toggle? could be hard | Aug 25, 2004 |
Armorel Young wrote:
For some reason when I type inverted commas in the Word 97 document I'm working on they appear in the German form (i.e. in the lower position at the start of the quotation and in the upper position at the end, in both cases facing the "wrong" way). That would be fine if I were working on a German document, but it's an English one - how do I get it to revert to "English" quotation marks, or, even better, how do I toggle between the two depending on which language I'm working in?
You're saying you're working on an English document but aren't you really overtyping a German doc to make an English 1 out of it?
Word 97 has no option of automatic language detection IIRC, but even if it had, it would not help either, because when you go to a new - in your case German- paragraph and start typing it in English, to a later MS Word version it would still be written in the original language, until more than half the text of that para is in the target language, which in practice only happens once you delete the old German text, and the "smart" quotation marks go in tandem with the language in force at the time of typing them.
You could try to write a macro that would, upon pressing, at the end of a paragraph just completed, say, the Alt+ Q [Q for quotes]combination: 1) move the cursor to next paragraph; 2) select the text of that whole paragraph (which in itself takes several key strokes); 3) select the target language as the language of that paragraph; 4) unselect the text; 5) go to start of that paragraph.
But if you've never written a macro, it can be a problem. I could write it for you but I don't think I would be able to send it to you.
PJ
| | | | | Mark the text you're working on as being in English | Aug 25, 2004 |
If you mark the text you're working on as being in English that ought to do the trick.
HTH
Alison
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pidzej
Poland
Local time: 12:26
Polish to English
+ ...
| fine, but you still have to do it one paragraph/page at a time | Aug 25, 2004 |
Alison Riddell-Kachur wrote:
If you mark the text you're working on as being in English that ought to do the trick.
HTH
Alison
because if you select the whole text of three pages or more and want to have it spellchecked as you type, you will get a communique to the effect that Word encountered too many typing errors and will have no more of that. PJ
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