So, a few weeks ago on my arrival back in Spain, I had literally been in the country for three hours when my laptop stopped working. Faced with several hundred euros for a repair, it was cheaper to buy a new laptop so off I went to Carrefour.
Browsing through the excellent selection of laptops Carrefour has, I eventually picked out a mid-range Asus model. Just over 500 euros, it was exactly what I was looking for as a laptop for writing and basic computer game playing, so I bought it. It wasn’t till I got it home and remembered my new laptop came with a Spanish keyboard that I realized I was going to have problems.
Now, of course, I’ve used computers with Spanish keyboards before (go in any internet cafe in Spain and that’s the choice they have) so I wasn’t a complete newbie. But, when I remembered the normal functions I take for granted on my laptop are hidden somewhere else on my Spanish keyboard, I was about to scream.
Now, a month later, I’m more used to my Spanish keyboard but am still finding it a major hardship. I’m constantly getting the Spanish ‘n’ with the tilda that I have no use for when typing in English, accents keep appearing on letters when I don’t need them, the period and the comma are in an odd position, and the apostrophe is a bugger to find.
Even now, I waste time every day furiously backspacing as I don’t need the Spanish letters that just showed up, but I can’t find the ones I really need.
That’s why I’d say, if you’re going to buy a new laptop and you’re wondering about buying one with a Spanish keyboard, unless you plan to be typing in Spanish most of the time, I’d recommend you not to.
Instead, you can change your regular English-language keyboard to a Spanish keyboard by simply doing this. And then change it back when you’re finished.
Meanwhile, my laptop with its funky Spanish keyboard is going to be the death of me. Or, I’ll be the death of it as I throw it out of the window.