Free foreign language fonts

And computer accessories for typing foreign languages

---

---

About the fonts

• Fonts for download are often in compressed file formats. You will need a program such as WinZip or StuffIt to unpack these files.
• All fonts listed here are FREE. Most related accessories and information are also FREE. Those that are not free are marked with the dollar symbol ($).

---

When to download fonts

Languages that use Latin-based alphabets can be typed in nearly any computer application without the need for any additional utilities or fonts. [See special character codes.] To type or display foreign languages that use non-Latin or extended Latin-based alphabets, you may need to first download and install additional foreign language fonts. Or maybe you just want to download additional fonts for visual variety in your foreign language applications.

How can you tell if you need to download a font? Sometimes the fonts are already available on your computer and it's just a matter of changing the settings on your computer so that you can access them. Typically, the newer the operating system, the more languages it will support straight out of the box.

---

Activating fonts

Windows
How you should access these foreign language fonts will depend on the extent to which you will need the special characters in your applications. These changes will allow you to use the foreign character fonts in Windows applications.

• Use the Windows Character Map for typing languages with few or infrequent non-Latin characters, or if you need a few characters now and then or just need to type a few foreign words within your text. Via the Character Map you can access any available foreign language fonts in any application. Select Start menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map. From here you change fonts, examine all available characters in each font, and add individual characters to a text.

• Change your keybard settings if you need to do extensive typing in the foreign language. To do this, select Start menu > Settings > Control Panel. Depending on your version of Windows, you may have to choose either Keyboard or Regional and Language Settings. When the dialog box opens, select the Language tab, click on Details, then Add, and then select the language. When you Apply these settings, your taskbar will display the 2-letter code for the current language settings. You may toggle between keyboard settings by clicking on this code in the taskbar. Turn on the On-Screen Keyboard to learn where characters are located on the foreign language keyboard. To locate this virtual keyboard, select Start menu > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > On-Screen Keyboard. For languages you use frequently that use non-Latin alphabets, it might be useful to buy stickers to put on your keyboard.

Mac

Macintosh OS X comes with foreign language utilities pre-installed, but they must first be activated. To do this, select Apple menu > System Preferences > International > Keyboard or Input Menu, then select the keyboard layouts you'd like to activate. To access these keyboards, open International System Preferences and check Keyboard Viewer.Within applications, a flag icon will appear in the upper right corner of the screen; click on this icon to switch keyboard options.

The Macintosh OS 9 CD contains Language Kits that can be intalled onto the system. Insert the CD into the drive, click Mac OS Install. Navigate through the process until you reach the Add/Remove button, and click on it to reach the Custom Installation and Removal window. Check the box next to Language Options, and select Customized Installation from the dropdown menu. When the Select Language Kits window opens, check each software kit you want to install, then click OK. After installation is complete, you will need to restart your system.

To type in the foreign language, you will need to switch keyboards. First enter the application you plan to use. Click on the flag in the upper right corner, then use the dropdown menu to choose a script. If you don't see the languages you just installed, you may need to make them available in the Keyboard menu. Do so by going to the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Choose Control Panels > Keyboard. Click on each language you'd like to activate.

---