American Keyboard: Change Mapping & Layout

Many countries have a keyboard layout designed for their typing. From time to time it can also happen under Windows that programs and games are automatically switched to the American keyboard layout. Here we show you the differences between the German and the US layout and what options you have to change the keyboard layout again.

Change keyboard layout

If the keyboard layout was changed by mistake, you can easily switch it back to the German keyboard layout.

If you are not in full-screen mode of an application, you can easily find out which keyboard layout you are currently using by looking at the language setting in the taskbar. If “ENG” is displayed here instead of “DEU”, you are currently using an English or American keyboard layout. Then simply click on the “ENG” and select “DEU” again from the keyboard layout menu.

Alternatively, you can switch between the different keyboard layouts with the key combination Old + ⇑ (Shift) or Win + ␣ (spacebar) toggle.

US keyboard layout: 2 different versions

With the traditional American keyboard layout, you can almost exclusively write in English. For this reason a second version was developed: the US-international. With this it is possible to enter accented characters, for example “é” or “ô”. Nevertheless, not all characters available on the German keyboard can be typed without further ado.

Traditional American keyboard layout

US International

German vs. American keyboard layout

The American keyboard layout is also used in many English-speaking countries outside the United States. A distinction must be made between the American and British keyboard layouts. Even though many countries like New Zealand, Australia, India and South Africa are closer to British English, the US layout is often used here too. Later, the second American keyboard layout shown above called “US-International” was established. This has been expanded to include several functions in order to cover several languages ​​at the same time.

Probably the most well-known difference between the German and English key assignments are the positions of Z and Y. For this reason, the German layout is also known as “QWERTZ‘ and known to English speakers as ‘QWERTY’. But there are many other differences, especially in the distribution of special characters. In addition, all umlauts, accents and, for example, the “ß” are missing from the traditional US layout, because none of these are needed in English. We have summarized the main differences between the German and traditional American layout for you here:

• There are no dead keys, i.e. keys that are only set after pressing another key (e.g. accents).
• Umlauts (ÄÖÜ) and the ß are completely missing.
• The special characters are (often) in other places.
  Example: The @ character is replaced on the American keyboard by the combination shift + 2 generated.
• Quotation marks starting below cannot be used.
• The key Alt GR (Alternate Graphic) does not exist in the traditional US keyboard layout.

Don’t want to miss any more news about technology, games and pop culture? No current tests and guides? Then follow us on Facebook (GIGA Tech,
GIGA Games) or Twitter (GIGA Tech,
GIGA Games).