Norwegian alphabet

You may have noticed that 'Gunnar Stromsholm' is actually spelt 'Gunnar Strømsholm'. This is because the Norwegian language has three more characters than the 26 characters [a - z] found in the English alphabet.

The extra Norwegian characters are: æ, å and ø. Examples of the usage of these special characters, and how to create them on a standard English keyboard, are given below.

CharacterUsageUpper case
keystrokes		Lower case
keystrokes
æå være [to be]Alt+0198Alt+0230
åpå [on]Alt+0197Alt+0229
øhøy [hay]Alt+0216Alt+0248

Even if you are using a standard English computer keyboard, you can easily create the special Norwegian characters. First, make sure that your 'Num Lock' is switched on. Then, whilst holding down the 'Alt' key, use your numeric keypad [usually at the right side of your keyboard] to enter the appropriate sequence of numbers shown in the table above.

If you are using Microsoft Windows you may find the 'Character Map' to be more convenient. This utility lists all characters available for a given typeface, including all foreign language accents and other special characters. The Character Map is usually found under Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Character Map. Depending on your Windows version the utility may or may not already be installed. If it is not already on your computer it can very easily be installed from your Windows CD ROM disc. Apple Macintosh users have a similar utility.

Hint: If you are using a search engine such as 'Google' to search for a word that contains a special Norwegian character then try searching for the word both with and without the special character. The search engine correctly considers 'o' and 'ø' to be different letters and you may find you get a completely different results for the two searches.