FREE Nigerian Keyboard by NITDA – Aug. 2004 Installation and Yoruba Usage Tutorial
By Bomi Olamijulo-Oki
CONTENTS
Summary
Installation Steps
Usage - Preliminary Notes
Usage Examples
Frequently Asked Questions
Reference
Summary
The Yoruba Alphabet: a b d e ẹf g gb h i j k l m n o ọp r s ṣt u w y
For this to work optimally, you will need to:
1. Install the keyboard driver, making sure you meet the minimal requirements .
- In particular, your system must be running Windows 2000, XP or higher.
2. View/Edit using Arial Unicode MS font both in Internet Explorer and in MS Word.
3.Reassign/Disable three default shortcut keys in MS Word if you are using a regular keyboard.
4. Ensure that you have selected the "Nigerian" keyboard layout in your Windows tray.
5. Be Happy!
UNDERDOTS ONLY
Press Shift + X, followed by a character, to dot the character.
Press Shift + X, followed by e or E, to obtain ẹ or Ẹ
Press Shift + X, followed by o or O, to obtain ọ or Ọ
Click Shift + X, followed by s or S, to obtain ṣ or Ṣ
TONAL SIGNS ONLY
Press “Q” or “X”, followed by a character, to mark the character with a “do” or a “mi” tonal sign respectively.
To write the ` {do} sign
Press Q, followed by a or A, to obtain à or À
Press Q, followed by e or E, to obtain è or È
Press Q, followed by i or I, to obtain ì or Ì
Press Q, followed by o or O, to obtain ò or Ò
Press Q, followed by u or u, to obtain ù or Ù
To write the ´ {mi} sign
Press X, followed by a or A, to obtain á or Á
Press X, followed by e or E, to obtain é or É
Press X, followed by i or I, to obtain í or Í
Press X, followed by o or O, to obtain ó or Ó
Press X, followed by u or u, to obtain ú or Ú
COMBINED UNDERDOTS AND TONAL SIGNS
Press Alt + Ctrl + W to obtain “ẹ́”, Press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + W to obtain “Ẹ́”
Press Alt + Ctrl + E to obtain “ẹ̀”, Press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E to obtain “Ẹ̀”
Press Alt + Ctrl + O to obtain “ọ̀”, Press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + O to obtain “Ọ̀”
Press Alt + Ctrl + P to obtain “ọ́”, Press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + O to obtain “Ọ́”
Note: If you have a physical keyboard with a single "AltGr" key, you may replace “Alt + Ctrl” with “AltGr”.
CURRENCIES
NIGERIAN NAIRA: Shift + Key 4 gives “₦”
US DOLLAR: Alt + Ctrl + Key 4 (or AltGr + Key 4) gives “$”
BRITISH POUND: Shift + Alt + Ctrl + Key 4 (or Shift + AltGr + Key 4) gives “£”
EUROPEAN EURO: Alt + Ctrl + Key 5 (or AltGr + Key 5) gives “€”, or whatever shortcut you wish to assign in later steps.
Note
Currently, characters with the combined underdot and tonal sign are still sometimes problematic. They are fine when viewing a page via Internet Explorer, in MS Word, email etc, as long as you view using Arial Unicode MS and with the right encoding in IE (explained later). You may however experience a problem with these characters when dealing with applications/software that are not fully Unicode compatible. For example, these characters are very problematic when Yoruba messages are posted on yahoo groups. To post Yoruba messages on yahoo groups or other similar environments, you may want to leave out these double marked characters, and only use characters with the dot only (except for the dotted s), or with the tonal sign only. The meaning of your words will in all likelihood still be preserved.
Installation Steps
1. Go to
There you will see that the requirements for using the keyboard are:
Operating systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP and above.
Applications: The application being used must be Unicode aware.
Font: Any font would do but Unicode fonts are better. Arial Unicode MS is the most complete Unicode font and is therefore preferred.
2. There is a link at the bottom of the page called "Download". Right click on it; Click on "Save Target As", and save the file in a folder of your choice (e.g. Nigerian Keyboard). The file you are saving is called "kbdng.zip". It is a zipped file consisting of three individual files.
3. Now go to the folder you saved the zipped file in. Open the file. You should see three files listed in your Zip utility- "documentation.pdf", "kbdng.dll", and "kbdng.inf".
4. Now you want to extract the contents of this zipped file so you can freely access each constituent file. Click on "extract". The files should be extracted into the same folder the zipped file was saved.If you go to the folder you saved the zipped file in, you should see those three files mentioned above (“documentation.pdf", "kbdng.dll", and "kbdng.inf"), as individual files in your folder.
5. The file "documentation.pdf" contains instructions on how to use the keyboard. You might want to print the entire document (12 short pages), or you could just read the entire document on your computer, and print pages 6 - 8 only - for quick reference. Please ensure that you at least scan through the glossary too. Be sure to print in black & white for an optimal print output. Depending on how good your printer is, some of the text might still be unclear on your printout so be sure to fill out any unclear text with a pen so you can refer to it quickly when you need to. You need to have Adobe Acrobat installed in order to successfully view and print PDF files. For a free download of the latest version, visit: .
6. You now have pages 6-8 on paper. Page 8 contains the instructions you need to install the driver depending on what Operating System you use. Install the keyboard driver by following the instructions relevant to your operating system.
7. Now use the keyboard by launching an application, e.g. MS Word. Be sure to choose the Nigerian keyboard layout option on your windows tray. Using the figures on pages 6 and 7, you can play around with different Yoruba characters by using different key combinations. Refer to the pages again and again until you are comfortable with the keyboard. See the next few sections for a more detailed explanation on how to use the keyboard.
Usage - Preliminary Notes
- For optimal viewing of Yoruba characters both in Internet Explorer and in MS Word, you need to use the Arial Unicode MS font.
To select Arial Unicode MS in IE:
1. Click on Tools => Internet Options => Fonts (at the bottom, beside Colors).
2. Language Script should be “Latin based”. Select “Arial Unicode MS” for the Webpage font. Click OK.
3. Click on View => Encoding => Unicode (UTF-8). If at any point you are unable to view characters properly, click on the Western European encoding scheme (View=>Encoding=>Western European) instead.
To Select Arial Unicode MS in MSWord, simply select it from the list in your fonts drop down menu. If you do not see Arial Unicode MS on your list, then you will need to install this font. The method of installation depends on the version of Office you are running. To know how to install this font using your version of Office, Click on Help in MSWord, and type "Installing Unicode Font". Follow the explanation on how to install the universal font for Unicode.
- You will note that the keyboard documentation depicts an “AltGr” key. Some physical keyboards on the market have a single “AltGr” key, in addition to the individual “Alt” and “Ctrl” keys found on regular keyboards. If you can borrow or purchase such a keyboard where you live, then you can type some of the Yoruba characters somewhat more easily, using fewer keystrokes. If however you do not have access to such a keyboard, you may replace “AltGr” with “Alt” + “Ctrl” when using your regular keyboard.
- Most people use MS Word as their word processing application. By default, MS Word has some keyboard shortcuts or hot keys. If you intend to use this keyboard driver with a regular physical keyboard and not the special “AltGr” keyboard, then you will need to disable three of these default shortcuts in order to be able to type all the Yoruba characters successfully. This will not affect your regular day to day use of MS Word in any way. Most people do not use these shortcuts. Even if you are one of the few people that use one or more of these shortcuts regularly, you can always reassign the shortcuts to other key combinations.
The keyboard shortcuts affected are:
“Alt + Ctrl + P” – Default shortcut for “ViewPage” in MS Word, Used to type “Ọ́” (See Pg 7 of documentation)
“Alt + Ctrl + O” – Default shortcut for “ViewOutline” in MS Word, Used to type “Ọ̀” (Also see Pg 7)
“Alt + Ctrl + E” – Default shortcut for the “Euro” currency sign in MS Word, Used to type “Ẹ̀” (Also see Pg 7)
To disable/reassign these shortcuts, do the following in MS Word:
1. Click on Tools => Customize => Keyboard
2. Under “Categories”, click “View”. Under “Commands”, click “ViewOutline”. In the “Current Keys” box, “Alt + Ctrl +O” should be displayed. Click on the "Alt +Ctrl + O" so it is highlighted, then click on “Remove” at the bottom of the window. If you wish to reassign this shortcut, press (don't type)a new set of keys in the “Press new shortcut key box”. Then click on “Assign”. Close. Go through steps 1 and 2 to disable or reassign “ViewPage”.
3. To reassign the “Euro” shortcut, Go back to MS Word. In the toolbar, click on Insert => Symbol. Then click on the Euro sign. Then click on “Shortcut key”. The Euro will be displayed in the “Commands” box. “Alt + Ctrl + E” should be displayed in the “Current Keys” box. Click on the "Alt +Ctrl +E" so it is highlighted, then click on “Remove” at the bottom of the window. If you wish to reassign this shortcut, press (don't type)a new set of keys in the “Press new shortcut key box”. Then click on “Assign”. Close. You may wish to reassign the Euro to “Alt + Ctrl + 5”, for example (Don’t use 4; this is used for the dollar sign later).
Note:
If you ever wish to return to the MS Word default setting for keyboard shortcuts, click on Tools => Customize => Keyboard => Reset All.
Usage Examples
Ensure that you have selected the “Nigerian” keyboard layout from your Windows tray. Some users have reported that the keyboard works best for them in the “Print Layout” view in MS Word. You may wish to select View => Print Layout.
To learn how to use the NITDA keyboard properly, you need to refer to pages 6 and 7 of the documentation until you familiarize yourself with it. The“Summary”illustrated in the first section covers all the basic key combinations.
For example, Fig 1 on page 6 shows you what happens when you press any key on your keyboard. Thus, to mark a vowel with the “do” tonal sign, press key “Q” on your keyboard, followed by the vowel you wish to mark. Similarly, to mark a vowel with the “mi” tonal sign, press key “X” on your keyboard, followed by the vowel you wish to mark.
Practice
To mark “a” or “A” with the “do” tonal sign, Press key “Q”, followed by “a” or “A”, to produce “à” or “À”.
To mark “a” or “A” with the “mi” tonal sign, Press key “X”, followed by “a” or “A”, to produce “á” or “Á”.
Fig 2 on page 6 shows you what happens when you press “Shift” plus any key on your keyboard. Thus, to dot the characters “e”, “o” and “s”, you will need to press Shift + the key “X”, followed by the character you wish to dot. To write the Nigerian currency sign (Naira), you will need to press Shift + the key “4”.
Practice
To dot “s” or “S”, Press Shift + key “X”, followed by “s” or “S”, to produce “ṣ” or “Ṣ”.
To dot “e” or “E”, Press Shift + key “X”, followed by “e” or “E”, to produce “ẹ” or “Ẹ”.
To write “50 Naira”, Press Shift + key “4”, followed by “50”, to produce “₦50”.
Fig 3 on page 7 shows you what happens when you press “AltGr” plus any key on your keyboard (Regular keyboard users will replace “AltGr” with “Alt + Ctrl”). This is generally used for “double marked” vowels, i.e. vowels with both an underdot and a tonal sign. Thus, to “double mark” the vowels “e” and “o”, you need to press “Alt + Ctrl” and the respective key on your letter based on Fig 3. To write the dollar sign, you will press “Alt +Ctrl” plus the key “4” (or “AltGr” plus “4” for special keyboard users). To write an “àmìn fàágùn”, you will press “Alt + Ctrl” plus the key “X”, followed by the character you wish to mark.
Practice
To write a dotted “e” or “E” with the “mi” tonal sign:
Press “Alt + Ctrl” plus “W”, or “AltGr” plus “W”, to produce “ẹ́” or “Ẹ́”.
To write a dotted “o” or “O” with the “do” tonal sign:
Press “Alt + Ctrl” plus “O”, or “AltGr” plus “O”, to produce “ọ̀” or “Ọ̀”.
To write “50 dollars”, press “Alt + Ctrl” plus “4”, or “AltGr” plus “4”, followed by “50”, to produce “$50”.
Finally, Fig 4 on page 7 shows you what happens when you press “Shift” and “AltGr” on your keyboard (or Shift + Alt + Ctrl for regular keyboard users). This is generally used for uppercase “double marked” vowels. Press “Shift” while performing the procedure outlined in the previous step to obtain uppercase double marked vowels. Press “Alt + Ctrl + Shift” plus “4” or “AltGr + Shift” plus “4” to write the British Pound sign.
Practice
To write “50 Pounds”:
Press “AltGr + Shift” plus “4”, or “Alt + Ctrl + Shift” plus “4”, followed by “50”, to produce “£50”.
To switch back to English (e.g. to type “x” or “q”) just switch the language setting on your windows tray; you won't need to go back into your control panel. Then switch back again to continue typing in Yoruba. Keep practicing using pages 6 & 7 and before long you will become proficient in using all the different key combinations!
Frequently Asked Questions
1.Question: The file “documentation.pdf” is not displaying properly on my system.
Answer: You need to have Adobe Acrobat installed in order to successfully view and print PDF files. For a free download of the latest version, visit .
2.Question: I cannot make out all the characters on pages 6 and 7 when I print out these pages.
Answer:Try printing with a “black and white” color selection on your printer. If some characters are still unclear, you may wish refer to the original file on your computer screen, and mark the unclear characters out with a pen on your printout.
3.Question: I want to type a word containing “X” or “Q” while typing in Yoruba.
Answer: To switch between Yoruba and English, Right click on the keyboard icon on your Windows tray, and select English. To continue typing in Yoruba, right click again and select Nigerian.
4.Question: I can’t get my keyboard working. I use Windows 98 Operating System.
Answer: You need to be running Windows 2000, Windows XP and above in order to use this keyboard.
5.Question:Not all the Yoruba characters are displaying properly when I send an email or when I am viewing a Word document.
Answer:For optimal viewing both in Internet Explorer and in MS Word, you need to view using the Arial Unicode MS font, and the "Unicode" or "Western European (Windows)" encoding in IE.
See the “Usage – Preliminary Notes” section in this document for more on this. You may also want to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer. Once you get these going, you will be able to view Yoruba text perfectly, at least on Internet Explorer.
6.Question: Sometimes the “do” tonal sign shows up on my screen, and it keeps marking up all the characters I type.
Answer: To get rid of this effect, simply highlight the affected text (along with the tonal signal) and erase.
7. Question:My Yoruba messages don't always show up clearly when I post them on yahoo-groups - sometimes some of the characters are replaced with boxes and other nonsense.
Answer: You may experience this problem when dealing with "double marked" characters, i.e. characters with the combined tonal sign and under dot. Yahoo-groups is currently not fully Unicode compatible. To post Yoruba messages on yahoo-groups or other similar environments, you may want to leave out the double marked characters, and only use characters with the dot only (except for the dotted s), or with the tonal sign only. The meaning of your words will most likely still be preserved.
Reference
Website of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), AbujaNigeria at:
PLEASE NOTE:
The author, Bomi Olamijulo-Oki, and the entirety of africanPortal have no affiliation with NITDA.
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Last Updated: Oct. 19th, 2004
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