# The evil that is the (Canadian) multilingual keyboard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 30, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814 "2011-07-30T05:38:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/41 "2012-08-03T04:55:42Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Maybe that’s an Ottawa bilingual thing. The ones in Toronto are all US standard, unless you specifically ask for something else. Ironically, I couldn’t find any CMKs in Montreal the last time I looked; they were all either French or English. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/42 "2012-08-03T11:10:50Z")
I’m in the UK and my keyboard has a “short” left shift key like the “bilingual” one pictured. Between that and the Z key is the backslash key which also has this character: | I thought that was pretty standard, but obviously not. ---
**Author:** ![Mogle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mogle/32/12021_2.png) [@Mogle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mogle)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/43 "2012-08-03T12:20:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I thought that was pretty standard, but obviously not. The impression I’m getting by looking at **Sunspace** ’s link is that _it is_ standard, except for the US. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/44 "2012-08-03T12:48:15Z")
> [@Mogle](#): > > The impression I’m getting by looking at **Sunspace** ’s link is that _it is_ standard, except for the US. Yes, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Mechanical.2C_visual_and_functional_layouts) shows that this is the ISO layout, whereas the US standard is ANSI with the big Shift key and single-row Enter key. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/45 "2012-08-03T13:56:10Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Except is this something that the Canadian market actually wants? I’m a touch typist, and I don’t want my keys changing. But your keys don’t change. Being a touch typist, all you need to do is switch the keyboard layout and you’re set - people who chase the keys have much more of a problem. My keyboards may be physically from where-the-fuck-ever I happen to be, but they’re always ES and US (with the exception of a client who didn’t let even their IT people alter the layout - which our team used as an excuse to work on our laptops, much faster than the desktops the client was providing). ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814/46 "2012-08-04T01:28:32Z")
Between my desktop, laptop, my husband’s desktop, my work laptop and the work desktop I occasionally use, I don’t think a single one of them has the same keyboard layout as another. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than a few minutes bothered by it; I just manage to learn each rather quickly, I guess. I’m more or less a touch typist; I rarely look at the keys, but my technique is awful. I use the US-International keyboard layout, because of the accents in French. I ought to be getting a new laptop for work in the next week or so; I’ll see what keyboard Dell ships out on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evil-that-is-the-canadian-multilingual-keyboard/590814.md?page=2)