⌨️ US, Latin American and Spanish keyboards: differences and how to tell which one you have

All computer keyboards look alike, but they are not the same. In bilingual schools in Latin America you will find three main layouts: US, Latin American and Spanish. The letters are almost in the same place, but symbols and accents move around, which confuses many students.

How to tell which one you have

Look at the key to the right of L. If it shows a semicolon (;), you have an English keyboard, usually US. If it shows an Ñ, it is a Latin American or Spanish keyboard.

To tell Latin American from Spanish, look at the key to the right of Ñ. On the Latin American keyboard it has a curly bracket ({) and the accent key is to the right of P. On the Spanish keyboard that key has the accent (´) and, next to it, the Ç.

The US keyboard

It is the standard keyboard in the United States and in many American schools. It has no Ñ or accent key, and the key next to the left Shift is longer. The @ sign is Shift + 2, quotation marks are on the key next to the semicolon, and the question mark is Shift + the slash key. This is the layout used by default in the English courses on LeonType.

The Latin American keyboard

It is the most common layout in Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and most of Latin America. It includes Ñ and the Spanish opening marks ¿ and ¡. Accents are typed in two steps: first the accent key, which does not type anything yet, and then the vowel. The @ sign is typed with Alt Gr + Q.

The Spanish keyboard

It is used in Spain. The letters are the same as the Latin American one, but ¿ and ¡ are on a different key, the accent is to the right of Ñ, and the @ sign is Alt Gr + 2. If you learned on one and switch to the other, letters will be fine but symbols will confuse you at first.

The layout is a setting, not just the printed keys

An important detail: what each key types is decided by the operating system settings, not by what is printed on it. If a key types a different symbol from the one shown, check your computer's language and keyboard settings. On Windows it is under Settings, Time and language, Language and region. To type Spanish accents on a US keyboard, you can add the "US International" layout.

Practice with your keyboard

On LeonType you can choose your layout in the menu at the top: the on-screen keyboard and hands adapt to it, and the symbol lessons show you exactly which keys to press on yours.