| German Characters FAQs | |
| German FAQ 6 |
6. Why do special German characters appear as odd text in my email?
There's a way to solve this problem, but why does it happen? When email first began, it wasn't designed to handle most non-English characters. Even today, sometimes the special characters and accent marks of non-English languages don't always come through correctly in email, depending on various factors, including the type of server on either end, the Internet itself, and a variety of other unpredictable factors.
However, most modern email programs (even newer versions of AOL) will correctly display ö, Ä, é, ß, and other German or foreign characters. If you are using an older program or an older version of AOL, you should upgrade to a newer version that can handle foreign text.
Sometimes, even in newer programs, the default font or character set may be the cause of odd displays of German type. Most browsers and email programs allow you to change the default setting to "ISO Latin 1" or "Western Latin 1" - or to select it for the particular document you are viewing. Usually, doing so will solve the problem of viewing German and other foreign text correctly.
Another source of trouble is not having your email set to display "HTML mail." Our German Newsletter is sent as HTML, but will also display as plain text in most current email programs. If you use a browser to view your mail, HTML should display properly.
6a. How do I change the font setting in my email program?
This varies from program to program, from Mac to PC. Look for something called character set, font set or text encodings under "Preferences," "Fonts," or "View" in your browser or email. Then select "ISO Latin 1" or "Western Latin 1" and see if that helps.
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