What do the signs above German letters mean?

Question

Also how do you write them using a keyboard?

Answer 1

What the dots mean is that it's a different letter. Spelling words in German you pronounce the umlauts by their sound, not like it is regrettably usually done in teaching German by saying "a-umlaut". Historically they were pronunciation signs; the dots are only stylized "e"s.
"E" was chosen because you pronounce them by bringing your tongue in the "e"-position while your lips are still shaping the original vowel.

The easiest way to do it is just to insert an "e" behind the vowel in question, and use a double "s" instead of "ß".
That's totally acceptable. What is not is to just ignore the umlaut, because it can change the meaning of words totally.

Answer 2

You can use the "insert symbol" in word and the copy and paste it into what you are writing.

The two dots above the ü and ö in german make the letters into a different sound. Essentially almost turning it into another character in the alphabet. A double "ss" is a fancy looking ß. But has the qualities of a double ss.

Answer 3

The preceding answers are more or less correct the KEY WORD is go to the inter-net and search "Diacritical" marks then download it and search it for German Language marks. The definitions are not usually given there but the code to produce them is----my keyboard uses the system but the code is repeated variously on different keyboards hence the numbers mentioned by the other responder are not the ones I use but "Different strokes for different folks" has never been more aptly applied ! ¿ Want the ones used in Spanish? how about le Français ? You name it its there along with a whole bunch of other stuff like how many degreesº , the coefficient of friction "µ"and even root² or the most elusive the Euro sign( which incidentlly does not reproduce on my ISP but will work if put into a word processing program then dubbed into the text) I find I have to use the attachment process to make it work.

To pronounce the vowels correctly refer to a text book. The sound for such vowels is not the same as the unmarked vowel.

Answer 4

they change the pronunciation of the word, although I don't know the specifics. You can make the symbols on your keyboard by holding the alt key while typing a series of numbers. Search 'alt codes' and you'll find a list of all the symbols and the codes to make them.

Answer 5

It's called the Umlaut, it changes the sound of the vowel.

You can type these using codes on the number pad of your keyboard:-
Alt-0228 = ä
Alt-0246 = ö
Alt-0252 = ü

Answer 6

In German it is called : Umlaut
you can find them on the character map (got to start - all programs - accessories - systems tools - character map) there you'll find all you need.

Answer 7

ä is alt-5252 Ü is alt-5274
but usually I just have to hunt around, or go to charmap.
I have a German keyboard at work but that's even worse

Answer 8

They are called umlauts and they change the vowel sounds. i,e for = fuer (This how it would be written without the umlaut) or, in normal German, für.

Answer 9

What...you mean the 'umlaut'? If so - is this what you need...
http://www.ergonis.com/products/popchar/

Answer 10

They are part of the German language and they don't mean anything. They include two dots above a letter as in "Haagen Daaz." The keyboard may have a control character or you'll have to download special fonts.