# Do any non-english speakers use Kakoune? **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [April 22, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/do-any-non-english-speakers-use-kakoune/480 "2019-04-22T23:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jazevec](https://discuss.kakoune.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@jazevec](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/jazevec)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/do-any-non-english-speakers-use-kakoune/480/1 "2019-04-22T23:18:55Z")
I’m going to guess they don’t. The reason is the heavy reliance on Alt key. In many locale settings, right alt is reserved for inputting national characters such as ąłóżźćńś. It works at terminal level, not application level. This makes a fundamental action like 'select surrounding object ’ only possible with left hand, and my left wrist happens to be healing from a bicycle accident. Both shifts are easily accessible and bigger, and I’d rather have easily accessible backpedal than extending selection (more on that later). Go back to word start ? Take your fingers from the home row or bend that thumb under your palm, baby! ---
**Author:** ![xyuusha](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/xyuusha/32/48_2.png) [@xyuusha](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/xyuusha)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/do-any-non-english-speakers-use-kakoune/480/2 "2019-04-23T13:33:20Z")
I’m not representative at all, but I’m a non-english speaker using kakoune without any problem. The _trick_ is to insert the digraphs at input (linux’s X I think) server level. I use dvorak + custom keys for the digraphs I need most of the time, from using a compose key (one key followed by two keys to _combine_ them[`compose ' a = á`]) to using a single modifier (super modifier + key gives you access to the accented one [`super + a = á`]). It works quite well. Only problem I have ever had is to insert digraphs on a terminal-only environment, but that problem would happen also with vim and other terminal editors. ---
**Author:** ![andreyorst](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/andreyorst/32/29_2.png) [@andreyorst](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/andreyorst)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/do-any-non-english-speakers-use-kakoune/480/3 "2019-04-23T13:36:38Z")
I’m Russian, and I do. we have a QЙ WЦ EУ RК TЕ YН layout and russian part doesn’t work in kakoune at all. But I don’t need russian layout in Kakoune like at all. So your question might be more specific, like [usage with non-qwerty layouts](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/kakoune-for-non-qwerty-layouts/403/7). Some more topics about Alt key [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/kakoune/comments/b2topj/avoiding_alt/), [2](https://github.com/mawww/kakoune/issues/436) ---
**Author:** ![TeddyDD](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/teddydd/32/21_2.png) [@TeddyDD](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/TeddyDD)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/do-any-non-english-speakers-use-kakoune/480/4 "2019-04-25T02:02:39Z")
I’m Polish. For some reason on my system left alt is different key than right alt: ```auto $ xev | awk -F'[)]+' '/^KeyPress/ { a[NR+2] } NR in a { printf "%-3s %s\n", $5, $8 }' 64 Alt_L # left alt 108 ISO_Level3_Shift #right alt ``` I type Polish characters with right alt It’s pretty convenient for me 🤷‍♂️ Also: Take a look at this discussion: > [@Avoiding modifier chording](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/avoiding-modifier-chording/107): > > I’ve been noticing that, even though Kakoune uses less keystrokes, they are often more awkward. For example, Shift+Alt+C (which doesn’t seem to work for me anyway), requires me to use right Alt and right Shift. I’m really happy with the structural regex stuff and the order of operations, so I’m not leaving Kakoune, but I’m wondering what to do about it… The ideas I have so far are to introduce user modes. I can do one for “extend selection”, which I guess is just kind of like Caps Lock, whic…