How do I input accented character with an english keyboard?
Hit C-\ It will switch the input method to latin-1-prefix. Typing ‘ folowed by e will give é. To see al the possible combinations right click on the 1> at the bottom left on the mode line. There are many other input modes, to list them all run M-x list-input-methods. To use a different input method you need to customize the variable default-input-method. For example if you wanted to use japanese you would add the following in your .