Don’t Skip the Diacritics — Essential Special Characters in any Language

If you leave them out, you might save time, but your writing will SUCK

There are essential special characters in most languages besides English, and as a writer or content creator, you are obligated to include them when you write. They’re known as diacritics or diacritical marks. People often use diacritic interchangeably with accent, but accent marks are a subset of diacritics. These phonetic symbols are not optional, and they change the entire meaning of words. But fear not! It’s pretty easy to use diacritics quickly and efficiently. Don’t skip the diacritics.

Diacritics, what they are, what they do, who needs them?

Suppose you’re writing the dramatic climax of your magnum opus, wherein Don Diego Del la Vega dispenses with the villain Count Armand. Since you write in English, there’s no worry about accents, tildes, umlauts, or cedillas. “Listen to me, Villain,” says Zorro. “Your end is near.” Easy peasy.

But the Count, who doesn’t speak English, retorts, “Ah, pero senor, mi papa tiene 53 anos y sobrevivire a eso!”

Um. Something is not right. I promise the Count did not have that in mind as his bold comeback. What would he care about…