[Tom8o]

I want to use the notetaking functions on my Kobo Sage while learning French.

It seems that the automatic handwriting recognition only picks up French characters when the system language is set to French, but even then, the advanced notebook cannot process "ç" while converting handwriting to text. Ironically, the conversion feature in the basic notebook works fine (when system language is set to French). Both the basic and advanced notebooks can convert at least other accented characters to text.

Edit: I have found out more information through testing. It seems that handwriting recognition language for advanced books is set permanently when an advanced notebook is created, and does not change when you change system language. So, for example, if you create an advanced notebook with English system language and later switch system language to French, that advanced notebook will still use English handwriting recognition. I talked to Kobo customer service about this, was told they relayed my report to their team. We'll see if anything comes of it; in the meantime, looks like the workaround is to switch languages before creating an advanced notebook (which sucks, for several reasons; I wish the HWR language was configurable).