I used to work in the US where I got a laptop with US-keyboard (naturally). Programming C++/Java at that time I can confirm that it is much better suited for programming in these languages than the German layout I was used to (the typical specials like "{[]}@~|\" are AltGr-keys)
14 years ago we thought in the company I worked for about choosing a modern language ( we used Oracle*Forms & PL/SQL which have a Pascal-like syntax) for the next generation of our product. C++ was an obvious favorite, but the use of {} for blocks raised serious concerns - typing begin/end appeared faster/more natural to most of us. Lisp and Smalltalk became serious candidates - perhaps as well because they were more accessible on german keyboards.
I am now in France and I recommended AppEngine to a french colleague - he was delighted about Python and the ease it lets him type in his little programms.
Perhaps not a coincidence that Pascal and Python had been conceived by non-english speakers.
-Carsten
