diff --git a/customizations/editing.el b/customizations/editing.el
index a4193d0af..7f8f20d81 100644
--- a/customizations/editing.el
+++ b/customizations/editing.el
@@ -67,3 +67,6 @@
     (quit nil)))
 
 (setq electric-indent-mode nil)
+
+;; enable special chars in the editor, like ~ and ^.
+(load-library "iso-transl")