A method and system for recognizing alphabetic characters that contain diacritics is described. An image analysis separates the character into its constituent components. The one or more diacritic components are then distinguished and isolated from the base portion of the character. Optical recognition is performed separately on the base portion. The diacritic is recognized through a special image analysis and pattern recognition algorithms. The image analysis extracts geometric information from the one or more diacritic components. The extracted information is used as input for the pattern recognition algorithms. The output is a code that corresponds to a particular diacritic. The recognized base portion and diacritic are combined and a check is performed for acceptable combinations in a chosen language. By separately recognizing the base portion and diacritic, the character sets used by the recognizer can be narrowed, resulting in greater recognition.