[ESS] typing umlaut-a and writing \"a ??

[hoffmann]

I apologize for misusing this list for an XEmacs question.

In German text I want to insert at point the string '\"a' for a key 
press on button 'ä' (umlaut-a). Is there an elisp way to achieve this? I 
conulted the manuals, but I am too green to figure out.

Of course I can write 'ä' and globally replace it by '\"a' using meta-%, 
but that is not attractive.
I am using  \usepackage{ngerman} but the above method would work withot it.

Any clues?

Thank you
Christian

-- 
Dr. Christian W. Hoffmann,
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Zuercherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland 
Tel +41-44-7392-277 (office), -111(exchange), -215  (fax)
christian.hoffmann at wsl.ch,  www.wsl.ch/personal_homepages/hoffmann/