Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example, some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are designed to work with terminals.