Its not the layout thats the problem. ( I have it as english now but still can't get the console to come up ). Its that fact that Windows doesnt respond to "Shift" + " ' " as "~" it waits for the second time you press the key and then comes up with "~~" I've tried just about every key combo there is, but it still doesnt work. This includes alt + shift.
You know where you hit " and you have to hit the key again to make "" appear ? I think this is what causes the problems with activating the console since the ~ key also has the same function in some windows language setups.