Even a completely different keyboard layout can be memorized after a couple of days, and you should be able to touch type competently after just one month of short daily practices. Review questions include correctly typing words and phrases to evaluate how well you can produce them from memory.įrom my own experience, you don’t even have to put a ton of time into the basics of learning to type in another language. You’ll learn vocabulary from a collection of authentic videos that are equipped with interactive captions. Offering lessons for 10 languages, FluentU also tests your typing skills through personalized quizzes.Duolingo users might default to the “rearrange words” exercise, but if you switch yourself to the text input mode, you’re immediately learning much more efficiently. And of course, every online language course with a typing component has typing practice built into its core instruction.For English writing practice only, my favorite website is Typing Speed Test.That way you can accurately get an idea of your words per minute score after mistakes are subtracted. It lets you know right away if you made a mistake, but doesn’t necessarily stop you. There are a handful of websites out there that can give you customized typing lessons for whatever language you’d like. It’s easy to build speed with some letter combinations but always have trouble with a few-and those mistakes can add up over time to a lot of frustration. Make it a little game with yourself to see how many letters you can type before making a mistake.įocus on accuracy from the beginning to avoid hitting a plateau. At first, just test yourself on the keyboard diagram to internalize the layout. Open a new window on your computer with your foreign-language keyboard diagram as a reference, or print it out and stick it nearby. The truth is, you don’t need to use stickers if you don’t want to. It’s a bunch of work, and you’re limited to the languages that can fit on the keys. It is actually possible to buy little stickers you can put on your keys, but that may not work for everyone. If you rely on looking down at the keyboard for knowing where your hands are, you’re going to be stuck pretty fast when you need letters that just aren’t there. You may already know how to do this in your native language, but it’s especially important when you’re adding typing in a second language. Your first step is to learn how to touch type. And if you know or are learning these languages, you can do the same! Why It’s Better to Be Able to Touch Type In fact, I personally type in Arabic, French and English at a good speed. It was an amazing sight! And it’s not out of reach for you and me. I remember watching a video about a linguist and seeing her switch between typing English, Japanese and Russian without missing a beat. It’s hard to imagine typing at speed with a foreign keyboard. (The wording of the directions above may differ depending on what version you’re using.) How to Learn Foreign Keyboards Under Keyboard and Input Sources, there’s a small + symbol for you to add new choices.Īfter you have more than one, a small flag appears on the top menu bar of the screen-click it and you can choose a new keyboard layout at any time. Once you add a new one, you can switch between installed keyboards by pressing the Windows and Shift keys. Let’s say English (United States) is marked as your primary display language.Ĭlick on that English button and head to “Language preferences,” where you’ll be presented with the very useful “Add a language” button. On Windows, you can change the language settings right from your taskbar. How can you learn a new language online if you can’t type in it? No problem! It’s dead simple to add new foreign keyboards to your computer. (Download) How to Type Up a Storm in Another Language How to Install New Keyboards This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. Alternate Methods: Using “Shortcut” Keyboards.Why It’s Better to Be Able to Touch Type.How to Type Up a Storm in Another Language.This guide will help you accelerate that practice period so you spend as little time as possible learning to type, and as much time as possible learning your target language. Soon your fingers will be zipping around the keyboard! Like with practicing any skill, the more you do it, the better you’ll get. If you plan to do any writing in the language you’re learning, you’ll want to eventually be able to type its unique letters. JanuWhat’s Your Type? How to Type in Another Language
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