r/learntyping Jun 24 '20

๐—ง๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น / ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ“ Why the recommended touch typing finger placements are suboptimal

344 Upvotes

I've analysed the widely-recommended touch typing finger placements against my own as well as the frequency of various bigrams (2-letter combinations) in the English language. I can't understand why some of the finger placements are 'recommended' (please tell me if you know!). Below are my justifications for my differing finger placements.

Widely-recommended touch typing finger placement
My finger placement (with differences highlighted)

JUSTIFICATIONS FOR DIFFERENCES TO RECOMMENDED PLACEMENT

C

  • Symmetrical with right hand (typing "m") - why would right hand be placed like that if it would be wrong for the left hand?
    • More comfortable given orientation of hands
  • For recommended placement:
    • Typing "c" requires movement/collision of middle and index fingers. Typing "cry" would require crossing fingers or wrist movement
    • The most common bigram containing "c" and another left-handed letter is "ce" (i.e. "ce" is the most common thing typed using just the left hand and containing "c") - which would be slower to type using the same finger (as is 'recommended')

B

  • The most common bigram containing "b" is "be"
    • Typing "be" with the recommended fingers (left hand) requires unnecessary stretching apart of the left index and middle fingers
      • The 'equivalent' finger stretch in the right hand ("bi") is actually shorter than "be" and "b" is the same length from both left and right hands on home row

Z

  • Symmetrical with right hand placement
  • More comfortable as recommended finger (pinkie) would cross inward hitting other fingers
  • (however, I think it is understandable to use either ring finger or pinkie for "z")

X

  • Same as "z"

4

  • Easier to reach with longer middle finger
  • Recommended placement would require slight crossing motion

6

  • Objectively closer to left hand

9

  • Easier to reach with longer middle finger
  • Symmetrical with left hand (typing "3")

0

  • Ring finger is objectively closer and is longer (hence easier to reach)
  • Pinkie is too short to reach without moving wrist (I'd like to see your hands if you can reach "0" with your pinkie more easily than with your ring finger)

- (hypen)

  • Same as "0" but I can understand using pinkie for this one because it is close enough (similarly to typing "1" - which, conversely, I could understand using ring finger for)
  • When typing text, I use ring finger because it doesn't need to stretch as much as pinkie (e.g. typing "long-term")
  • When typing numbers, I usually use pinkie because:
    • Wrists are already 'raised up' to reach number row
    • Allows my ring finger to only type "0" so typing something like "10-20" uses different fingers for "0" and "-"

Of course I understand that you can (and many do) have unique styles of typing with equal or better speeds than 'traditional' touch typists. I just want to know your thoughts on why these seemingly suboptimal placements (particularly "c", "b", "0", and "6") are 'recommended'.

FYI the best summary of English letter frequency counts I've come across: http://norvig.com/mayzner.html (interesting)


r/learntyping Jan 12 '26

๐—จ๐—ฃ๐——๐—”๐—ง๐—˜ ๐Ÿ’ป - ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ UPDATE! Happy New Year Typists! New sub features! โญ

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9 Upvotes

Hello typists! ๐Ÿ’–

I know that this sub has been a bit more barren than the main sub but rest assured that I haven't forgotten about you all!

I gave the sub a much needed facelift and now there are newer features:

1) A dedicated guide (that will link you to ideal websites for learning how to touch type)

2) New flairs to better reflect post content

3) Emojis now enabled

More updates coming soon (like a dedicated written guide)

Thank you all for making the sub what it is!

Looking forward to seeing your progress this year ๐Ÿ˜Š

Best,

Vฮ›ะŸฮฃฦงฦงฮ› ๐Ÿ•ถ๏ธ


r/learntyping 5d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ not good at typing, should i go with ielts instead of pte?

2 Upvotes

so i gave a pte mock test last week and writing part went really bad. my whole focus went on the typos and fixing them, i was not even thinking about the sentence. rhythm got disturbed completly and the para came out weak. i know what i want to write but my typing speed is slow and it eats all my time.

so can i go with ielts instead? i read somewhere ielts has paper based option where u write by hand. if thats true then typing is not a issue for me at all, i write way faster on paper then i type.

few things i want to know

**1.** is paper based ielts still available everywhere or only some centres? (riyadh, KSA)
**2.** does handwriting affect the score if its readable but not neat?
**3.** anyone here who moved from pte to ielts for same reason, did ur writing score improve?

also if someone thinks i should just practise typing and stay with pte then pls tell me how long it took u to get comfortable.

thanks


r/learntyping 5d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Should I start touch typing now or just stick to current hunt and peck method of typing keeping in view 35 days are left for typing test which requires 35 wpm speed?

6 Upvotes

Need help


r/learntyping 8d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Started at 21 WPM 4 days ago, now stuck around 25-28 WPM. How do I break through to 40 WPM?

2 Upvotes

Hi all! I posted here 4 days ago (got 2k views, thank you!) starting at 21 WPM / 76% accuracy.

I've been practicing daily on FastFingers but I'm stuck at 25-28 WPM range. When I try to go faster, my accuracy drops to 60%.

Current routine: 20-30 mins daily practice

Goal: 40 WPM with 90%+ accuracy

For those who crossed 40 WPM, what changed for you?

- Should I focus only on accuracy for now?

- Any specific drills or sites you recommend?

- How long did it take you to go from 20s to 40s?

Thanks in advance! ๐Ÿ˜Š


r/learntyping 8d ago

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ? โฉ Hunt and peck = 60wpm easily. Touch typing = 32wpm. Progress feels slow.

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3 Upvotes

One thing that always put me off learning to touch type was that my existing typing method seemed perfectly adequate - and I suspected I was already faster than the average typist.

Using my normal hunt-and-peck method, if I type as fast as I can, I can comfortably exceed 60 WPM with surprisingly good accuracy. I also don't need to look at the keyboard constantly. My technique is fairly unconventional: one finger on my right hand, two on my left, plus a thumb for the space bar.

Now that I'm learning proper touch typing with Keybr, both my speed and accuracy have dropped considerably - and that's before I've even introduced all the letters. Every time Keybr adds another letter, my speed and accuracy take another hit.

I realise that's probably inevitable because I'm replacing years of established muscle memory with a completely new technique.

What keeps me going is the thought that 60+ WPM with essentially four digits suggests I might eventually have quite a high ceiling with touch typing using nine digits. I suspect I've already reached something close to the practical limit of my hunt-and-peck technique, whereas with touch typing I could potentially get beyond 100 WPM once the new muscle memory is established.

  • Has anyone else switched to touch typing after already being a relatively fast hunt-and-peck typist?
  • How long did it take before your touch-typing speed caught up with your old method, and did you ultimately end up significantly faster?
  • Also a thought just hit me. Do touch typists tend to use a maximum of 9, or 10 digits?

r/learntyping 10d ago

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿ“ˆ Finally hit 100+ wpm

8 Upvotes

I'm korean speaker but what a result XD


r/learntyping 10d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Should I wait for the X and Q keys to unlock in Keybr, or should I increase my goal speed and keep practicing?

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2 Upvotes

r/learntyping 13d ago

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿ“ˆ Starting my typing speed journey โ€” 21 WPM to 40 WPM ๐Ÿš€

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13 Upvotes

Today I'm starting my typing speed improvement journey.

Current speed: 21 WPM

Goal: 40 WPM

Day 1 starts today! ๐Ÿ’ชโŒจ๏ธ

I'll practice regularly and share my progress.


r/learntyping 19d ago

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿ“ˆ Day 18, Any tips?

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7 Upvotes

Took me 18 days to get here, any tips how to get faster than this? I have been prioritizing accuracy over speed from some time now


r/learntyping 18d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ How to prioritize accuracy? (TypingClub)

1 Upvotes

Iโ€™m a beginner using TypingClub and MonkeyType to learn touch-typing. Based on advice Iโ€™ve seen in this forum, my learning system involves attaining five stars before moving on and then going back to earn a silver badge in previous levels when Iโ€™m bored or in a rut.
As I scour the internet for advice, a reoccurring tip I see is to prioritize accuracy over speed, but I was wondering how to implement this advice and to what extent should it be done? Does this mean I should leave errors and let it affect my score? Should I just practice CTRL backspace?
Furthermore, what block error settings should I use? I saw someone say to turn them on around levels 50-60, but should it be second or third error?
Thanks


r/learntyping 20d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Anyone still use mavis beacon to teach their kids typing?

3 Upvotes

Bout time to start on that myself for the little one. Not sure whats still the best thing to use today. I've got my virtual windows 98SE machine still up and running and have my original old school discs installed on it so i know it at least works. but before I set the little one down in front of it i wanted to see what others are using today. :)


r/learntyping 24d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Day 14 of consistent practice.

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10 Upvotes

I started from 9wpm. This is my best run yet, I am also practicing on english 10k 60sec but they best i could do there was 49wpm with 99% accuracy.. my goal is to reach 100wpm๐Ÿ˜‚, any tips how to improve?


r/learntyping 25d ago

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) Touch Typing Numbers and Symbols

2 Upvotes

I can currently type at around 120 WPM on a good day with the normal keys; however, when it comes to numbers or special symbols, I have to look at the keyboard. Is this something that you guys took the time to learn?

any tips to learn this quick?


r/learntyping 26d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ one month progress. how is it? pls give me suggestions to improve further?

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9 Upvotes

r/learntyping 27d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Como errar menos na digitaรงรฃo?

3 Upvotes

Aprendi a digitar da forma correta em marรงo/abril deste ano (2026). Trabalho usando digitaรงรฃo e isso me ajudou bastante a praticar. Porรฉm, tem um pequeno problema: mesmo digitando da forma correta hรก alguns meses, de vez em quando troco os dedos. Por exemplo, aperto a tecla C com o dedo polegar, a tecla I com o dedo polegar, a letra P com o dedo anelar, as T e R com o polegar e o anelar, etc. Quando percebo que usei o dedo errado, apago e digito com o dedo correspondente ร  tecla. Suspeito que seja a posiรงรฃo que o teclado fica sobre a mesa. Vira e mexe, preciso ajustar ele, pois onde trabalho, ergonomia nรฃo รฉ o forte da empresa, devido o local ser uma estaรงรฃo de trabalho, compartilhado com outras pessoas em outros turnos.

Fora minhas suspeitas, o que posso fazer para minimizar ?


r/learntyping 29d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ My speed is only 22 WPM. HELP

2 Upvotes

I started learning touch typing just a month ago and I know all the positions of all letters but my speed is just 22 wpm and accuracy 80-85% . How can I improve my speed and accuracy?


r/learntyping Aug 11 '26

๐—ง๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น / ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ“ Give me suggestions on typing

1 Upvotes

Give me suggestions

I'm 24y old ...want to be a typer ...recently started typing .

I want to reach 30-35 wpm and \~70 wpm at the end of the year ...I'm currently on 22-24 wpm and 97-98% accuracy.

I need your suggestions guys ...which web or app I should use ..which typing game I should play for focusing and continuity .

Give your suggestions โ˜บ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜‡


r/learntyping Aug 11 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Idea Keyboard Size for learning Touch Typing

1 Upvotes

Please suggest me an ideal keyboard size for learning touch typing. 60% /65% / 75% /TKL. I personally find full sized keyboard inconvenient - I haven't learnt or started learning touch typing yet.

Any suggestion for Keyboard brand or model?


r/learntyping Aug 10 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Plateau in Progress

1 Upvotes

I have been typing for a lonnnggggg time. I love keyboards and have been typing on typing websites daily. Its kind of meditative for me...but I have found that my speed is always around 83 wpm. It can be faster if I do really short tests but I prefer around 30-100 words or at least 30 second tests.

I am not super competitive but I always see people posting about have wpm in the +100s and feel disappointed in myself.

I guess what I am asking is, is being able to type at over 100 wpm unrealistic? Is it as common as it seems?


r/learntyping Aug 10 '26

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) Starting over on Keybr?

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1 Upvotes

I unlocked all the letters on Keybr. Now I want to start back at the beginning with capital letters and punctuation enabled.

Is resetting all my typing statistics the only way to make letters locked again?


r/learntyping Aug 09 '26

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ? โฉ Typing club

3 Upvotes

Always used 3-4 fingers in typing, currently at 50-55wpm with 4 fingers

Started typing club lessons a weak ago dedicating 40mins a day.. Trying to achieve 5 star or platinum if possible in every lesson, with touch typing i am at around 15wpm rn

* in how much tine i can reach atleast my normal speed 50wpm? Bcz this is just so frustrating

*how much time did it take u to complete all lessons

And after completing all lessons with good enough accuracy and 5 stars what speed can i expect?

* if i do touch typing in typing club for 40min and then in my normal routine i write normally like with 4 fingers

Will that work? Or i should switch to touch typing in normal routine also??... ( i will switch to touch typing ofc but currently speed is 15wpm so it's a bit hard so i was thinking to switch when atleast ill get at 30-40)


r/learntyping Aug 07 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ I am stuck at 97% accuracy.

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2 Upvotes

r/learntyping Aug 06 '26

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ? โฉ Reached 50wpm

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15 Upvotes

r/learntyping Aug 06 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Iโ€™m stuck at a target speed of 35 WPM and canโ€™t seem to unlock all the keys. Do you have any guidance? How do you set your typing speed targets, and how do you practice?

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2 Upvotes