I've been switching to Colemak from Qwerty for about 3 months now, and I feel that my decision to switch has already bring some fruits in which I feel much less pain in my fingers when I have to type long text, although I type mostly in Indonesian, which have different letters frequency than English (e.g. the frequency of the letter "a" is around 20%).
Previously, I use QWERTY and I have to bought a Microsoft Natural Keyboard (which is the only ergonomic keyboard available and affordable in my place) because I felt that I can no longer bear the pain when I have to type long text using normal keyboard. Using Microsoft's keyboard only alleviate some pain, then switching to Colemak really helps to diminish the pain.
My typing speed right now maybe about the same as my previous QWERTY speed, but my productivity is much higher. I can concentrate more to my work than to worry about RSI.
Being a translator, I have to type lots and lots of text everyday. So learning a new layout is not an easy decision. I need to do it in the right moment, when my workload is not too high. And I did it around the month of Ramadan and Eid festival, when there were less assignments that I need to take.
I use TypeFaster to learn, but i prefer not to be distracted by the keyboard hints, so I put the Colemak layout diagram as my desktop wallpaper, and put the TypeFaster window on the lower side of my monitor with the part showing the keyboard is outside the visible window, i.e. only showing the typing input box.
I type in Indonesian 95% of the time, the other 5% is in English. My English ratio is quite high compared to typical Indonesian typist which most of them type 100% in Indonesian. The keyboard layout comparison still gives better statistic for Indonesian text in Colemak layout compared to QWERTY and Dvorak, although I can see that English text fare even better.
Even better, I can type Indonesia using only the home row! And it's quicker to write smilies like this :-))
Thank you, Shai for this wonderful layout! I will be glad if you willing to share your design steps/considerations so I can optimize the layout for Indonesian, because my pinky finger still get an "A" ;-)