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    Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    • Started by cthunter01
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    • Registered: 10-Jul-2010
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    22-Nov-2010 23:38:02#1 Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    Hey, has anyone else had this experience?

    I can type on Colemak pretty efficiently now (about 60 wpm, and slowly improving now), but after typing on QWERTY for 15+ years, it completely evaporated from my muscle memory. I have to look at the keyboard whenever I'm typing, and even then it's not very fast; I actually have to hunt for letters sometimes. It's usually not a problem since I mainly use my laptop, and whenever I have to use a foreign Windows computer I carry around a portable pkl program to switch the layout. But it sort of bugs me that I can't even type very effectively on QWERTY anymore.

    Anyone else have this experience? At least on most Linux boxes I can swap the layout pretty painlessly since Colemak comes preinstalled (usually, but I noticed it doesn't on CentOS for some reason)

    P.S. Not that it really matters. I like the Colemak layout so much better, and I can usually swap layouts any time I need to. I'm just curious if I'm not the only one that this happened to.

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    22-Nov-2010 23:56:10#2 Re: Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    Heh, I spoke too soon. :)

    It appears, after perusing the forums a little more that some others have had the same experience. I just find it really interesting how a skill that I had honed and used for over a decade could just *vanish* like that.

    I really ought to work on my speed some more, though. I got up to around 50 wpm a couple months ago, and just haven't cared to practice or increase it by much. Since then it's just been creeping up slowly. With a couple weeks of concerted effort I could probably get that up to 80.

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    • From: Belgium
    • Registered: 26-Feb-2008
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    23-Nov-2010 08:22:47#3 Re: Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    I noticed Qwerty works best for me when I'm very tired.  Old muscle memory seems to come back then. :-)

    Otherwise, hunt n' pecking is still quite efficient for me (used mostly on login screens).

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,361
    23-Nov-2010 10:21:06#4 Re: Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    I only have to watch the keyboard more than before; other than that, my QWERTY typing is just fine. Well, apart from feeling all wrong and clunky that is - but that's because Colemak feels so smooth!

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    • Registered: 08-Dec-2010
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    08-Dec-2010 11:50:15#5 Re: Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    I started Colemak training for 2 days and notice my Qwerty reflection slows a bit (2-5wpm).

    That's understandable, since the Qwerty brain muscle will decrease each day with Colemak training.

    My fastest typing records http://hi-games.net/profile/4314
    My switching experience https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=970

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    14-Dec-2010 09:29:44#6 Re: Now I can't touch type on QWERTY

    I think the problems going between layouts aren't really that much about forgetting but more about confusion. When you're trying to do two things at once (hitting the QWERTY and Colemak positions for a letter for instance!) your brain gets stressed and has to slow down to sort out the conflict.

    Think of it as learning Spanish and Italian at the same time, and getting confused about which word belongs in which language. After some use, this won't be a problem anymore.

    Last edited by DreymaR (14-Dec-2010 09:30:46)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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