Hi.
I was considering in the last couple of days to switch from QWERTY to Colemak. My question is.. After almost a year of practice, i type at 90wpm. If I start using Colemak now, once I learned the layout, will it take me that long to type at that speed? I think the answer is yes, as all my brain had to do to speed up in qwerty is the same that has to do here, just muscle memorize common letters patterns. Is it really so or can it take less?
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Typing speed coming from QWERTY
- Started by marcuzzio
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Most people reach the same speed, more or less 5-10wpm, if touch typing in Qwerty.
Deliberate practice might make you a little faster, but so would practicing Qwerty right now.
The benefit is Colemak would be more comfortable.
Colemak typist
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It'd likely be faster progress. Part of your QWERTY speed is layout memory, but part of it is also general typing proficiency. So you wouldn't be throwing away all your former practice when transitioning to Colemak.
Consider Tarmak if you wish to keep speedy during the transition. But a cold turkey transition is probably less work in total.
If you use EPKL, you'll have an on-screen layout image and can easily switch the layout on and off or switch between layouts (useful if you try Tarmak for instance).
It's also entirely possible to maintain both Colemak and QWERTY proficiency with just a little confusion when you switch between them. But for most people QWERTY becomes so very very ugly once you're used to Colemak... ¯\(º_o)/¯
Last edited by DreymaR (06-Jan-2020 09:36:07)
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marcuzzio said:
Hi.
I was considering in the last couple of days to switch from QWERTY to Colemak. My question is.. After almost a year of practice, i type at 90wpm. If I start using Colemak now, once I learned the layout, will it take me that long to type at that speed? I think the answer is yes, as all my brain had to do to speed up in qwerty is the same that has to do here, just muscle memorize common letters patterns. Is it really so or can it take less?
Anecdotal evidence suggests people who are already proficient touch-typists make the transition more rapidly than those who aren't. I only learned to type-type properly at the same time as I learned Colemak, and I had to undo years of bad habits. As a result for me the switch took a few months before I became satisfied with my speed.
In your case you should be able to transition to Colemak, and reach - or even surpass - your Qwerty speed rapidly. Judging from others' experiences, I'd guess at a few weeks rather than months.
(By the way, the overwhelming benefit of the switch is *comfort* more than speed).
Last edited by stevep99 (08-Jan-2020 14:28:01)
Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.
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