Flip the Script! How to Type Up a Storm in Another Language

Flip the Script! How to Type Up a Storm in Another Language Flip the Script! How to Type Up a Storm in Another Language Learning to type?Unless someone printed this article out and posted it to you by, I don’t know, carrier pigeon, you probably already know how to type.But what about in your target language?Well, if you plan to do any writing in that language other than longhand, youll want to be able to type.And I dont mean hunting and pecking for the lettersâ€"letters which might not even appear on your keyboard!Like with  practicing any skill, the more you do it, the better youll get. Its that simple.This guide is here to 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. Flip the Script! How to Type Up a Storm in Another LanguageThe Technical Side: How to Install New KeyboardsIts dead simple to add new foreign keyboards to your computer.On Windows, you can change the language settings right from your taskbar. Lets say English (United States) is marked as your primary display language.Cli ck on that English button and head to Language preferences, where youll be presented with the very useful Add a language button. Couldnt be simpler than that!Once you add a new one, you can switch between installed keyboards by pressing the Windows and Shift keys.On a Mac, head up to System Preferences. Under Keyboard and Input Sources, theres a small + symbol for you to add new choices.After you have more than one, a small flag appears on the top menu bar of the screenâ€"click it and you can choose a new keyboard layout at any time.(The wording of the directions above may differ depending on what version youre using.)How to Learn Foreign KeyboardsIts hard to imagine typing at speed with a foreign keyboard. I remember watching a video about a linguist and seeing her switch between typing English, Japanese and Russian without missing a beat.It was an amazing sight! And its not out of reach for you and me.In fact, I personally type in Arabic, French and English at a good speed. And if you know or are learning these languages, you can do the same!Do You Have the Touch? Why Its Better to Be Able to Touch TypeYour first step is to learn how to touch type. You may already know how to do this in your native language, but its especially important when youre adding typing in a second language.If you rely on looking down at the keyboard for knowing where your hands are, youre going to be stuck pretty fast when you need letters that just arent there.It is actually possible to buy little stickers you can put on your keys, but that may not work for everyone. Its a bunch of work, and youre limited to the languages that can fit on the keys. The truth is, you dont need to use stickers if you dont want to.Instead, take it real slow.Getting the Lay of the Land: Initial Learning and PracticeOpen a new window on your computer with your foreign-language keyboard diagram as a reference, or print it out and stick it nearby.Then, just start typing. At first, just test yourself on the keyboard diagram to internalize the layout. Make it a little game with yourself to see how many letters you can type before making a mistake.Focus on accuracy from the beginning to avoid hitting a plateau. Its easy to build speed with some letter combinations but always have trouble with a fewâ€"and those mistakes can add up over time to a lot of frustration.There are a handful of websites out there that can give you customized typing lessons for whatever language youd like.My favorite is called 10fastfingers. It lets you know right away if you made a mistake, but doesnt necessarily stop you. That way you can accurately get an idea of your words per minute score after mistakes are subtracted.For English writing practice only, my favorite website is  Typing Speed Test.And of course, every online language course with a typing component has typing practice built into its core instruction. Duolingo users might default to the rearrange words exercise, but if you switch yourself to the t ext input mode, youre immediately learning much more efficiently.FluentU  tests your typing skills through fun quizzes when youre using the Plus plan. The multimedia questions include typing words and phrases to test how well you can produce them from memory. Spelling counts! FluentU takes real-world videosâ€"like movie trailers, news and moreâ€"and turns them into personalized language lessons.From my own experience, you dont even have to put a ton of time into the basics of learning to type in another language. 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.If you just have to add a couple of accents or a handful of extra letters, thoseâ€"in my experience with Arabicâ€"can be memorized in less than an hour!Typing at Speed: The Importance of Regular PracticeNow, if you dont happen to be learning something like Greek, Arabic or Korean that uses a non-L atin script, you may be thinking that you dont need to practice your typing. If a language uses the same letters as English, whats the big deal?Well, first, there arent too many commonly learned languages without any accents or additional letters.Second, it turns out that if youre not used to typing a languages specific letter combinations, youll likely make a lot more mistakes a lot more often than you would otherwise.Fast typists in one language may look at their hands in wonder and dismay when they try to apply the same muscle memory to a foreign language.For example, the combinations th, ed  and tion are very common in English but less so in German. And the Spanish ll and rr very rarely show up when typing English.The best way to get better at typing is to simply type more. Choosing what to type is the question, of course. Dont just copy down the keyboard again and againâ€"youll bore yourself to tears.Double Your Efforts: Type Your Learning MaterialsIn the olden days of language learning, students would often copy out passages by hand as part of their homework. This teaching method was rightly phased out, but that doesnt mean it never helped anyone.If you take the time to re-type some textbook dialogues or short reading passages, youre actually doing yourself a huge favor.By focusing so hard on the letters, making sure you get each one right, youre indirectly giving yourself an intense reading workout.By combining these occasional typing exercises with the ordinary typing you would do in the languageâ€"for homework, courses, chatting, et ceteraâ€"you’ll avoid plateauing and instead consistently build speed and accuracy.Alternate Methods: Using Shortcut KeyboardsWhen youre presented with all the myriad types of keyboards out there, its good to know about a couple of small shortcuts.For one, languages like Polish and Romanian have a programmers layout. The name comes from programmers in those regions who find it irritating to type code when all the bracket s and underscores are reassigned to other letters.These programmers keyboards dont have separate keys for the new letters. Instead, to type something like ó you just press ALT-O and the alternate letter appears.Something called the US-International layout  works on an interesting and related principle. Its made for you to be able to type a wide range of alternate characters without having to switch keyboards or even take your hands off the home row.It treats characters like ö, ê and ñ as combinations like [ + o ], [ ^ + e ] and [ ~ + n ]. So with the US-International keyboard turned on, all you have to do is tap these keys in succession and theyll automatically combine into the new characters.These are ideal for peopleâ€"programmers or notâ€"who find themselves writing or editing text in multiple languages on the regular. I personally use the US-International layout any time I might be typing in mostly English but switching to French here and there.And if your other-language ty ping is really sporadic, there are a couple of simple keyboard shortcuts in the Microsoft Office suite that let you add the odd special character without even switching your keyboard back and forth.You can also use various Alt commands for the same purpose.There are even lookalike keyboards for languages such as Russian, where the QWERTY keys that are closest to the Russian shape are used instead of the actual Russian layout. So ? would be put on the N key because it kind of looks like an N.But like with stickers, you dont actually need these. The other keyboards were designed for fast typing speedâ€"and in Russian-speaking countries, everybody uses the authentic layout, so good luck using a computer in a hotel or library!Besides, it really doesnt take long to pick up new typing skills.Many people get by in typing a foreign language without ever consciously practicing it.It just so happens that theyre the ones hitting the Backspace key the most.For better or worse, virtually all the writing that happens nowadays happens on computers.And with just a little bit of conscious practice, you can shoot past being an eternally-average typist, and instead, aim for excellence.