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Poll: Have you ever studied to improve your typing skills? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever studied to improve your typing skills?".
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I never learned to type "properly", but I type fast. I learned to type the hard way, by myself, on an old-fashioned, heavy, slow and very noisy typewriter in the 1960s. I don't use all my fingers to type. My speed came purely from having to type every day.
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DianeGM 
Local time: 15:23
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Not by choice ... | Jan 13, 2016 |
I learned touch typing in school - had to - it was one of these weekly time-filler lessons on a Wednesday afternoon. I remember how much I hated it and what a waste of time I thought it - but it was better than the alternatives which were needlework and cooking. I sat there week after week banging on the keys and muttering to myself, but I did learn.
By the time I went to university we were expected to turn in typed essays and I couldn't understand why it took everyone else so long... See more I learned touch typing in school - had to - it was one of these weekly time-filler lessons on a Wednesday afternoon. I remember how much I hated it and what a waste of time I thought it - but it was better than the alternatives which were needlework and cooking. I sat there week after week banging on the keys and muttering to myself, but I did learn.
By the time I went to university we were expected to turn in typed essays and I couldn't understand why it took everyone else so long. It's a skill that's been indispensable in every job I've had, turns out I was very very wrong. ▲ Collapse
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Parrot
Spain
Local time: 14:23
Spanish to English
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| Would you believe, I was 11? | Jan 13, 2016 |
One of a working mom's ideas of a summer programme.
I cheated - couldn't help looking at the keyboard. But on the whole I passed. The following summers were more entertaining.
The classroom monitor got a lot of raised eyebrows - everyone else in the class was in college. "She's the librarian's daughter", she'd explain.
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| I was 11 too... | Jan 13, 2016 |
... and I also learned over a summer. I remember the big and noisy typewriter, the paragraphs of Don Quixote that we typed over and over again, and how my little finger hurt because it wasn't strong enough for those keys, old and hard. But I remember it fondly and would do it all over again!
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| Many times... | Jan 13, 2016 |
At college, several night classes, practice at home.
It is not a complete waste of time. I probably type better than I would otherwise, but I simply do not seem to have the manual coordination to type fast or without typos.
However, I take pride in my handwriting - with either hand, best with the left.
Just be thankful I don't try to play the piano!!!! I can't even play Chopsticks. 
... See more At college, several night classes, practice at home.
It is not a complete waste of time. I probably type better than I would otherwise, but I simply do not seem to have the manual coordination to type fast or without typos.
However, I take pride in my handwriting - with either hand, best with the left.
Just be thankful I don't try to play the piano!!!! I can't even play Chopsticks.
I was in fact advised to train as a librarian, because then I could get other people to do the typing for me most of the time!
[Edited at 2016-01-13 10:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Typing is just so last century
Voice recognition is the way to go
(Backed up with a bit of two-finger typing here and there, natch)
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Mike Sadler (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:23
Spanish to English
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I learned to touch type while at university.
What an investment! Probably worth £50 a day now.
In 1977, I hired an electric typewriter to bang out my undergraduate long essay. I now miss typewriters like I miss migraine.
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Alison Sabedoria (X)
United Kingdom
French to English
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I've learned to type reasonably well, though speed doesn't matter to me that much as I can't see the need to type faster than I can think. 
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| Special Offer | Jan 13, 2016 |
When I was at Uni I found a half-price special offer in the newspaper for a Sight&Sound typing course.
Best investment I ever made!
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Many years before I became a translator. I was using a keyboard all day long already back then and figured out that learning to actually use it was the only way to go. Very tedious exercises back then, but so very time-saving in the long run.
As for voice recognition, I may reconsider, but right now I feel that hearing my own voice all day long would drive me nuts.
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...but I did follow a method. My mother brought home her homework for the typing course that she was taking - our family business was growing and more "professional" admin skills were called for - and I decided to have a go myself. I think I was about thirteen. Our machine was a 1950s Olivetti.
No looking back really - as in no looking! But boy was I thrilled when I had a go on my first Brother which would allow you to correct without whiteout.
What I don't understand ... See more ...but I did follow a method. My mother brought home her homework for the typing course that she was taking - our family business was growing and more "professional" admin skills were called for - and I decided to have a go myself. I think I was about thirteen. Our machine was a 1950s Olivetti.
No looking back really - as in no looking! But boy was I thrilled when I had a go on my first Brother which would allow you to correct without whiteout.
What I don't understand is why, in schools where children are expected to use a keyboard, they do not teach keyboard skills, but instead say that the children should attend out-of-school classes to acquire these skills. Fortunately I know a few programmes that they have fun with, and we're getting there.
Edited to add a sentence.
[Edited at 2016-01-13 13:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Al Zaid
United States
English to Spanish
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I've been using computers and keyboards since I was a child and I've always loved typing and hated writing by hand. In fact, my handwriting is almost illegible now that I do everything on the computer.
I learned to type pretty fast since I was young, but not properly. It wasn't until I came across TyperShark (a computer game to develop typing skills) that I consciously began to learn how to use all fingers and not look at the keyboard. I found it was not so hard, maybe because I have some ... See more I've been using computers and keyboards since I was a child and I've always loved typing and hated writing by hand. In fact, my handwriting is almost illegible now that I do everything on the computer.
I learned to type pretty fast since I was young, but not properly. It wasn't until I came across TyperShark (a computer game to develop typing skills) that I consciously began to learn how to use all fingers and not look at the keyboard. I found it was not so hard, maybe because I have some finger skills from playing the guitar.
Now I type properly (sometimes not so accurately, but I'm a pretty decent typist).
Maybe I'm a bit backward, but I find voice recognition too painstaking. ▲ Collapse
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long before I became a translator, and it is one of those skills that makes life easier.
and by the way, voice recognition is not available in my language.
[Edited at 2016-01-13 14:47 GMT]
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Samantha Payn
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:23
Member (2008)
Russian to English
+ ...
Yetta J Bogarde wrote:
long before I became a translator, and it is one of those skills that makes life easier.
Since so much of life is computer related I cannot understand why typing is not a standard subject in schools, though I expect with the advance of phone, tablet and phablet use it is becoming less central.
I was lucky enough to be sent on an English typing course by one of my earliest employers. I subsequently adapted the method to teach myself to touch type in Russian, too. I have no need of Cyrillic markers on my keyboard and when I was living in Moscow in the late 1990s I found I was a faster typist in Russian than many Russian office staff ...
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