Sunday 1 September 2013

Can You Touch Type & How Fast?

Knowing how to type fast, furious & accurately is a great skill to possess.

Back in the day when we were warming the school benches ( and some of us indelibly carving our name into the desk tops ) the skill of typing was looked down upon with great gusto.

In fact, even if you wanted to learn how to type professionally, you had to choose between it and Maths. In some circles that was considered a ' No - Brainer ' as not everyone knew ( or even wanted to ) at what speed that train C was going, when it passed train A going 45 kph while train B was going 10 kph.

Did those torturous Math questions really equip us with an essential life skill for our future? It's been a few decades since my schooldays and I've yet to encounter one of those questions. What were the teachers thinking? They would have done a much better deed to society if they had taught us how to work out the proper amount of change, how to handle our pocket money & how compound interest works.

After my time at University I went to travel overseas for a few years.( In centuries past they would call it the Grand Tour.) My Mum was clever enough to insist that I do a short secretarial course. She knew that those skills can open doors and get you work when you need it. One of the first things we learned, was blind touch typing.

Granted, I learned to type on an old fashioned electric typewriter and also practiced on those extremely groovy & antique ones. They still required three papers with carbon in between and you had to move a lever across to start a new line. Somehow the right arm had more muscles then the left. But let me tell you, it was such fun to learn and also incredibly addictive.

In the early 90's only a few had an inkling of how important navigating the keyboard would become to everyday life. Just think about it: do you ever use your computer device, without typing something or other? Imagine typing at fast speed, without looking and with all your fingers...

Who would have thought, that knowing how to touch type would open doors even before anything else? In my heyday, my typing speed was 43 words per minute. Small potatoes compared to others, but I was extremely proud of it.

What is your typing speed?

Biggi

It's never too late to learn.
Amazon.com:Typing Instructor Platinum
Amazon.de:How to Type 101: Learn to Type Like a Pro! Discover How to Type with Ease Using Amazing Learning to Type Tips.

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