Life as a fast-typer

Son · Post by **Son** » 06 May 2008 09:08

Hello, Chen...
Today I noticed your rivalry with Eric ... on http://typera.tk

It seems that he keeps outclassing you..... do you know each other? Are you friends or something?

I began my "career" as a fast-typer when I was 18 years old. That's pretty late, I know... but I'm a quick learner. Besides, I had been studying piano for a couple years, and that proved to be of great help. Playing trivia on IRC also helped me a lot. But it wasn't until I discovered Typingzone.com , that my true potential finally rose to the surface. Right now, I think I've attained my natural limits, it's very difficult to improve further. But people around me (friends, family, colleagues @ work) think I'm a freak. They marvel at my typing speed, but they don't see the point in trying to be the fastest. After all, I don't see the point either, but I'd love to be the fastest typist

)

So, everybody who wants to say something on this topic, you are most welcome. I chose to open this topic here, in English, because I'm better than in French (although my mother tongue is Romanian), and maybe some people (like Chen) don't speak French at all.

Waiting for replies.

Post by **jeandid** » 06 May 2008 19:19

Hello,

I just tried typerA and I made 542, but it was in English and I'm really a lot better in French... What a pity that we cannot select French language

So, Son, to achieve your career, you have to become the first non-French champion of Zone Dactylo. You have to beat Karen ! And if you do so, I'll be the only one to have won 3 three times the championship

(Karen 2 times, Romain Paillot 1 time)

Son · Post by **Son** » 06 May 2008 20:38

Hello !

So, Jeandid, I understand that you wish for me to beat Karen this year?

I am sure he'll strike back, starting next (= this) month. I cannot relax yet, I have to fight until the very end, and if I skip a master, I'm dead. So I have to plan my vacations very carefully

)

fairyofwind · Post by **fairyofwind** » 08 May 2008 00:24

Andrei, why are you not participating in the intersteno competition at http://www.intersteno.org?

As for Eric, I do not know him personally, but he is a 2005 graduate of Stanford University. He is probably around 5-10 wpm faster than I am on average. I've noticed that my fingers are too long to type any faster.

Son · Post by **Son** » 08 May 2008 19:37

Fairyofwind,

it's simple. I've got 2 main reasons for not participating this year:
1. I don't have time to train / play (I have a very busy schedule)
2. I don't like typing in Romanian -> i'm talking about the special (non-ASCII) characters. If you have a moment, take a look here, to see them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_l ... n_alphabet

Maybe I'll practice and get ready for the next year contest...
But I'd be interested, if possible, to see the roll of honor (past winners) and the current rankings, so if there's a direct link available, please let me know it. Thanks

Motsak · Post by **Motsak** » 08 May 2008 22:14

No problem:
http://org.intersteno.it/page.php?id_pr ... test_id=54

Son · Post by **Son** » 09 May 2008 13:38

Because you really made me curious... I trained on Intersteno.... on English language, 10-minute text..... my score was 630 characters/minute, 8 errors in all (0.13%) ... so maybe I will participate next year

fairyofwind · Post by **fairyofwind** » 09 May 2008 17:12

I've gotten 4 languages done so far, IT NL FR and ES, it's looking good. I will do EN later on, trying for 700+ (it will be difficult).

Motsak · Post by **Motsak** » 09 May 2008 19:51

Yeah :')
It would be cool if you participated Andrei! But, next year, tell them to that you are ENGLISH, so that your score will be ranked in "mother language"...

Personally, I have only typed in eight languages, others I cant despite of several special characters... I'll type the FRENCH tonight, hoping that I'll exceed 600 CPM, with ZERO error ?
Thing that on we have to be careful is the errors. An error reduces your total score of fifty points... so if you do ten errors, you lose 500 points!
Someone who would type his text in 700 CPM ? would have 6500 POINTS... And if he didn't have ERROR, he would be probably in the three most candidates, whereas here... with 6500...
I hope my words aren't too confused ?

Good luck ! The contest ends TOMORROW tonight... !

Oh... and, in my case, I do excellent scores when I'm training... but when I pass the final test, I have pressure and I lose my speed. Not really my "speed", but... my regularity!

Well, keep in touch! +

fairyofwind · Post by **fairyofwind** » 09 May 2008 21:52

Easier languages:

PT -- very difficult text, very many of the çã çõ combiations.
RO/HR -- not as bad as it seems, but some of the accents are awkward
FI -- not that hard to type, but so many repeated characters that it is hard to type quickly
DE/NL -- also not that hard to type, but words are very long and hard to keep track of the current word
ES/FR -- fairly straightforward with the usual accents, I use dead keys for ES, Canadian Multilingual Standard for FR
EN -- my native language, no accents

Harder languages:
PL -- Polish Programmers layout requires AltGr on every accented letter, which is slow. Polish 214 is faster, but I don't have the time
RU -- totally different Cyrillic alphabet, no need to comment
CZ/SK -- accents are on number keys, so must practice to become good, but these languages can be typed fast
TR -- the dotted and undotted i (i, ı, İ, I) can be extremely confusing, also the , and . are not in the right locations. One must learn Turkish F to type quickly, people who use Turkish Q like me are slow
HU -- very many accents, all typed using little finger on the right hand, except í, making this a very slow language

fairyofwind · Post by **fairyofwind** » 09 May 2008 22:25

Congratulations Karen, you achieved your goal of 650 on French!

Motsak · Post by **Motsak** » 09 May 2008 22:42

Thank you guy!
I hope you will do 700. In fact, it's difficult because we have to hold a huge speed... but, to all tell you, it's largely possible to hold over 700... In my case, it's just I have a lot stressed... The first three minutes, I have several times stopped in my regularity...

Well, good luck for your ENGLISH text !
It's good that you aim over 700 because the Czechs feel too powerful... and I'm glad if an American shows them that they aren't GODS !

Motsak · Post by **Motsak** » 09 May 2008 22:47

Daniel ? Have you MSN ? So that we talk... :')
Indeed, I have seen u on several sites of typing!

fairyofwind · Post by **fairyofwind** » 09 May 2008 23:00

Sure, chen13@fas.harvard.edu

Son · Post by **Son** » 10 May 2008 15:41

It looks like Chen will win the contest

Well done, champ!!!
I was expecting a 700 cpm score in your native language, but you're excused, because all your scores are very high.
Congratulations, Motsak, for achieving your target (650+ wpm in French).
What's with those Turks ? They seem really fired up !!!! The Czechs are done for LOL ... hahaha... but I'm a bit sad.. I don't see any Romanian competitors there... damn... now it's a must -> next year, I'm gonna take part and kick b*tt

Once again, congratulations!