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15-3-2023 08:15:11  #1


Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Hello.

Just a small anecdote from my school life.  ;)

Back in the day before I got my first PC, my father insisted that I took the typing-classes my school offered to make good use of it. Which was a good thing, I never regretted it and during the classes, I got quite good at typing since I wanted a computer!

Al the lessons were done on a PC (typewriters were a thing of the past for a long time), but my school did not have very modern equipment, the teacher was an old man and the methods used were a bit antiquated, too.

So... when we were done with the typing lessons, at the end there was the final typing test!

We had to re-type a letter and time was taken. The sooner you finished, the better grades you got, of course.

I still remember that I had no errors in the final text I had been typing, and my time was well below the limit for the best grade.
So naturally, I thought I would get the best possible grades and was already proudly presenting them to my father in my mind to get my first PC...

But nope! I did not get the best grade!
How could that be, I wondered? No errors in my text and the best time.

So I asked the teacher and he said, even errors you made during typing were counted and were taken into account for the grades. No matter if you corrected them.

So it turned out that the system he used for the test was actually made for a typewriter, not for a PC.
While on a typewriter, correcting an error can be a problem, on a PC it is not - all you do is press the backspace-key and retype the letter.

Most people here who are good at blind-typing on a PC-keyboard will know:
When you make an error, you already FEEL it during typing and you KNOW it immediately. Pressing backspace and retyping the letter is an almost automatic thing which happens fast as lightning, you don't even think about it.
Correcting such errors is not a problem and happens all the time during the typing process, it is a normal thing.

So... outside of some special cases or the enthusiast community, typewriters really were not in use at that time anymore for many years. The test was done on a PC, the lessons were done FOR a PC, I had no errors in my final test and the best time and still did not get the best grades.   o.O   O.o

Well... I got my own PC anyway, but this still bugs me today!  : D
 

 

15-3-2023 09:07:10  #2


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Hello Kanar, 

Thank you for your story. It created a trip down memory lane for me. I graduated high school in 1970 yet never managed to take a typing class. My typing class had been from a book I found when I was 12. Before discovering correction tabs I would just type an X over the offending word(s). When finished ‘composing’ I’d re-type carefully and hope not to make any errors. More than once I had to re-re-type. After discovering correction tabs a full re-type happened less often. When I got my first PC it was without any kind of word processor and a mis-type was to backspace/delete to the error, make the correction, re-type, and continue on. When I finally got my first word processing software fixing errors became much easier. For me the overlying theme here is that I can’t stand seeing an error on the page.

Now I have a lot of correction tabs and use it frequently when typing on all my machines other than my IBM Wheelwriter 10. I love having correction tape with a carbon ribbon plus the WW10 is excellent at registering words on the page. I see many folks noting that they just type and aren’t concerned with the mis-typed errors. I never acquired that skill and to me it is like the proverbial ‘fingers on a chalkboard’ that I drives me crazy until remedied.

George

 

15-3-2023 10:01:31  #3


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Now that you mention it, I remember we had such a book for our lessons as well.
It went like typing "fbf fbf fbf" or "mhm mhm" and the like, all the time. It was tiresome, but... it worked.   
Did you learn to type well just by using a book? It's a quite useful skill.

Well, typewriters were in use before my time... so I never actually had the pressure for that "careful" typing. I imagine it feeling like a mine-field and you type slowly and carfully, if the letter is important.

But I can understand that you can't stand any errors... it is a thing for me as well.
I try not to make any errors, even while typing right now, and even when I'm using my mobile and just sending Whatsapp-messages.

But writing in English is a different story for me, since it is not my mother language, so there will be a lot of errors here anyway.  ;)
 

     Thread Starter
 

15-3-2023 10:45:07  #4


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Kanar wrote:

But writing in English is a different story for me, since it is not my mother language, so there will be a lot of errors here anyway.  ;)
 

My hat's off to everyone that has mastered or even learned another language. Mine is US English and even after 70 years I still have to work at it.

So never having been in class environment my typing / keyboarding skills is entirely self taught and learned by doing. I find that even though my fingers "know" where the keys are I still tend to look at the keys while I type. As you mentioned I typically am aware of hitting a wrong key although it does seem that my head and fingers are okay to type hte instead of the. While reading what back to what I've typed is when I discover some of those errors. I think it is due to trying to type too fast. Am I going to change that now? Probably not.

So now there is just a pleasure in writing with a typewriter. I think it reminds me of the past as well as experiencing some great engineered machines. Due to arthritis in my hands I no longer write letters by hand but a typewriter lets me keep writing in an enjoyable way.

George

 

16-3-2023 05:25:43  #5


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

It is interesting to hear that a typewriter is easier on the joints with arthritis then holding a pen... I thought it would be the other way around.

I feel the same way... a typewriter is a reminder of a past that I have never experienced, so it let's me discover a tiny bit of what it must have been like. I recently acquired my first, and the build quality of the time is amazing. A heavy, sturdy machine that has stood the test of 110+ years exeptionally well. Great craftsmanship indeed!

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16-3-2023 09:24:12  #6


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

I worked for 50 years doing heavy excavation construction. The thumb joints are the most painful and are a constant reminder of how often we benefit and use our opposable thumbs. My hands somehow decided that adding extra material to the fingers I hold a writing tool with would somehow be beneficial. Personally I disagree but apparently had little if no input in that choice. To write at all I had to get creative with again holding pens and pencils. Then the muscles I spent most of my life learning the tiny movements to do handwriting aren’t happy with that change. When typing none of that matters. At least for now I have plenty of power in my hands and fingers for the downward motion I use to strike the keys on a manual typewriter. If and when that becomes a problem I have some electric and electronic typewriters but I sincerely hope that is a long way down the road.

The majority of my typewriters were made in Germany from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. They can easily have another 50 years of use in them. I’m thinking that when they were being designed and built it was not to ’upgrade’ them every few years.How many PCs can make that same statement.

Yesterday I saw an article that said more vinyl recordings were sold last year than CDs. Perhaps some aspects of analog technology are being revisited and rediscovered.

George

 

16-3-2023 12:13:09  #7


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Kanar wrote:

So I asked the teacher and he said, even errors you made during typing were counted and were taken into account for the grades. No matter if you corrected them.
[...]
So it turned out that the system he used for the test was actually made for a typewriter, not for a PC.
[...]
Correcting such errors is not a problem and happens all the time during the typing process, it is a normal thing.
 

What you are focusing on is the end result.  What the teacher was focusing on is the process.

Think of driving.  If you get from point A to point B successfully, who cares if you ran a few red lights and killed a cat or two?  That's focusing on the end result rather than the process.
 

 

16-3-2023 14:49:23  #8


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Jim is spot on.

Correcting errors is less of a normal thing for good typists. And by focusing on technique, and as a result, efficiency, the goal should be to minimize errors of any kind. Regardless of how fast or easy it is to correct an error, imagine how much faster you would be able to type if the backspace key was never needed.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

17-3-2023 07:22:16  #9


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

Uwe wrote:

Jim is spot on.
Correcting errors is less of a normal thing for good typists. And by focusing on technique, and as a result, efficiency, the goal should be to minimize errors of any kind. Regardless of how fast or easy it is to correct an error, imagine how much faster you would be able to type if the backspace key was never needed.

Yeah... in theory, I agree. But in daily application, everyone needs it from time to time. Unless you really try to avoid it, but the only way to avoid that is careful typing, which I am sure slows you down more than the occasional backspace (which is so firmly integrated into the muscle-memory that it happens really fast).
Anyway... I think the teacher should have told us beforehand! Still bugs me.

But I recently acquired my first old typewriter. Even though I still have to iron out some mechanical issues with it, I could already try a bit and it's amazingly different from typing on a normal keyboard.
I mean I am a really good typist on a PC keyboard (years and years of computer coding, so even special symbols, numbers and all the stuff included)... but typewriter is completely different
Very fun actually, I really enjoy it.

Perhaps I will ask some technical questions in the repair-forums later on.

     Thread Starter
 

17-3-2023 07:29:38  #10


Re: Faster typing = WORSE than slow typing

fountainpensplus wrote:

At least for now I have plenty of power in my hands and fingers for the downward motion I use to strike the keys on a manual typewriter. If and when that becomes a problem I have some electric and electronic typewriters but I sincerely hope that is a long way down the road. The majority of my typewriters were made in Germany from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. They can easily have another 50 years of use in them. I’m thinking that when they were being designed and built it was not to ’upgrade’ them every few years.How many PCs can make that same statement.

Ha... not many, I guess. : D
Ask the typical smartphone-user... the majority perhaps replaces it after only two years of usage.
After that, typically the battery or the loading cable connectors start to malfunction, and I am quite sure many OS-updates... let's say they do NOT really try their best to not slow down the phone. ; D

Back then, good quality sold a machine. Now, often the opposite seems to be the case.

Got luck to you and your hands!

     Thread Starter
 

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