Re:Mavis Beacon Teaches DVORAK Typing

It's interesting, it seems that Dvorak said that practicing nonsense
syllables is a waste of time and that work should begin on real
phrases and sentences as quickly as possible, but I have ever to see a
typing course that follows this principle...not exactly a surprise
given how his other ideas were met, I suppose. (To be more specific,
he states that words (and letters and letter combinations should
always be practiced in their natural context, not in random drills.)
For anyone who has the book handy, _Typewriting Behavior_ talks many
times about this, but it's mainly concentrated on pages 157-163.

--- In [email protected], Keith Ratliff <dracorat@...> wrote:
>
> Most typing software will teach you home row combinations first. Usually in
> pairs that have no actual sense, other than making sure that muscle memory
> is intact for the letter in question. After starting on the home row, they
> move to reaching letters and letters between the index fingers.
> 
> Finally, they end with words, then sentences, and finally entire passages of
> typing.
> 
> Since the layout of the keyboards is different, so to are the first parts.
> The first letters you would learn in QWERTY are asdf and jkl;. In Dvorak,
> they would be aoeu and htns and the lessons will be tailored as such.
> 
> --Keith
> 
> On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 14:48, Paul Martzen <paul_martzen@...> wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > Are the basic lessons for Dvorak the same or different than for
> > Qwerty? Seems like Dvorak is easy to learn if you start off learning
> > the most commonly used words available on the home row. That advantage
> > can be lost if learners are forced to use the same odd and arbitrary
> > combinations common in basic Qwerty instruction.
> >
> > I remember being frustrated with Mavis in the early 1990's. Even
> > though I was using the Dvorak option, it felt like the lessons had a
> > Qwerty mentality. The lessons did not utilize the Dvorak advantages.
> > At least it seemed that way to me.
> >
> > Paul
> >  
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>