Re:Mavis Beacon Teaches DVORAK Typing

For what it's worth, Mavis Beacon teaches the left hand Dvorak home row in lesson one and the right hand home row in lesson two.  Because those are either all vowels or all consonants, it's just not possible to make practice words until lesson three where the "c" and "." keys are added and both hands are used.  But from that point onward you are typing only words in quizzes -- no more nonsense combinations.  

And by the time you get to the Lesson 3 quiz, the difference in the layouts becomes clear:  Where the QWERTY Lesson 3 quiz has to settle for somewhat more obscure words (filial slake sisal sallies felled sidle lisle), the Dvorak quiz can offer up much more common words (tenth teaches shouts sunsets sonnets consensus heath). At least that's how it works in the 2011 Ultimate Mac Edition.

--- In [email protected], Keith Ratliff <dracorat@...> wrote:
>
> While Dvorak is *an* authoritative source, I don't take everything he said
> as solid gold. This is one such case.
> 
> Overall I think he did outstanding work, but I also feel that "drills" are
> more beneficial than he gave them credit for.
> 
> My 2 cents. =)
> 
> --Keith
> 
> On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 15:20, sobjornstad <sobjornstad@...> wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > 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] <altkeyboards%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > 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]
> > >
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>