Touch Typing for Beginners: Your First Two Weeks

Touch typing means typing without looking at the keys, with each finger responsible for its own group of keys. It feels awkward at first and then, quite suddenly, natural.

The home row

Place your left fingers on A S D F and your right fingers on J K L ;. Feel the small bumps on F and J — those are your anchors. Your thumbs rest on the space bar.

Week one: build the map

• Days 1–2: the home row only. Go slowly; accuracy above speed.
• Days 3–4: add the top row, one pair of keys at a time.
• Days 5–7: add the bottom row and review.

Our English course follows exactly this order, and each lesson only uses keys you have already learned.

Week two: real words and sentences

Move on to capitals, punctuation and short sentences. You will probably be slower than before you started. That is normal: you are replacing hunt-and-peck with a better method.

Tips that help

• Keep your eyes on the screen. If you must look, look at the on-screen keyboard instead.
• Return to the home row after every reach.
• Stop when you feel tense; short sessions work better.

Start lesson one — it takes about five minutes.