Thread: Any logic to a Russian keyboard layout?

Is a Russian keyboard organized in any way? In English, the letters look arbitrary but the middle row (ASDF & HJKL) are the most commonly used letters, at least that's what my typing teacher told me way back when.

Is a Russian keyboard organized in any way? In English, the letters look arbitrary but the middle row (ASDF & HJKL) are the most commonly used letters, at least that's what my typing teacher told me way back when.

The English qwerty layout is organised the way that all most commonly used letters are as far away as possible. This goes back to the days when typewriters were big and clumsy. So the keys that are close to each other used to get easily stuck when pressed one after another.

The Russian layout was actually developed much later than the qwerty. And for example such commonly used sequences as "про", "пере" are easy to type.

Yeah, it's organized in a way, that the most common letters are in the center and can be typed with your index or middle finger, and the less common letters are left at the periphery. It saves time and effort if you type using all 10 fingers.

Вы будете смеяться, но раскладку ЙЦУКЕН придумали в США в конце 19 века. )))

Вот, кому интересно: ЙЦУКЕН

Вот за что бы я оторвал руки этому изобретателю - так это за то, что расположил запятую в верхнем регистре.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Вот за что бы я оторвал руки этому изобретателю - так это за то, что расположил запятую в верхнем регистре.

Да здравствует транслит!!

By the way, how many of you can blind type both in Latin and Cyrillic?

Originally Posted by Selexin

By the way, how many of you can blind type both in Latin and Cyrillic?

Да, я могу, со средней скоростью, но только не цифры, которые сверху.

Originally Posted by Selexin

By the way, how many of you can blind type both in Latin and Cyrillic?

I can. I have to. I've got nearly all letters on my keyboard rubbed off anyway ))

Originally Posted by Selexin

By the way, how many of you can blind type both in Latin and Cyrillic?

I can. Before learning Russian, I made touch typing excersises with many common initial and final letter triplets.

That's how I found out Cyrillic is scientifically/statistically laid out. Except й and ё which need to be centered better.

Still incompetent at Russian (and English some would say), but can type in Cyrillic.

Hehe... I can also touch type in both Cyrillic and Latin characters. It's not terribly difficult to learn--it just takes a bit of practice.

BUT--the English (truly "Qwerty") keyboard is the WORST keyboard ever designed. Before it existed, the "English" keyboard was a very logical format--alphabetical. This proved to be an okay arrangement, though, and people (as was previously noted) began to jam keyboards when they typed too fast. So, along came the Qwerty keyboard (read the top 6 leftmost keys), which featured a very difficult to use arrangement so that the keys could never be jammed. Plus, as an added bonus, a salesman can easily type "typewriter" all on the top row (touch typing wasn't very common back then).

So if you are going to take the time to learn a Cyrillic keyboard (there are several), maybe take the time to learn a better Latin keyboard as well, such as Dvorak (which was optimized for efficiency). Rather than that "asdf" nonsense, I get "aoeu htns" as my home row. : )

Originally Posted by selevercin

So if you are going to take the time to learn a Cyrillic keyboard (there are several), maybe take the time to learn a better Latin keyboard as well, such as Dvorak (which was optimized for efficiency). Rather than that "asdf" nonsense, I get "aoeu htns" as my home row. : )

I read about the Dvokar layout and there were passages about efficiency etc but if you've been using QWERTY for all your life what it would take to learn a new layout? It's a matter of habit.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Originally Posted by selevercin

So if you are going to take the time to learn a Cyrillic keyboard (there are several), maybe take the time to learn a better Latin keyboard as well, such as Dvorak (which was optimized for efficiency). Rather than that "asdf" nonsense, I get "aoeu htns" as my home row. : )

I read about the Dvokar layout and there were passages about efficiency etc but if you've been using QWERTY for all your life what it would take to learn a new layout? It's a matter of habit.

I tried Dvorak at home for 6 months.
It is DEFINITELY a superior layout to qwerty. No doubt about it.
But if you are already a fast typist in qwerty, then it's like starting from scratch! It took me really long to write anything! I gave up eventually.

Typing in Russian was different because I had no previous experience in it. Obviously I cannot type very fast, but I have memorised where they keys are and can touch type--- slowly, and with lots of mistakes!

There are two possible keyboard layouts in Russian, and an alternative:

• The "standard" used by native speakers, and a[/*:m:2unixp39]
• "Russian qwerty" - which puts all the Russian letters at the same place as the equivalent Latin sound on qwerty , if there is one... I.e. "c" goes where "s" is... Some people prefer it, apparently, but I did not use it. [/*:m:2unixp39]
• Another option is to get some fancy software that let's you type the sounds in latin letters and then transforms it into Russian. I.e you type "shest' " -- and it transliterates it to "шесть"[/*:m:2unixp39]

Originally Posted by Johanna

[*]"Russian qwerty" - which puts all the Russian letters at the same place as the equivalent Latin sound on qwerty , if there is one... I.e. "c" goes where "s" is... Some people prefer it, apparently, but I did not use it.

Firefox has an add-on that does this. I kind of regret not learning a real Russian keyboard. I could do it but it takes forever to gain any proficiency.

Originally Posted by Johanna

[*]Another option is to get some fancy software that let's you type the sounds in latin letters and then transforms it into Russian. I.e you type "shest' " -- and it transliterates it to "шесть"[/list]

That's what I use. It doesn't require getting proficient in the two layouts and I'm tired of getting haunted by the Russian keyboard stickers.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Originally Posted by Johanna

[*]Another option is to get some fancy software that let's you type the sounds in latin letters and then transforms it into Russian. I.e you type "shest' " -- and it transliterates it to "шесть"[/list]

That's what I use. It doesn't require getting proficient in the two layouts and I'm tired of getting haunted by the Russian keyboard stickers.

Don't mess with stickers. Simply rub off any letters from the keys and I can practically guarantee, that you'll be blind-typing in any layout within two weeks.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Originally Posted by Johanna

[*]Another option is to get some fancy software that let's you type the sounds in latin letters and then transforms it into Russian. I.e you type "shest' " -- and it transliterates it to "шесть"[/list]

That's what I use. It doesn't require getting proficient in the two layouts and I'm tired of getting haunted by the Russian keyboard stickers.

???? But you are a native speaker of Russian, right? Could you not type before you left for Canada?

Stickers worked fine for me; I bought a keyboard, put the stickers on according to the standard Russian layout; then I added Russian to the languages in Windows Regional settings. Can switch between different input locales by pressing Shift + Tab. No big deal at all!

My sister visited a few months ago. She was very funny when she said: "Johanna, there are some RUSSIAN letters on your keyboard!!!! How did that they get there??? And all the other letters are in the WRONG place....(hadn't told her I was studying it..)

In fact, I had bought stickers, had them delivered and put them on myself.