How did you learn to type?

[Khephra]

[Bertha Venation]

1. got the basics in a high school class -- then

learned speed and accuracy by doing.

[mrboba1]

2. I memorized the location of the keys and

move my hands around in a very unorthodox fashion.
People who type cringe at what I do, but also watch on in amazement!

[madmax]

3. High School class

Hadn't used it for years when I first got my computer so I bought a book and practiced the lessons. :hi:

[ret5hd]

4. Well, since you asked...

i was in a catholic grade school (a good experience, for me) and was caught smoking by the principle, a dominican nun.

my punishment was to come to school one hour early each day, go to the principles office, where a typewriter and typing book were waiting on me. she checked my work regularly before sending me on my way to regular classes.

btw, i still smoke, i think in part just to piss her off.

[dryan]

6. At Winter Park High School....

on manual typewriters without the letters on the keys. Type 90 plus words per minute. Best skill I have every learned--will never starve.

[rkc3]

5. Anna Mae "Boom Boom" Conroy.

Six foot tall, high heels, and a great body. How else would a boy in high school learn to type?

[Catfight]

self taught when I was very young, using an old typing book my mom had.

It was like playing the piano to me.

[Catfight]

7. self taught when I was very young, using an old typing book my mom had.

It was like playing the piano to me.

[ret5hd]

9. obviously, that old typing book...

told yopu to push the "enter" key twice.

[Catfight]

18. LOL, I see that!

[TrogL]

8. My parents sent me to business college in grade 5

The scribbling marks I laughably referred to as "printing" or "handwriting" were not legible by anyone on the planet.

[sybylla]

10. Office Machines class in high school 25 years ago

Most of my jobs since have involved some kind of typing so I kept up the skill but never had much speed and accuracy until I began writing for a living.

I guess my teacher was right - practice, practice, practice.

[cmf]

11. In high school

on an old typwriter that was missing its right shift key. To this day, I only use the left shift key. Kind of strange, but it's easier than trying to learn the right way.

[tridim]

16. I never use the right shift key

and I learned on a full keyboard. The right shift key is overrated. :)

[tridim]

12. I learned by typing in "BASIC" programs from computer magazines

in the early 80's. Typing in 5000 lines of error free code for a cool game that you really wanted to play was good incentive to learn quickly. BTW, do any other PC users have a hard time using Mac keyboards? For some unexplained reason they put the "homing position bumps" on the wrong keys.

[yellowcanine]

13. OMG - High school typing class - only class I got a D in (except for

Latin one quarter). I couldn't stop looking at the keys. Finally the teacher stuck me on a typewriter with blank keys - that didn't work so he taped a piece of paper over the keys and I had to type under it - I never really learned until I typed on a word processor and later on computers.

[ChickMagic]

14. When I graduated high school

my dad offered me a summer job at American Optical provided I could learn to type in 2 weeks. I bought a book and a cheap manual typewriter, holed up in my room and learned to type. While I was cramming, I would try to read my books and I couldn't figure out why it was taking me so long to finish a page. Then I realized I was subconsciously typing the book in my head while I was reading. Ugh.

[XNASA]

15. "The queen was perplexed by the lazy calm of the kings jovial....

advisors."

In High School.

[Wickerman]

17. lerned too tyep? Nevr dib.

[VoteDemocratic2004]

19. Mavis Beacon

She had a grocery store checkout typing tutorial and you would have to type in words or your groceries would fall over the conveyor belt and break.

I use to type so fast that the production office where I worked would tell me to slow down they didn't have enough people to pull the orders.

God that was a fun tutorial but it was on the first edition of Widows 95.

[Susang]

20. Typing I and Typing II classes in high school, circa 1982

Pre home computing, we had to learn on manuals first then, those of us who chose to take Typing II got to use the IBM Selectrics! :party:

I got such a bad case of typing OCD while I was learning that I couldn't say anything without typing it in my head first. It got so extreme that I was typing my thoughts as well.

[skygazer]

21. High school

I wanted to be a veterinarian from a young age. My mom died when I was a kid and my dad didn't take a lot of interest in school so I had to advocate for myself. I pressed to take Biology and Chemistry but my advisor who was a snob and a bitch, looked down on my family and steered me to secretarial classes. "You'll need to know how to run an office if you're going to be a vet," she told me. Being a dumb kid, I thought she was looking out for my best interests.

[eyesroll]

22. When I was in second grade or so, my dad brought home an Apple II

I taught myself how to type on that -- by seventh grade, when I took a typing test, I was at 40 wpm. (The standard for being exempted from typing lessons was 20 wpm.) I also taught myself to program in Apple Basic, using the exact same textbook my seventh-grade "computer skills" class used. So, without typing, and with a diskette loaded with the very programs I was supposed to be writing (hey, I wrote them -- years earlier) I didn't have a hell of a lot to do in that class...

[JohnKleeb]

23. 2nd semester 8th grade year

I only wish I oculd have had Shop II first semester that year.

[cally]

24. I mostly refused to learn

because I knew it would be too easy for a female to end up as a Secretary. I took typing in HS but dropped it because I was about to fail. I then took typing at "Adult School" my Senior year. I got up to 20 words a minute!

I made it through college typing 20 to 25 words a minute. Now I'm much faster but I wish I typed much faster.

I was determined that my kids learned to type. They took some summer school classes. Nothing worked until they got AIM. They both type faster and more accurately then I do.

[LiveWire]

25. I was born in the Information Age...

So I sorta just naturally evolved. Never took classes, but Im sure I can type just as fast as the rest of them.

[gollygee]

26. I took a typing class in high school, but I mainly learned with a game

There was this really cool fun game when I was in high school in our lab. You were in a space ship and these letters were attacking you, and in order to get them you had to type the letter and then return - or enter or whatever. Then they were several letters. Then they were whole words and sentences. It was a great learning game and it was sooo much fun. I would love to have that game again.

[flamingyouth]

27. Actually, I taught myself

But then I had to take a typing class in 9th grade, which really sucked. On IBM Selectrics, having to count spaces to center things, oh brother. :eyes:

[RebelOne]

28. In high school on a manual typewriter.

[nini]

29. High school.. on a manual typewriter.

there werent' enough electric ones in the class AND computers were still as big as the room.

[VOX]

30. Had a year of typing in high school...

In fact, in my second semester of typing in the 12th grade, I was the only guy in the class (which meant an automatic default to window monitor status -- last class of the day).

Except for the occasional college paper, I did very little typing after that -- until the advent of the PC. But I still had the fundamentals down, and brushing off the skill came pretty easily.

When I recall the antiquated manual machines I learned on in those classes -- LOUD, and requiring the touch of an elephant to depress the keys -- I am constantly amazed at how *easy* computer keyboards are!

[BigMcLargehuge]

31. had a typing class in middle school

old Manual Oliveti typewriters.

Learned in school, got good writing books.

[catmandu57]

32. In jr. high

I got pretty good at it, then didn't type for years and lost it. This keygoard I'm using now is the worst piece of crap I've ever set fingers to, I go along typing what I think is a perfect post hit enter only to see glaring typos.
The best thing about typing class was that I was the only boy in a room full of girls.
There is a program you can download called letterchase, it really helps improve keyboarding skills.

[supernova]

33. Had a year of typing in high school

I learned to touch type on those old IBM selectrics. :P It was straight business typing too: formal letters and such.

They used to have a personal typing class just for getting by with typing papers and presentations. It was only a smester elective. But they did away with that a couple of years before I got to high school.

I tell ya, of all the things I've learned to do in my life, more often than not,it's been my typing abilities that have earned my paychecks.

[niceperson]

34. typing class in middle school

aol im is what really improved my wpm though

[MissMillie]

35. Took a class in high school

and then got a job as a secretary (so over time I just kept building speed).