Here at Transcription City, we offer fast transcription services and fast translation services, we also specialise in subtitling services and closed captioning services.
So how fast can you type? And with how many fingers? Well, it is a pretty interesting question, especially as at Transcription City we are all experienced typists and this is what we do.
So are you one of the two-finger approach? Using just both your index fingers and looking for each of the letters on the keyboard before hitting them? This actually has a name, the ‘Hunt and Peck’ approach, or the ‘Eagle Finger’. Or are you the one that can type at an acceptable speed, one where no one in the office will look up, because by sound it was okay. I was like that, but I didn’t actually use all my fingers and also used the wrong fingers for the wrong keys. Easily done. However, studies show that you can be typing just as fast using ‘incorrect’ fingers, or not all ten of them, as you would if you were a trained typist. So you can relax.
So you think you can type? Fast Transcription Services
Experienced and trained typists use indeed all of their ten fingers and all of them hit certain keys. This is a system set up that enables fast typing without getting our fingers in a knot as they are trying to hit all the different keys. Talking of knots, have you ever wondered why the letters are not arranged in order of the alphabet on a keyboard, but as a QWERTY one? Back in the days of mechanical typewriters, arranging the letters like this for the English language meant that the individual letters printing on the paper would not get tangled up with each other when typing quickly. It was arranged with the English language in mind and how often letters are used in words that are common. Very clever, I think.
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On average a ‘normal’ person can type up to 40 words per minute, with professional typist typing around 60 – 100 words per minute. And what is very interesting here is that while doing this, you are actually not consciously searching for the right key to hit. When you learn to touch type, that is typing without looking at the keys while you type, it is actually muscle memory that types. Yes, it is your muscles in your arms, wrists and fingers that communicate with your brain and that in turn results in you typing. The human body is incredible, isn’t it?
But what is the actual record in the world for typing? When typewriters were popular between the 1920s – 1970s, typewriter manufacturers would often hold typing competitions to advertise their products. 216 words per minute are known to be the record on a typewriter by Stella Pajunas-Garnand in Chicago in 1946. In 2005 Barbara Blackburn achieved a speed record of 212 words per minute, but on a Dvorak keyboard, which is more simplified than the QWERTY arrangements of letters that is more common today. These days people are typing on computer keyboards and there are numerous websites on which to test your typing speed, but these can’t be verified for the Guinness Book of Records.
If you would like more information about any of our transcription services, translation services, subtitling services or closed captioning services, why not get in touch today? We offer a range of styles and turnaround times to suit your specific needs and requirements.
