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Comment on Ask HN: Should I teach my kids to type with QWERTY or Dvorak?

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You can be bilingual in layouts.

I first learned QWERTY without any training, I needed to type for school and I wasn’t gonna hunt and peck. Then I decided to try out Dvorak for comfort and never looked back. (Though the experience was painful to switch over after years of QWERTY)

I can still type QWERTY, in fact that’s what I use on my tablet with my thumbs, it’s a great layout for thumb typing, rarely do I find my fingers reaching over one another and I can type without looking at my screen.

That said, for physical tacticile button pressing, I much prefer Dvorak, even without labels (typing on a MacBook keyboard for example, I ignore the QWERTY printed layout) I don’t have difficulty. It’s all about the physical sensation and which mode or language or whatever gets invoked in my head.

I cannot type QWERTY effectively on MacBook keyboards or on most mechanical ones now, because of how they feel and what I use that feel for. But if it’s a cheapo Logitech or dell keyboard that you find at public locations and at work, there is barely a moment of conflict.

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