English for Wizards Take the trouble to learn touch-typing By John Moore	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
タイプの練習ができるソフトとサイト どんなに最先端のコンピューターを持っていても、キーボードを打つことができなければ使いこなせません。そこで今週は、タイプを練習できるソフトとサイトを紹介します。キーボードを見ないでも打てるようになりましょう。

オンラインでタイプの練習ができる EasyType のサイト。音声付きでやり方を説明してくれる

This is ridiculous. We should just talk to our computers, and they should understand. But the bad news is that this simple-sounding technology is still rather far in the future. Therefore, even young people like my son, Peter, must work hard to practice typing.

At least we have a wide choice of fun software to help us! If you go to Amazon (www.amazon.com) and search in the "Software" section for "learn typing," you'll find a dozen or so titles. The one Peter uses is called "Typing Tutor 10."

This is a serious and rather strict program. Each Typing Tutor lesson teaches you just two or three keys, and you must finish one lesson before going on to the next. So you end up typing things like "a fad ad a sad dad" over and over. The program measures your typing speed, plays funny music and tells you when you make a mistake.

The best thing about this software is the typing games. Peter loves to play "Letter Invaders," in which you must type words to shoot missiles and defend against UFOs. This is pretty much like any video game, except you have to type. It's fun, and you also improve your keyboard skill. Typing Tutor 10 also comes with seven other games, including another of Peter's favorites, called "Cricket Crossing," in which you must save a little cricket from a hungry frog.

Unfortunately, Typing Tutor 10 has some problems, too. The lessons are too easy and too slow. The games, on the other hand, are too hard for beginners. So it's really frustrating until you know where all the keys are.

Good news: If you just want to try some typing lessons for fun, you don't have to buy any software at all. Just go to the Internet, where you'll find EasyType (www.easytype.com).

This is a complete online typing course that's free and uses Flash (but not Shockwave). A boy and his dog tell you what to do. The lessons are faster and friendlier than in Typing Tutor 10. There are even some typing games, although the first game doesn't seem to work properly. Just click on the "skip game" button to go to the next lesson.

Practice hard until you can type nice and fast. Then you will get more out of your computer and be a real power user. (But remember: Some day typing will be totally obsolete.)

Shukan ST: May 16, 2003

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