TIMED PRACTICE · հայերեն
Armenian typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Armenian typing speed
Armenian is written in its own script. The Armenian QWERTY layout maps 28 characters across the keys you already have, so every motion transfers and every letter moves.
Pick a duration or a word count, turn punctuation and digits on if you want them, and type 44 common Armenian words in whatever order the shuffle produces. Because the words come fresh each run there is nothing to learn by repetition — a second attempt measures you, not your memory. Afterwards: net WPM, accuracy, a consistency figure and the keys you missed most.
An Armenian keyboard is a setting, not a purchase. Selecting the Armenian QWERTY layout in your operating system repoints 28 of the keys you already have at Armenian characters; nothing about the hardware changes. The guide below shows both faces of each key at once, the letter printed on the cap and the one it will actually write.
A glance at the keyboard costs more in Armenian than in a language you already type, because it rehearses exactly the habit you are trying to replace: reading the keys instead of remembering them. Covering the keyboard for the first week is unpleasant advice that works.
A frequency count of the bank explains why early progress feels fast and later progress does not. The top ten characters cover about 68% of everything these Armenian words contain; past that you are learning characters that turn up once in a paragraph, which takes as long to automate and pays back far less often.
- Writing system
- Armenian
- Keyboard layout
- Armenian QWERTY
- Direction
- left to right
- Mapped characters
- 28
- Practice words
- 44
- Distinct characters
- 35
- Average word
- 3.9 units
Characters you will press most in these Armenian words
- ա33
- ր16
- ն14
- ե10
- կ10
- ո9
- ի7
- ղ6
- մ6
- տ6
- հ5
- ք5
Counted across the 44 practice words — the characters worth getting right first.
հանգիստ ձեռքերը գլխավոր շարքը հեշտությամբ են գտնումThirty-nine letters and two orthographies
The Armenian alphabet was created around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots and has 39 letters in its modern form. It is written left to right and, like Georgian, is unrelated to any neighbouring script.
Armenian is split between two standard forms: Eastern Armenian, used in Armenia and Iran, and Western Armenian, used across most of the diaspora. They differ in pronunciation and grammar, and Western Armenian retains the classical orthography while Eastern adopted a reformed spelling in the Soviet period. The letters are the same; some of the spellings are not.
Armenian punctuation is its own system: a question is marked with a symbol placed over the stressed vowel of the questioned word rather than at the end of the sentence, and the full stop is a colon-like mark.
Questions about typing in Armenian
Do I need an Armenian keyboard?
No hardware is needed. Armenian QWERTY is an operating-system layout, available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS without installing anything. The one thing worth setting up is a quick way to switch between it and your usual layout, because you will be doing that constantly.
Which Armenian keyboard layout do these tests use?
Armenian QWERTY, with 28 characters mapped across the standard key positions. The 44 practice words between them reach every one of those 28 characters rather than a comfortable corner of the layout. The keyboard guide below the typing area shows the physical key and the character it produces together, so you are never reading a layout diagram in one window while typing in another.
Why is my Armenian speed lower than my English speed?
Because you are doing two things at once: finding the key and recalling what it writes. Speed in a script you have typed for years is one motion; speed in a new one is a lookup followed by a motion. The lookup is what disappears with practice, and when it does the gap closes faster than most people expect.
Is the Armenian typing test the same every time?
No. Words are drawn at random from the Armenian bank on every run, so there is nothing to memorise and a second attempt is a fresh test rather than a rehearsal. You can fix the duration or the word count, turn punctuation and numbers on, or paste your own text.
What is the difference between raw and net WPM?
Raw counts everything you typed; net subtracts what you got wrong and left wrong. A large gap between the two is the most useful signal on the results screen — it means the speed is there and the accuracy is not, which is a different problem from simply being slow, and a faster one to fix.
What will I actually be typing in Armenian?
44 of the most common words in Armenian, drawn at random. They use 35 distinct characters between them and average 3.9 written units each, with the longest running to about 8. Short, frequent words are used on purpose: they are the ones your hands will meet most often outside a lesson, so the practice transfers.
Is Armenian hard to type?
Harder to start, not harder to reach. Every motion you already have transfers; what does not is the map, and 28 key positions have to be relearned. With a fairly compact inventory of 35 characters across the practice bank, most people are past the worst of it inside two weeks of short daily sessions.
Do I need an account, and is it free?
No account, no payment, no trial. Progress is stored in this browser, which is enough until you want it on a second device or on a leaderboard — that is the only thing an account buys, and it is optional.
Also in Armenian: lessons and typing games.
Other languages that move the alphabet onto the same keys: Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Tigrinya, Amharic. Or browse all 86 by writing system.
Further reading
- Typing Georgian and Armenian: two alphabets you can nearly guessTwo neighbouring scripts, each unrelated to anything around it, and two keyboards arranged by sound. How far that gets you, measured key by key.
- Adding a keyboard layoutThe step before any of this works: turning on the layout in your operating system, switching to it, and what to do about the wrong letters on your keycaps.
- What touch typing isTouch typing means typing without looking, using all ten fingers from a fixed home position. What it is, why it works, and what it is not.