TIMED PRACTICE · Беларуская
Belarusian typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Belarusian typing speed
Belarusian is written in the Cyrillic script. The Belarusian ЙЦУКЕН layout maps 31 characters across the keys you already have, so every motion transfers and every letter moves.
Беларуская is written in the Cyrillic script, and the practice words here use 30 distinct characters of it. None of them are where your hands expect. That is less daunting than it sounds — you are not relearning to type, you are relearning 31 key positions, and the rhythm underneath is already yours.
The test is configurable rather than fixed — 15 seconds to 10 minutes, or a set number of words, or your own pasted text. The speed test and the games draw on one bank of 70 common Belarusian words — 30 distinct characters in all, averaging 4.3 written units per word. Every run samples it again. The summary separates raw speed from net speed, so you can see exactly what your errors cost you.
Of the 30 characters these 70 words use, one alone accounts for roughly 17%. Frequencies like that are why touch typing can be learned at all — you are not memorising 30 equally important characters, you are automating a handful and filling in the rest over time.
The hard part of Belarusian is not the hands, it is the map. Most people find the motions transfer immediately and the recall does not: you know the key you want and cannot say where it is. That gap closes with repetition, and closes faster if you resist looking.
- Writing system
- Cyrillic
- Keyboard layout
- Belarusian ЙЦУКЕН
- Direction
- left to right
- Mapped characters
- 31
- Practice words
- 70
- Distinct characters
- 30
- Average word
- 4.3 units
Characters you will press most in these Belarusian words
- а52
- о19
- р17
- к16
- і15
- д14
- л14
- н13
- т13
- м11
- ц11
- в10
Counted across the 70 practice words — the characters worth getting right first.
спакойныя рукі знаходзяць асноўны рад без позіркуЎ, and a second orthography
Belarusian Cyrillic includes ў — a u with a breve, the short u — which no other Cyrillic alphabet uses and which is common enough in Belarusian that the city of Polatsk erected a monument to it. It is the letter that marks text as Belarusian at a glance.
Belarusian also has i where Russian has и, lacks щ and ъ, and uses an apostrophe as a letter-level character.
There are two orthographies in use. The official one dates from a 1933 reform; Taraškievica, the pre-reform spelling, remained in use in the diaspora and was revived domestically, and it represents assimilation in spelling where the official version does not. The letters are the same; the spellings differ, sometimes visibly.
Questions about typing in Belarusian
Do I need a Belarusian keyboard?
No, and this is the part people most often get wrong. A Belarusian keyboard is a software setting: add the Belarusian ЙЦУКЕН layout in your operating system's keyboard settings and the keys under your fingers begin producing Cyrillic characters. Keycaps with Cyrillic letters printed on them are a convenience for people who look down, and if you are learning to touch type you are learning not to.
Which Belarusian keyboard layout do these tests use?
Belarusian ЙЦУКЕН, with 31 characters mapped across the standard key positions. The 70 practice words between them use 30 of those 31, so the drills reach very nearly all of the layout rather than a comfortable corner. 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.
What will I actually be typing in Belarusian?
70 of the most common words in Belarusian, drawn at random. They use 30 distinct characters between them and average 4.3 written units each, with the longest running to about 7. 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 the Belarusian typing test the same every time?
No. Words are drawn at random from the Belarusian 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.
Does accuracy matter more than speed?
For a score, they are the same measurement — net WPM already penalises errors. For improving, accuracy matters more, because the fastest route to a higher number is almost always removing mistakes rather than moving your fingers faster.
Is Belarusian hard to type?
Harder to start, not harder to reach. Every motion you already have transfers; what does not is the map, and 31 key positions have to be relearned. With a fairly compact inventory of 30 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, and it is free either way. Every lesson, drill, test and game works signed out, with your progress kept in this browser. An account adds three things only: your progress and settings follow you to another device, your streak survives clearing your browser data, and you can appear on the leaderboards under a name you choose.
Also in Belarusian: lessons and typing games.
Other languages written in Cyrillic: Bulgarian, Kazakh, Macedonian, Mongolian, Russian, Serbian. Or browse all 86 by writing system.
Further reading
- Typing Cyrillic: one script, eight keyboardsWhy the standard Russian layout ignores the letters on your keycaps, when a phonetic layout is defensible, and how far the eight Cyrillic layouts differ.
- The bottom rowZ X C V B N M sit below home and are the least practised keys on the board. Which finger takes which, and why C and B cause trouble.
- What counts as a good typing speedGood depends on what you type and how accurately. A guide to the bands, why accuracy beats speed, and what employers actually ask for.