TIMED PRACTICE · Català
Catalan typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Catalan typing speed
Catalan uses the Latin alphabet you already have. The practice words here add 5 characters beyond a-z — é, í, è, ó, ò.
Worth knowing before you start: these 100 words use 28 distinct characters, and the effort is not spread evenly across them. Ten of them do roughly 77% of the work, so the first week of practice buys far more than the tenth will. That is the normal shape of it, not a sign of a plateau.
Catalan sits on the same QWERTY keys as English, and these practice words then ask for 5 more: é, í, è, ó and ò. 12% of the practice words here need one — a handful of words — which is often enough that reaching for them should be a trained motion rather than a hunt through a character map.
Two modes, timed and word-count, plus the option to paste your own text. The words come at random from 100 common Catalan words. What you get back is not just a number: net and raw WPM, accuracy, consistency across the run, and the keys you got wrong most often.
Most people arrive at Catalan able to type and unable to type Catalan, which is a narrower problem than it feels. The letter keys are already done. What is left is a small number of positions, and the willingness to reach for them rather than paste them in.
- Writing system
- Latin
- Keyboard layout
- Latin QWERTY family
- Direction
- left to right
- Practice words
- 100
- Distinct characters
- 28
- Average word
- 4.3 units
Characters beyond a-z in the Catalan practice words
- é4
- í4
- è2
- ó1
- ò1
Counted across the 100 practice words. 12% of them need at least one.
el la de que i a en un per amb no elsThe middle dot in l·l
Catalan uses a punctuation mark almost nothing else does: the interpunct in l·l, a raised dot between two l's, which distinguishes a geminate l from the digraph ll that spells a different sound entirely. Paral·lel needs it; without it the word is misread.
It is a genuine orthographic character and it is frequently typed as a full stop, a hyphen or nothing at all, because reaching it on a keyboard is awkward. The Spanish layout provides it; a US layout does not.
Catalan also uses both accents — acute and grave — with the choice determined by vowel quality rather than position, which is a rule Spanish speakers learning Catalan reliably get wrong.
Questions about typing in Catalan
Do I need a Catalan keyboard?
No. Your operating system already offers a layout that produces é, í, è, ó and ò from the keys you have — through a dead key on some, a modifier such as right Alt on others. Which one depends on the language and on the layout you select; the hardware does not change either way.
Which Catalan keyboard layout do these tests use?
Latin QWERTY family, plus the 5 characters beyond a-z that these practice words use. The 100 practice words between them use 28 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 keys you actually press, which for an input method are the Latin ones already printed on them.
What will I actually be typing in Catalan?
100 of the most common words in Catalan, drawn at random. They use 28 distinct characters between them and average 4.3 written units each, with the longest running to about 9. 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 Catalan hard to type?
Only slightly, if you already touch type. 12% of the practice words need a character outside a-z, 5 such characters appear in total, and the rest is a keyboard you already know. The difficulty is concentrated in a handful of positions rather than spread across the layout.
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.
How long should a Catalan typing test be?
Longer than you would like. A 15-second test measures your sprint and flatters you; over two minutes your sustainable speed shows up, along with the fact that concentration runs out. If you want one number that describes you rather than your best moment, take the longer one.
Do I need an account, and is it free?
Neither. There is no paid tier and no required sign-in — the 100 Catalan practice words, the speed test and all three games are the whole product, available immediately. Signing in is worth it only if you practise on more than one device.
Also in Catalan: lessons and typing games.
Other languages written in Latin: Cebuano, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English. Or browse all 86 by writing system.
Further reading
- How to type fasterSix changes that raise typing speed, in the order worth making them. Most people's fastest gain is not typing faster — it is stopping mistakes.
- Average typing speedWhat the commonly quoted typing speeds are worth, where the famous 40 WPM figure came from, and how to find out where you actually stand.
- Typing postureMost posture advice is furniture marketing. The parts that matter are wrist angle, elbow height, screen height and how often you stop.