TIMED PRACTICE · Latviešu
Latvian typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Latvian typing speed
Latvian uses the Latin alphabet you already have. The practice words here add 9 characters beyond a-z — ē, ā, ī, ļ, š and more.
Latvian (Latviešu) is a Latin-script language with a tail. Twenty-six keys carry most of it, and then 50% of the practice words here reach past them for one of the 9 characters outside a-z: ē, ā, ī, ļ, š, ū, ģ and ņ, among others. Where those live depends on the layout you have selected; the guide shows a Latin QWERTY family arrangement.
Most people arrive at Latvian able to type and unable to type Latvian, 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.
Latvian's 90-word bank draws on 29 characters, and they are wildly unequal in how often they turn up — the commonest is about 11% of all letters typed, the rarest a fraction of one. The lessons follow that gradient deliberately, which is why the home row comes first and the awkward reaches come last.
Two modes, timed and word-count, plus the option to paste your own text. The words come at random from 90 common Latvian 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.
- Writing system
- Latin
- Keyboard layout
- Latin QWERTY family
- Direction
- left to right
- Practice words
- 90
- Distinct characters
- 29
- Average word
- 4.6 units
Characters beyond a-z in the Latvian practice words
- ē18
- ā16
- ī10
- ļ2
- š2
- ū2
- ģ1
- ņ1
- ž1
Counted across the 90 practice words. 50% of them need at least one.
un ir ka ar uz no par bet kad ja jau vēlMacrons for length, and a keyboard nobody uses
Latvian marks long vowels with a macron — ā, ē, ī, ū — and palatalisation with a cedilla-like mark on ģ, ķ, ļ and ņ, plus č, š and ž with the háček. That is eleven letters beyond the basic alphabet, in a language that also omits q, w, x and y.
Latvia has an official ergonomic keyboard layout designed for the language, and almost nobody uses it. Most Latvian typists use a US QWERTY keyboard with a dead-key apostrophe: press the apostrophe, then the letter, and the mark appears. It is a workaround that has quietly become the standard.
Latvian and Lithuanian are the only two surviving Baltic languages and are the most archaic living Indo-European languages, which is a linguist's observation rather than a typist's.
Questions about typing in Latvian
Do I need a Latvian keyboard?
No. Your operating system already offers a layout that produces ē, ā, ī, ļ and š 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 Latvian keyboard layout do these tests use?
Latin QWERTY family, plus the 9 characters beyond a-z that these practice words use. The 90 practice words between them use 29 of those 35, so 6 characters never come up in the practice text — these are the commonest words rather than an even sweep of the layout. 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 Latvian?
90 of the most common words in Latvian, drawn at random. They use 29 distinct characters between them and average 4.6 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 Latvian hard to type?
Only slightly, if you already touch type. 50% of the practice words need a character outside a-z, 9 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.
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 Latvian 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.
Why does my score change so much between attempts?
Partly the draw and partly you. No two runs of the Latvian typing test use the same words — they are sampled fresh from the bank each time, so one attempt can hand you a friendlier set than the next — and concentration varies more than most people credit. Take three and look at the middle one rather than the best.
Do I need an account, and is it free?
Neither. There is no paid tier and no required sign-in — the 90 Latvian 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 Latvian: lessons and typing games.
Other languages written in Latin: Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Norwegian. Or browse all 86 by writing system.
Further reading
- 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.
- Which finger types which keyThe standard finger assignment for every key on a QWERTY keyboard, why the index fingers carry two columns each, and the keys people get wrong.
- The top rowQ through P sit one row up from home, and every key there is a reach and a return. Which fingers do what, and why E and R feel different.