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Serbian typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Serbian typing speed
Serbian is written in the Cyrillic script. The Serbian Cyrillic layout maps 31 characters across the keys you already have, so every motion transfers and every letter moves.
One number is worth carrying into the first session. About 70% of the letters in these Serbian words come from just ten characters. Get those ten genuinely automatic — not merely findable — and the rest of the layout stops being the thing standing between you and a readable sentence.
Everyone learning Serbian passes through the same stage: typing by translation. You know the Cyrillic letter you want, you think of the Latin key it lives on, and then you press it — three steps where fluent typing has one. The middle step is what practice removes, and it goes faster if you refuse to look at the keyboard while it is going.
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 77 common Serbian words — 27 distinct characters in all, averaging 4 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.
Expect a strange few days in Serbian where you are at once a competent typist and a beginner. Everything your hands know still works; everything your memory knows points at the wrong letters. It resolves in days rather than months, provided the practice is frequent rather than long.
- Writing system
- Cyrillic
- Keyboard layout
- Serbian Cyrillic
- Direction
- left to right
- Mapped characters
- 31
- Practice words
- 77
- Distinct characters
- 27
- Average word
- 4 units
Characters you will press most in these Serbian words
- а42
- о34
- е28
- и21
- д17
- т16
- в15
- р15
- к14
- с13
- л10
- м10
Counted across the 77 practice words — the characters worth getting right first.
мирне руке налазе основни ред без гледањаOne language, two alphabets
Serbian is written in both Cyrillic and Latin, officially and routinely, and educated speakers read both without effort. Signs, newspapers and websites switch between them freely.
The two are in strict one-to-one correspondence — every Cyrillic letter has exactly one Latin equivalent and the other way round — which means text can be converted mechanically without loss. Five Latin equivalents are digraphs: lj, nj, dž for љ, њ, џ, and so on.
For a typist this means two layouts, both worth having. These lessons use the Serbian Cyrillic layout; the Latin one is a QWERTZ arrangement with č, ć, š, ž and đ, and it is nearly identical to the Croatian and Bosnian layouts.
Questions about typing in Serbian
Do I need a Serbian keyboard?
No. Switching your operating system to the Serbian Cyrillic layout remaps the keyboard you already own; nothing physical changes. Stickers and printed keycaps exist, and they are worth skipping — they reward glancing down, which is the habit this whole exercise is trying to remove.
Which Serbian keyboard layout do these tests use?
Serbian Cyrillic, with 31 characters mapped across the standard key positions. The 77 practice words between them use 27 of those 31, so 4 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 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 Serbian?
77 of the most common words in Serbian, drawn at random. They use 27 distinct characters between them and average 4 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.
How long should a Serbian 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 Serbian 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.
How is typing speed measured here?
In words per minute, where a "word" is a fixed five characters rather than an actual word. That convention is what makes a WPM figure comparable between languages whose real words are very different lengths. The number reported is net WPM: uncorrected mistakes are subtracted, so it reflects text you actually produced correctly.
Is Serbian 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 27 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?
Neither. There is no paid tier and no required sign-in — the 77 Serbian 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 Serbian: lessons and typing games.
Other languages written in Cyrillic: Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Macedonian, Mongolian. 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.
- 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.
- 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.