Why do Chinese speakers use QWERTY keyboards on their computers?
On a typical afternoon in the early 2000s, I would enter the computer room in my elementary school and start typing frantically using Kingsoft TypeEasy. The software, designed to improve typing skills through various exercises and games, was one of the most popular pastimes among my classmates and me in those days.
We were so fixated that we held unofficial competitions during class, often neglecting the actual lesson at hand to compete to see who could type the fastest. Even during the summer holidays, before my dad got me my own computer, I would spend days practicing touch typing at my cousin’s house.
I’m still proud of the speed at which I can type Chinese without looking at the keyboard. Like most people on the Chinese mainland, I type with a pinyin input method editor (IME), a computer program that allows users to generate Chinese characters not featured on a QWERTY keyboard.
Related Articles
