Russian keyboards

[Marc Robinson]

I will have to agree with Jules on this one.  It seems to me that this is
basically a non-issue.  We suggest the phonetic keyboard simply because
students get up and running faster in classes.  I don't care what keyboard
they use.  I've been traveling to Russia for decades and not using the
Russian standard has never once been an issue.  My colleague, a Russian who
grew up with the Russian standard prefers the qwerty phonetic keyboard.  Her
husband, an American, uses the Russian keyboard.  There is not one right and
one wrong answer.  The ease with which one can switch keyboards and the ease
with which one can learn other keyboards if necessary means that the choice
of keyboard is probably less a matter of seriousness about Russia than the
preference of the typist.


On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 8:58 PM, Jules Levin <ameliede at earthlink.net> wrote:

> On 2/27/2011 5:02 PM, Nola wrote:
>
>> But for students who want to seriously study the language, using the
>> modified keyboard would be useless. They should start out with the true
>>  keyboard and learn it from the beginning. Why waste time and end up having
>> to un-learn the modified one and then learn the proper keyboard?Just do it
>> right from the beginning.
>>
> This ritualization of the "true" keyboard is unbelievable!  I have yet to
> read one logical practical reason for learning the Russian keyboard layout
> if one is already a fast typist on qwerty.   The whole thing comes down to
> time/cost evaluation.    If you already can type and know Russian, it takes
> 10 or 15 minutes to learn the Russian QWERTY.  Most adults do not have two
> weeks of daily practice time to master a skill that will not pay off
> calorically, musically, or financially.  Do you want to get a job as a
> secretary in Russia?  Learn the Russian keyboard.  Are you going to Russia
> for an academic year and will NOT bring your own computer, but will need to
> do Russian word processing there?  Isn't it possible you will also need
> occasionally to write English in Russia?   If you will have access to
> someone else's computer for word processing, chances are you can also
> install the student keyboard in addition to the keyboard on the computer.
>  If not, go to town and learn the Russian keyboard, that seems so essential
> a part of Russian civilization that you will be as helpless as  Tolstoy must
> have been, not knowing it.   To get a better perspective about this, assume
> you are a native English speaker who knows QWERTY, and you meet a visiting
> Russian scholar who uses a Russian keyboard layout for English to type
> English--she doesn't know QWERTY!  What is your reaction?  Are you
> horrified?  Mine is a big yawn.
>
>> So: if serious about Russian, use the Russian keyboard. If not, then go
>> ahead with the modified one.
>>
> Yeah, right.
>
> Jules Levin
>
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