How the language tests work
Each list contains 250 common lowercase words, ordered by how often they appear in real text. The English list adds a larger 1,024-word set for variety.
Punctuation and numbers are off by default. Turning them on adds capitals and punctuation marks, which is closer to real writing but slower for most people.
Diacritics are kept exactly as the language writes them: n with tilde, umlauts, cedillas, accents and the Turkish dotless i. Removing them would make the test easier but less useful.
Letters to watch by language
Spanish adds n with tilde and five accented vowels. French adds c with cedilla, several accent marks and the ligature oe. German adds the umlauts and the sharp s. Portuguese uses tildes, cedillas and accents.
Italian keeps accents mainly at the end of words. Turkish has two forms of i and its own dotted consonants, which makes the dotless i key worth practising. Indonesian uses the plain 26 letters.
Choosing a list
Test in the language you actually type. A high score in a language you never write tells you very little, and switching languages is a useful test of how much of your speed is word-specific memory.
Keyboard layouts
If your operating system uses a local layout such as AZERTY or QWERTZ, the keys are where that layout prints them. The test follows the characters you send, not the labels on the keyboard.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take a test in a language that is not listed?
Not yet. The eight lists cover the languages most often requested, and each one uses only common words. More lists can be added without changing the test itself.
Do the word lists contain punctuation?
No. The lists are lowercase letters only, so the same list works for every keyboard layout. Punctuation and capitals can be added with the punctuation setting.
Are the word lists frequency based?
Yes. Words are ranked by how often they appear in real text, so the start of each list is made up of words you will meet constantly.