Intersteno 2021 Online Competition Report (Mar 27, 2021 - May 12, 2021)

1. About Intersteno
2. My results
3. Prologue
4. Strategies
   1. Reconsideration of keyboard layouts (reducing strokes of frequent diacritical marks)
   2. Reconsideration of keyboard layouts (utilizing dead keys)
   3. Intensive training of difficult languages
   4. Training of typing speed
   5. Training schedule for Intersteno 2021
   6. The sequence of 16 languages in the championship
5. Tactics
   1. Collecting, inputting, re-inputting training texts
   2. Examining/implementing problems and diacritical marks of training texts
   3. Selecting dialects
   4. Selecting keyboard
   5. Arranging other environments
   6. Participating in the contest
6. Tips for each language
   1. Hungarian
   2. English
   3. Russian
   4. Japanese
   5. Czech, Slovak
   6. Finnish
   7. French
   8. Turkish
   9. Italian
   10. Dutch, Germany
7. Sentiment and reflection
8. For the Intersteno 2022
9. References and acknowledgements
10. Appendices

[Official ranking]

[Official ranking (Japanese competitors)]

Every competitor can join the online championship with maximum 16 languages from 17 languages. The 17 languages include Italian, English, Germany, French, Dutch, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Romanian, Japanese, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Russian, Polish, and Croatian/Serbian, from the sequence in the training website (Taki software).

Every competitor types first-sight texts for ten minutes for each language. Points are calculated by [total strokes - 50 * errors] for each language. Total points are calculated by sum of 16 languages. Therefore, it is important not only to increase speed but also to improve accuracy. By the way, definition of errors is different from that of Mainichi PC typing competition (hereinafter "MaiPaso"), which is one of the most popular Japanese typing contests. For example, errors in one word (e.g., "taht", "thaaat", "tt" instead of "that"), one line omission, are counted as only one error.

The basic strategy for Intersteno 2021 was to improve speed of all 16 languages. I tried to aggressively improve speed, as I wrote in For the Intersteno 2021 (Japanese only) last year. Indeed, it is desirable to improve speed with high accuracy. However, points cannot be higher without improving speed. Basically, I adopted the strategies established in 2016. I thought there was room for enhancing my typing skills through the same approach. However, I changed some contents if necessary.

(1) Reconsideration of keyboard layouts (reducing strokes of frequent diacritical marks)

Finally, I allocated diacritical marks on []\=qvwxyz keys of US international KL as table 3. Except for Japanese and Russian, I created original KLs based on US international KL, which was familiar to me. To reduce learning cost, I allocated similar characters on the same keys as far as I could. However, I gave priority to some frequent diacritical marks.

It should be noted that these KLs are not completed. I will evolve them through trial and error.

[Table 3: Allocation of diacritical marks]

* DK means dead key.
* In Czech, šňřťý are allocated on 34567. In Slovak, šňŕťý are allocated on 34567.
* Blanks mean that there are no changes from US international KL. For example, "q" in English is allocated on "q" in the US international KL.

[The process I reached the current KL]

On the competition 2015, I had too short time to prepare for all 17 languages. So, I immediately decided to adopt "general expanded KL for Intersteno" created by Curry-san (hereinafter "Curry KL"). Curry KL is the most suitable KL for short-term preparation as it can be easily introduced and memorized. For example, it is not necessary to install KL for each language. On the other hand, it has disadvantage that the more frequent diacritical marks appear, the more typing speed decreases. Especially, the speed significantly decreased in Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, and Turkish. Furthermore, I wasted time to type umlauts by three strokes (e.g., I typed ä by [Shift + : -> a]) in Finnish. Although only two diacritical marks are included in Finnish, they frequently appear.

I was a pity that I could not reach the supreme to learn popular KLs for each language as Junior-san did. It was because the location of some characters and marks differs for each language. It is obvious that QWERTZ KL or AZERTY KL adversely affects QWERTY KL (e.g., English). Furthermore, I intuitively knew that allocations of marks such as [,.;:'"] should be common for all languages. Otherwise, they would definitely lead to lots of errors.

Thus, I considered original KLs to type languages which I could not type by US international KL (e.g., Croatian, Romanian, Turkish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Russian). First, I learned how to use MSKLC and create original KLs based on US international KL. Second, I investigated frequency of characters for each language. I not only referred to Multilingual Typing Wiki (Japanese only) but also collected data from training texts in Taki software as shown in Tactics 1.

Based on the research results, I created KLs in which each frequent diacritical mark can be typed by one stroke. For example, äö in Finnish are allocated on []. On the other hand, Hungarian has so many diacritical marks that there are not enough keys to type each diacritical mark by one stroke. I would not like to allocate diacritical marks on the number keys on the top row or on [,./] except some difficult languages. So, I searched rare characters in 26 alphabet letters. Consequently, I allocated üöő on qwx. As Czech and Slovak have more diacritical marks than Hungarian, it is obvious that there are not enough keys to type each diacritical mark by one stroke. Then, I decided to allocate some keys on the number keys on the top row. Referring to popular KLs and frequency, I allocated šňřťý on 34567 in Czech KL, while šňŕťý on 34567 in Slovak KL.

Of course, the method above can be also applied to the seven languages which I typed by US international KL in 2015 (e.g., Germany, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Finnish). For example, I created French/Italian KL so that I could type frequent ' (apostrophe) by one stroke. I made Portuguese KL so that I could type çãõ by one stroke for each. As to English, I allocated ’éç on []\ to type them by one stroke for each, because they rarely appears in training texts.

At first, I thought that it is inefficient to use different KL for each language. Then, I used "Dutch/Spanish/Portuguese common KL" for example. However, the KLs of these three languages were separated through optimizing each KL. Finally, only "Italian/French KL" and "Finnish/Germany KL" remained as common KLs.

(2) Reconsideration of keyboard layouts (utilizing dead keys)

Also, If I allocated diacritical marks on [qwvx], I cannot input qwvxQWVX instead. Then, I allocated them on [:->qwvxQWVX] applying dead keys. Similarly, I allocated [34567#$%^&] on [`->34567#$%^&] in Czech and Slovak. Also, I cannot type []{}\|=+ which are allocated on []\=. So, I allocated [=] on [`->-] as it sometimes appears.

Dead keys I have used since Intersteno online contest 2018 are shown as table 4.

[Table 4: Allocations of diacritical marks (dead keys)]

* These allocations contain characters appeared in texts in Taki software, even if they are not originally used for each language. For instance, ä in Hungarian, ð in Croatian, etc.

I deleted almost all dead keys from US international KL, but kept [`] (àèìòù), [Shift + `] (ãñõũ) and [Shift + 6] (âêîôû). I thought these dead keys would be useful in some proprietary nouns of foreign countries.

In addition, I moved dead keys if necessary. For example, I allocated dead key on [`] instead of ['] in English KL. This is because I would like to type frequent ['] with one stroke. US international KL allocates ['] on ['] key. However, ['] is also used as a dead key. Then, ['] is typed by ['->Space]. It is very inefficient. Similarly, I moved tréma dead key from [;] to [=] in order to type frequent [;] by one stroke in Italian and French KL.

(3) Intensive training of difficult languages

(4) Training of typing speed

I kept practicing TypeWell Japanese R from last June to the fast half of March. It is considered that base speed training through TypeWell Japanese R was helpful for increasing speed of French, Italian, and Japanese. On the other hand, the quantity of English typing training clearly decreased. Deterioration of English typing skill affected almost all fast languages. I felt that something was wrong when practicing Portuguese ten-minutes texts in March. Moreover, I found my fingers did not move smoothly when typing Spanish, Germany, and Dutch. Such uncomfortable feeling continues to the online contest in April.

From December to February, I kept practicing one-minute trainings of Turkish, all French, original Italian ten times a day. I called this training type-all-untyped-texts project. Although I collected hundreds of one-minute texts respectively, I found that I had typed few of them yet. In the result, I covered about 95% of Turkish and original Italian, about 75% of all French texts. I moved on to ten-minutes trainings in the early stage for these languages. Moreover, I collected and input texts of Swiss Italian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin) immediately after those languages were added in February and March. By such daily training, I could limit deterioration of Turkish, French, Italian, and Croatian typing skills as less as possible.

I continued re-inputting Taki training texts and detecting errors on every weekday. Consequently, I newly detected over 200 errors from approx. 1.5 million characters texts and improved accuracy. I will mention the details later.

(5) Training schedule for Intersteno 2021

[Table 5: Training schedule]

I have worked from home since last April due to Covid-19. Then, I was able to start training immediately after the work on weekdays. Thus, I started from rehabilitation by one-minute trainings. After that, I gradually introduced ten-minutes trainings assuming the competition. Just like last year, I thoroughly eliminated fruitless trainings such as simple ten-minutes typing for meeting the quota. Thus, average points of ten-minutes trainings are almost the same as those of last year. However, one-minute or ten-minutes training texts of Spanish, Finnish, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian are extremely limited. Then, I cannot practice first-sight texts as I can easily memorize part of texts. Then, I sometimes joined TypeRacer races for first-sight texts.

Table 6 shows the comparison of training quantity for Intersteno online championship 2015-2021. The training quantity in 2021 is slightly more than that in 2019, but much less than that in 2016, 2017, 2018. However, I could practice necessary and sufficient adjustment for most of languages as I have two months for training.

[Table 6: Number of ten-minutes trainings]

* The number above includes championship and speculation investigation.
* The number of each year includes all ten-minutes trainings from the next day of previous online championship to the last day of online championship this year.

(6) The sequence of 16 languages in the championship

For the Intersteno online championship 2021, I secured 42 days, from April 1st to May 12th. In fact, I started contest on March 28th because I got contest ID earlier than I thought. So, I successfully adopted the strategy to postpone not-well-prepared languages to national holidays in May. Since late April, I slightly reduced the load to three languages per week. Then, I secured quality and quantity of training for each language, and consequently avoided deterioration of points as less as possible.

The training schedule for online championship is shown as table 7.

[Table 7: Training schedule for 2021 online championship]

* Hungarian and Turkish KLs are similar (öü are allocated on wq).
* The KLs of French and Italian are the same. Also, I have abundant experience of them.
* Czech and Slovak KLs are similar (some diacritical marks are allocated on 34567).
* Spanish, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian KLs are similar (áéí are allocated on []\).
* Germany and Dutch are included in Germanic.
* The KLs of Germany and Finnish are the same.
* Polish and Croatian are included in Slavic.

Basically, I have used almost the same schedule since 2016. I dispersed fast languages (English, French, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, and Dutch) and slows language (Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, and Slovak) as far as I could. I intended not only to keep speed of fast languages but also to raise the base speed of slow languages.

In addition, it is efficient to practice languages with high affinity or languages using the common KLs in the same week. On the other hand, I took care that I did not type confusing languages (e.g., French and Spanish, Hungarian and Germany, Polish and Czech) in the same week. By the way, Czech and Slovak also have confusing part. However, I thought that I could have more advantage by the synergy of similar KLs. Therefore, I decided to practice Czech and Slovak in the same week.

……

The final schedule for Intersteno online championship 2021 is shown as table 8. As I have work on weekdays, I participated in the championship on holidays.

[Table 8: Schedule for 2021 online championship]

Then, I collected 1,961 one-minute texts and 535 ten-minutes texts (added 584 one-minute texts and 22 ten-minutes texts in this year). Moreover, I typed all collect training texts and organized them using spreadsheet so that I could accurately grasp the cause of errors. The detailed method is shown as table 9.

[Table 9: How to collect and analyze training texts on Taki software]

[Table 10: Problems in Taki software]

As to No.9, most of special marks can be input by Curry KL shown as table 13. My original KL is also useful. On the other hand, competition texts do not contain these special marks in principle (exceptions: In 2016, all French competition texts included two unfamiliar quotation marks that are not included in the table below. In 2018, Turkish text included [¬].). Therefore, some people may ignore irrational deduction in the trainings and assume that there are no such bugs in competition texts.

No.15 occurred in English in the online contest 2017. It seems that I unconsciously typed [Alt + `] in order to change input method from Japanese two-byte input method. Then, [`->It] becomes [Ìt], for example. As my KL is based on US international KL, vowels will have grave accent, while consonants are preceded by [`]. It is important to take a few seconds for seeing input texts before going ahead.

[Table 11: Special marks in training texts of Taki software]

(3) Selecting dialects

There is a fatal bug in Taki software. The shortcut key [Ctrl + z] on Firefox deletes all input results. Then, it is indispensable to disable this shortcut key or to use another browser. I installed Google Chrome. By the way, [Ctrl + z] on Google Chrome deletes only one character typed recently. If you dare to use Firefox, you had better temporarily disable Ctrl keys using ChangeKey or KeySwap.

Even if you use Google Chrome, Ctrl keys should be disabled. It is because there are too much harmful shortcut keys shown as table 14. Especially, [Ctrl + w] (close the tab or window) and [Ctrl + r] (refresh the tab or window) are fatal. For example, when typing a capital letter, the little finger of left hand may hit left Ctrl key quite easily if it slips downward from left Shift key.

[Table 14: Harmful Ctrl shortcut keys on Google Chrome]

In addition, if you use different KL for each language, it is indispensable to disable shortcut key [Shift + left Alt] which changes KL (in case of using Firefox, Windows Vista). Otherwise, KL may be changed into unintended one at unintended timing due to errors of capital letters or marks using Shift key. The detailed settings are found by Google search. For example, I referred to How to disable the Windows 10 language shortcut?.

Furthermore, font size can be enlarged by [Ctrl + ;]. This shortcut key is almost indispensable when typing Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Turkish, Czech, and Croatian, which contain two or more type of i, í, ì, ı. By the way, text screen size is small in www.intersteno.org. So, it is necessary to adjust it using mouse immediately after starting. On the other hand, such adjustment is not necessary in www.intersteno.it. I recommend the original Italian website because it saves a few seconds at the beginning.

Before starting the competition or training, applications and browser tabs not in use must be finished. In my case, regular reception of e-mails by Outlook sometimes froze my browser when typing. In addition, it took over ten seconds to display Japanese conversion candidates because Firefox plug-in went out of control. In case of such accidents, there are no relief measures such as retry. The points may be calculated at the place of freezing, or zero, which means disqualification. Furthermore, it is recommended to stop background processes such as Windows Update, Live Update, Java Update, and regular scan of security software in the ten minutes of the competition.

Finally, it is necessary to reload the Taki software tab or window immediately before participating in the contest. This is because the contest session will reach timeout after some time and be changed into practice mode.

……

In addition, I have been annoyed with automatic loss of focus from the input field on Windows 10 computer while typing since 2019. The trouble occurred in the contest in Finnish and Japanese in 2019 as well as Romanian in 2021. At first, I considered that it results from some shortcut keys including left Alt key, Alt Gr key, or left Ctrl key. Then, I tried to resolve the trouble by removing keytop of these keys, or temporarily disabling these keys by software. Moreover, it seems that there are other causes such as interruption by security software or printer driver. So, I introduced My Window Logger to find the causes but have not succeeded yet.

On April 7, 2020, I raised home electricity contract from 30A to 40A. If the circuit breaker trips, my computer keeps working with its battery. But the router is turned off, which leads to lose internet connection. It is dangerous enough to lose points on internet contest.

(6) Participating in the contest

In addition, it is recommended that the number of competitions per one set (about an hour) be one, the number of competitions per one day be at least two. However, I conducted two competitions per one set and three competitions per one day if I was well-prepared and in good shape.

Moreover, it is important to exercise ten-minutes training immediately before competition. There are two reasons for this. First, the KL is certainly set for the language. Second, it is useful to avoid confusion with other languages. It is essential to adequately get used to frequent words or sequences for the language. However, it is also indispensable to avoid fatigue in fast languages such as English and Japanese. So, do not type ten minutes at maximum speed, but save the energy for the competition. For instance, stop at five minutes or just type five one-minute trainings. Since 2018, I prepared and properly used a few policies such as "emphasize speed in first half, emphasize accuracy with less speed in second half", or "emphasize speed in second half only if the brain and brawn do not wake up in first half". In conclusion, type near the best speed and accuracy, but save the power in order to reach the peak at the competition.

[Table 12: Version up history of my Hungarian keyboard layout]

(2) English

I learned that English typing needs intensive practice. English is the most precious points source. However, in the practice for Intersteno online contest 2016, I was keenly aware that too much multilingual typing training adversely affects English typing skill. There are two reasons. First, training time for English decreases. Second, slower languages make English typing slow. Thus, I had practiced English ten-minutes training almost every day since January. I intended to keep the best feeling of typing English texts.

Moreover, I customized English KL. In 2015, I typed English using Japanese KL as I traditionally did. However, the allocations of some special marks in Japanese KL are different from those in US international KL as shown table 13. As I type almost all other languages by the KL based on US international KL, I have the risk of confusion when typing English. Therefore, I created English KL based on US international KL. However, I deleted dead keys ['] and [Shift + '], so that I could type ['] by one stroke. In addition, I allocated ’éç, which were sometimes found in training texts, on []\ so that I could type them by one stroke.

[Table 13: The difference of how to type special marks between keyboard layouts]

* There are some special marks which were typed differently from Japanese KL. However, they were not included in Intersteno texts.

Furthermore, I gradually adopted optimizations of fingering as shown in table 14. I adopted only optimizations by which I could keep nearly-100% accuracy and increase speed.

[Table 14: Optimizations of fingering in English]

(3) Russian

After getting used to Cyrillic characters and reduced recognition errors among з/э, л/п/и/ц, ъ/ь/ы, and Б/В, I started optimizing the KL. First, I allocated ьчйщ on \]z^ so that I could type each of them by one stroke. In my first Russian KL, I typed them using dead keys. But I found that their frequency was relatively high. On the other hand, as ъ is less frequent, I moved it to ['->z], using dead key ['].

This KL has two problems. First, э, which is next frequent after ьчйщ, need still two strokes. In early stage, I considered to allocate it on `. But such allocation makes time loss and fatigue as ` is far from home position. Then, I judged that I could prevent time loss and fatigue by inputting э with ['->s]. Second, п is allocated on [. Then, it is uncomfortable for me to type the frequent sequence "про" without exception. However, it was not easy to conclude which key is the most suitable for frequent п. Actually, there were the same problem in Finnish. Then, I decided to continue the consideration.

For the Internet online contest 2017, I practiced almost every day for about four month as I wrote in the strategy (3) Intensive training of difficult languages.

(4) Japanese

Before 2017, I decided to only use Roman input method at an early stage. The reason is that Kana input method by Topre REALFORCE 89U/106 was not suitable for first-sight texts. Indeed, Kana input method gave me more speed than Roman input method. But I could not reduce errors in Kana input method. Especially, I could not eliminate the pattern in which the slight touch on "わ" key when typing "゛" is recognized and judged as an error. For example, "自動車(じどうしゃ; which means automobile)" becomes "じわどわうしゃ"). "゛" and "わ" are allocated on [[] and [0] respectively. So, if I type "゛" by little finger, my ring finger will slightly touch "わ". Since "゛" is frequently appeared and required high speed in Japanese Kana input method, it causes frequent errors.

By the way, [[] is frequently appeared in my Finnish, Romanian, and Russian KL. [[] is used to type [ä] in Finnish, [ă] in Romanian, and [п] in Russian. It would be a threat if it required the speed as Japanese.

It is possible to exterminate this error if I practice the same text over 300 times like the preliminary online contest of MaiPaso. However, I concluded in 2017 that it is impossible to exterminate this error when typing first-sight texts.

The main difference from 2016 was the new version of Japanese IME by procuring my 8th computer (Windows 10). The new IME could convert "安倍晋三" (the name of previous prime minister) at one time. It is very useful as the proprietary noun is frequently appeared in training texts. On the other hand, the number of conversions for other words differed slightly. So, I had to memorize the numbers again by training repeatedly.

In 2018, I aimed at 5,000 points by practicing Kana input method again using All 30g. I gradually increased points and finally exceeded 5,000 points which was not possible by Roman input method. This is because I gradually memorized frequent errors and how to prevent them by practicing the same text repeatedly. On the other hand, I could not resolve the problem of slight touch on adjacent keys, including but not limited to "わ", at first-sight or near first-sight. As a result, my speed and accuracy did not exceed those of Roman input method. Then, I experienced a catastrophic defeat at the competition.

(5) Czech, Slovak

The numbers of enhancing Czech and Slovak KLs using MSKLC were over ten times respectively, although they are less than those of Hungarian and English KLs. First, I allocated frequent acute accents so that I could type each of them by one stroke. Second, I allocated diacritical marks on [wx]. Third, I allocated some diacritical marks on the top row keys. Third, I allocated rare special marks such as single quote and en dash. I could not realize such evolution at one time. I had improved my KL utilizing knowledge and experience from practices of other languages. Also, I had adjusted the KL to my brain and fingers for half years.

(6) Finnish

Therefore, I got used to first-sight texts by typing 22 one-minute texts. I did not finish by only typing one minute (about 550 strokes). I re-input each text which contains about 1,000 characters. Moreover, I utilized 2017 and 2018 competition texts I collected. TypeRacer is also useful. In order to get used to Finnish KL, it is helpful to practice Swedish which can be typed by the same KL.

In 2019, I found that typing Roman characters in "Kanji" of TypeWell Japanese R with limiting errors was helpful for reading Finnish. By practicing "Kanji", I improved my ability to distinguish double strokes of the same key from single stroke, and to prevent frequent misrecognition between [k] and [t]. Then, I adopted "Kanji" as part of basic training of Finnish.

(7) French

Furthermore, I intended to improve speed by making the most of characteristics that French has lots of English-like words. I made a list of French words whose spelling is similar to, but different from English and decreased errors with perseverance. Some of such words are shown as table 15.

[Table 15: French words which is confusing with English]

(8) Turkish

I collected and input 97 one-minute texts and 108 ten-minutes texts. total strokes are over 1.2 million. Total strokes are almost the same as those of French in 2017 and correspond to approx. 240 ten-minutes trainings (assuming 5,000 strokes per a training). Abundant training significantly helped me increase points.

As to KL, I allocated [İ] on [=] to type it by one stroke. Although it is far from home position, there is no problem as it rarely appears. I resolved confusion between i and ı by considering the characteristics that the same vowels tend to be repeatedly used in a word.

Furthermore, I memorized some frequent words, including difficult ones such as [çeşitli] (various). By the way, Turkish training texts tend to contain similar words repeatedly. If you get used to such words, you can smoothly accelerate typing in second half.

(9) Italian

(10) Dutch, Germany

[Table 16: Words which is confusing with other languages]

(4) Adaptation and peaking for the competition

After that, I made efforts to reach the peak at the competition, making the most of this reflection. Firstly, I made sure not to type competition forcefully. For example, in case that results of one-minute training are unstable, and that I felt some slumps in previous ten-minutes training. Secondly, I made sure not to type with full speed at previous practice in order to avoid fatigue.

In the competition, I emphasized speed as last year. For ten minutes, I kept aggressively increasing speed in the part which I found I could type fast. Furthermore, I enjoyed the process of typing each language, feeling nostalgia that it is last time I type this language in this year. Although I was nervous in several languages, I could utilize such tension for decreasing error. As a result, I made private bast record in French, Italian, Portuguese, and private second record in Finnish in the competition.

(5) The result of strengthening base speed

Deterioration of English texts typing skill affected French and Italian. But type-all-untyped-texts project, I mentioned in Strategies (4), helped me a lot.

(6) Increase in errors

In the competition 2021, there were three languages with zero error, which were private best record. In the three languages, I succeeded in reaching the peak at the competition. In the training, there were only 13 times in seven languages with zero error. In the 163 overall ten-minutes trainings (including competition), there were 31 one-error, 34 two-errors, 26 three-errors, and 26 four-errors. In comparison to last year's trainings, the possibility within four errors decreased from 85.4% to 79.8%, within two errors decreased from 50.2% to 47.9%, with zero error decreased from 12.4% to 8.0%. Errors were increased because I concentrated on increasing speed without fearing errors.

I succeeded in suppressing errors to some extent because I improved how to correct an error of line break position. Since 2018, when I found an error of line break position, I delete over one line and type the text again. Since 2021, I could significantly suppress time loss and decrease in points by such corrections because I could utilize mouse, arrow keys, Home/End keys. Fortunately, I did not experience huge time loss by an error of line break position in the competition 2021. Furthermore, I did not look back the previous line unless I found obvious errors in a word or a line. I put an emphasis on preventing decrease in speed by line break position check rather than reducing errors by such check.

……

All increase in points were not due to my typing skill. Especially, significant growth such as +375 points in Portuguese, +277 in Finnish, and +254 in French was mainly due to luck. Portuguese text was much easier to type than before. In French, I was not so nervous as last year and performed my full potential via daily re-inputting texts. In Finnish, I luckily finished typing with only one error. At the championship, we type first-sight text for ten minutes. Then, there are some factors of luck. As good luck does not come every time, it is necessary to steadily improve basic typing skill, that is, speed, accuracy, language skill, KL proficiency.

……

Finally, I had suffered from temptation to conduct cheating this year. When I was both an administrator and a competitor, I could conduct cheating as I like. For instance, I could register dummy competitors, collect competition texts in advance, repeat practices, and re-participate in the competition using other ID. Especially in Japanese, if I had executed these tasks, I would have got 1,000 more points. Also, if I was defeated miserably in early stage, I could delete my ID and re-register it. In the researcher's viewpoint, there is a temptation to collect and analyze competition texts for each language. To resolve this problem, I would like to improve management system next year and to prove my typing skill by keeping more points in future.

Curry-san: Since 2015, he has proactively offered information via Multilingual Typing Wiki, so that many beginners including me could easily participate in multilingual championship. Moreover, he held weekly TypeRacer events and 10FastFingers championship for each language to help beginners prepare for the Intersteno online championship 2017.

Tanon-san: For the Intersteno online championship 2017-2020, he proactively led Japanese typists by holding and participating in weekly TypeRacer events for each language. His significant growth since Oct. 2017 encouraged me enough.

Paraphrohn-san: For the Intersteno online championship 2016, he led Japanese typists by disclosing the aggressive target, "to be the world champion by getting total 80,000 points" in the early stage and achieving it. In concrete, he created and distributed paraph KLs for Intersteno. Also, he held weekly TypeRacer events for each language. Thanks to him, the level of participants including me improved much more than previous year.

Yada-san: taught me that the error "This page and application is only for use on computers, not available for mobile devices." in Taki software can be solved by expanding screen size or reducing font size.

Drizzt-san: taught me that the problem above did not occur on www.intersteno.it. I have typed trainings and competitions only on this website since Intersteno online championship 2016.

Tsukasa@dvorak-san: introduced frequency analyses tool on web, which is quite useful for frequency analyses of specific characters in the text. I have utilized this website by analyzing mainly Russian texts.

My dear family: Thanks to them, I used most of holidays and national holidays from April to May for Intersteno multilingual championship. These holidays are originally precious time for helping raising children, housework, and family events. Thank you! ... By the way, I am not a husband/father. If I keep joining online championship in future, I will have dilemma whether to use almost all national holidays in May every year.

• Dq KLs
  - My KLs for Intersteno and TypeRacer. Installers and MSKLC files are included.

  *1: The KLs for some languages are not suitable for short-term training, because it takes time to get used to them.
  *2: These MSKLC files cannot be built at some Windows 10 computers because I cannot fix errors. If you need, please build files at Windows7, Vista, or XP computer and copy them to your Windows 10 computer.

• Speculation of dq KLs
  - Speculation of the KLs above.

• Intersteno 2021 Rankings and stats for each language
  - I made these materials using VBA for my own use referring to stats created by Eigh-san. This report contains some data from these materials. Source codes are not included.

• Speculation of Intersteno rankings (Japanese only)
  - Speculation of materials above.

• Intersteno texts and analyses
  - These materials contain training texts (1,961 one-minute texts and 535 ten-minutes texts) for each language I have collected and input. When creating KL, I used these materials in order to analyze frequency of diacritical marks, special marks, and rare characters like qvwxyz. In addition, I reported problems to Intersteno technician based on these materials. Personal best records for most of texts are also included.

  *: The accuracy may be over 99% after I first input the texts. Moreover, I improved accuracy by re-inputting most of texts (except all Italian, all French, Serbian) and detecting errors. However, please note that the accuracy is not 100% because of human errors.

• Stats of Intersteno trainings
  - This material is the statistics of my ten-minutes trainings for Intersteno. The numbers of trainings were 160 times in 2015, 552 times in 2016, 375 times in 2017, 598 times in 2018, 147 times in 2019, 323 times in 2020, and 163 times in 2021, including championship. It contains private best records, average points, average speed, average errors, number of trainings, and trial numbers for each error for each language. Growth compared to last year encouraged me very much.

• Database of Intersteno trainings
  - This database contains the details of ten-minutes trainings for Intersteno. Stats above are created from this data.

• Operation manual for preparing and conducting championship (Japanese only)
  - I created this operation manual to avoid stupid human errors such as "to type English by Turkish KL" and "the screen goes dark by power saving mode".

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