Typing Pal 5.0 from De Marque seeks to transform us into better typists with numerous exercises, learning plans and teaching tools. It lacks the flashiness its more prestigious counterparts, but it makes up for this shortcoming with features unique to this type of software. And with the new version, this program has improved leaps and bounds.

Standout Features

• Automatically adapts to all types of keyboards (Azerty, Qwerty, Qwertz, etc.)
• Typing Practice texts in French, English and Spanish
• Special Typing lessons on Internet characters
• Training in keyboard shortcuts

This program offers a fun alternative to the drudgery of going through repetitive exercises to get a higher words per minute (WPM) score. It doesn’t offer as many games as Typing Instructor Platinum or Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, but the colorful, engaging interface more than makes up for this shortcoming. Every exercise has an entertaining animation at the bottom that plays once you start hitting the keys. If you make a mistake, the boss will either come in putting his finger up disapprovingly, or the person you’re eating lunch with will steal a piece of your food for themselves.

Typing Pal 5.0 also offers texts for you to type, audio files for you to dictate, exercises to help you improve your typing repertoire and three games to break up the serious work. You can learn about ergonomics under the learning tab while you’re mastering shortcuts and special characters for the Internet.

A big feature this program has that other typing tutor programs don’t is under the follow-up tab. This feature tracks your speed and accuracy when you use other programs that require typing. It collects statistics to inform you about what you need to improve on.