A typist who scores 400 on a Korean typing trainer opens a web typing test and sees 40. A tenfold gap looks like a bug, but both numbers are correct. They are simply counting different things.
Here is how the units relate, and which one your score belongs to.
1. WPM and CPM are not the same measurement
Typing speed is usually reported in one of two units.
- CPM (Characters Per Minute) — how many characters you typed in a minute
- WPM (Words Per Minute) — how many words you typed in a minute
The tricky part is defining a "word." English words vary wildly in length, so counting actual words makes scores depend on the text rather than the typist. The long-standing convention solves this by treating five characters as one word, spaces included.
WPM = CPM ÷ 5
So 40 WPM means you typed 200 characters in a minute. Most web typing tests, including this one, use exactly this definition.
2. Korean typing trainers count keystrokes, not characters
This is where the real gap comes from. The Korean metric known as ta-su (타수) does not count characters — it counts keystrokes.
Korean letters are assembled from parts. Typing 한 requires pressing ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ — three keys for one character on screen. Typing 가 takes two. In other words, a single Korean character normally costs two or three keystrokes.
- No final consonant: initial + vowel = 2 keystrokes (가, 도, 시)
- With a final consonant: initial + vowel + final = 3 keystrokes (한, 글, 밥)
- Compound vowels and double finals: one more on top (과, 값, 읽)
Because of this, the same typist always scores much higher in ta-su than in CPM.
3. How many keystrokes is one Korean character, really?
Two to three is the theory. What is the average in real sentences? I measured every Korean sentence used in this site's typing test — 35 proverbs and sayings, 719 characters — counting keystrokes on the standard 2-set (두벌식) keyboard layout.
| Metric | Measured |
|---|---|
| Korean syllables | 523 |
| Syllables with a final consonant | 41.9% |
| Average keystrokes per Korean character | 2.48 |
| Average per character including spaces | 2.08 |
Roughly four in ten characters carry a final consonant, which pulls the average to about 2.5 keystrokes. Spaces cost one keystroke each, bringing the overall figure to about 2.1 keystrokes per character.
That single number lets you convert between the two worlds.
Korean ta-su ≈ web CPM × 2.1
4. Conversion table
| Korean ta-su | Web CPM | Web WPM | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | ~96 | ~19 | Past hunt-and-peck |
| 300 | ~144 | ~29 | Comfortable for daily work |
| 400 | ~192 | ~38 | Above average, quick |
| 500 | ~240 | ~48 | Fast |
| 600 | ~288 | ~58 | Very fast |
So 400 ta-su ≈ 38 WPM. The "my 400 became 40" shock turns out to be an almost exact match once converted.
English typing is simpler. Each letter is one keystroke, so CPM and keystroke count are identical, and your WPM compares directly against international benchmarks with no conversion at all.
5. Why accuracy comes before speed
Typing tests generally compute accuracy by comparing your input position by position against the target sentence. That method has a sharp edge to it.
Miss a single character and everything after it shifts by one slot. Type the rest flawlessly and the entire tail still counts as wrong. One dropped keystroke does not cost you one point — it can cost you half the sentence.
So the useful order of operations is:
- Get to 95%+ accuracy first
- Then raise speed while holding that accuracy
Speed bought by sacrificing accuracy gets refunded at the backspace key. Once you count the time spent deleting and retyping, the "faster" run is often slower.
6. How to measure properly
- Take 3–5 runs and average them. The first run is always low — you are still finding the keys.
- Compare only within the same keyboard and device. A laptop keyboard, a mechanical board, and a phone are three different sports.
- Do not compare Korean and English scores directly. Run them through the conversion above first.
- Use text you have not seen. Repeating a memorized sentence measures recall, not typing.
Want to check yours right now? Try the typing speed test. If you are curious about raw finger response instead, the reaction time test and 1 to 50 measure the same family of skills from different angles.
Summary
- WPM = CPM ÷ 5, using the convention that five characters make one word
- Korean ta-su counts keystrokes, not characters, so its numbers run much higher
- Measured on real Korean sentences: 2.48 keystrokes per character, or 2.1 including spaces
- Therefore ta-su ≈ CPM × 2.1 — 400 ta-su is roughly 38 WPM
- A single dropped character shifts everything after it, so secure 95% accuracy first
