Cyrillic - what are the letters on the keyboard?

The Russian-language keyboard layout is called Cyrillic all over the world. It is popular among native speakers and is recognizable even by those who have never studied languages ​​of the Slavic group. Let's figure out which letters are called Cyrillic and which are Latin.

Russian keyboard layout

The first keyboard was created with Latin characters. But as it spread, it acquired additional symbols of other languages, from which it differed slightly (for example, German). And for other languages ​​it completely changed its appearance. A striking example of this is the Cyrillic alphabet.

Why is the Russian layout called Cyrillic?

Oddly enough, the characters on the “Russian” keyboard are not the Cyrillic alphabet itself, but are only created on the basis of it. Cyrillic is an Old Church Slavonic script that is not currently used in everyday writing. Since the Cyrillic alphabet was once created by the apostles Cyril and Methodius, it became, in fact, the first written language in Rus'. They decided to name the Russian-language keyboard layout after her.

How the Russian alphabet is arranged on the keyboard

The letters of the Cyrillic layout, created after experiments with Qwerty, are not arranged in alphabetical order, but depending on the frequency of their use. Since the Russian layout was created somewhat later than the Latin one, the errors of the latest experience were taken into account.

IMPORTANT! The Russian layout is more ergonomic and convenient for both simple printing and touch typing.

The letters in it are arranged according to the following principle:

• the most used letters are located under the index fingers;
• rare ones - under the weaker ring and little fingers;
• the letter E is in a separate corner, since when printing it is used in exceptional cases.

REFERENCE! The main disadvantage of the Cyrillic layout is the location of the comma, which does not have a separate key.

To place it in the text, you need to use two keys at once. Some believe that this is the reason for the frequent omitting of commas during quick email correspondence.

Transition from Cyrillic to Latin and back

In adapted computers and laptops, switching to Cyrillic is not difficult. However, if the system you have installed does not immediately provide quick access to the Russian layout, then you will need to make additional settings.

REFERENCE! Similarly, you can connect any other layouts, which is most important for those who study several foreign languages.

Second keyboard language - Latin

The Latin alphabet often acts as the main layout, since it is literally impossible to do without its use. Not only are all communications on the Internet (website URLs, e-mail) written in Latin letters, but operations on the same command line are typed in Latin letters.

If you do not have quick access to the Cyrillic alphabet in the settings, you will have to perform several steps to add it. To do this, just follow a simple algorithm.

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Select the Region and Language tab.
3. In the Add Language column, you can add the required layout (or several). After which it will appear at the bottom of the quick access panel along with the Latin alphabet.

Reference: In the same tab, if necessary, you can change the Windows interface language.

How to switch from Cyrillic to Latin and go back

When printing, you often need to change the layout, be it messages in foreign languages, website and email addresses, as well as some special characters that are not available on the Cyrillic layout (for example, square brackets).

Keyboard shortcut

If switching the layout was done manually every time through the settings, this would significantly slow down the printing speed. Therefore, we have identified several key combinations that must be pressed simultaneously to switch:

• Shift and Alt;
• Win and space.

Reference: if you have connected several layouts, they will switch in turn. Therefore, you may have to press the keys several times.

Quick Access Toolbar

A slightly less fast way to change the layout via quick access panel. However, it is more convenient if you have more than three layouts connected. On the right in the bottom panel there is a layout icon, which is 2-3 letters from the name of the alphabet (EN - Latin, RUS - Cyrillic). When you click on it with the left mouse button, all connected layouts will be displayed. You can select the one you need with one more click.