Bangla typing keyboards compared

Bijoy, Jatiya, Avro Phonetic or Probhat: what each one is, and which to learn.

Try the Jatiya layout

There is no single way to type Bangla on a computer. Most people use one of four layouts: Bijoy, Jatiya (National), Avro Phonetic or Probhat. They put letters on different keys and suit different people. If you are learning for a job or an exam, the right choice is the one your workplace or test uses. If you are learning for yourself, the choice is about comfort and speed.

The four common layouts

Bijoy

Bijoy, created by Mustafa Jabbar in the late 1980s, is the layout most Bangladeshi offices, newspapers, printers and typing schools grew up with. It is a fixed layout: each key always types the same letter, so experienced Bijoy typists are very fast. Many government offices still use Bijoy with SutonnyMJ fonts, which produce text in an older, non-Unicode encoding. That text looks correct in those fonts but appears as Latin letters elsewhere unless it is converted. Newer versions of Bijoy can type Unicode.

Bijoy is commercial software and its layout is protected by copyright and a patent in Bangladesh, so this site does not include it. If you have Bijoy installed, choose “My keyboard” on this site and type with it; your speed is measured in the same way.

Jatiya (National)

The Jatiya keyboard is Bangladesh's national standard layout (BDS 1738). It is a fixed layout built for Unicode, available in free tools such as Avro Keyboard. Vowel signs sit under the left hand and the most common consonants under the right, with aspirated and less common letters on Shift. Full vowels have their own key combinations, or can be typed as hasanta followed by the vowel sign.

Jatiya is built into this site: keep your computer keyboard on English and practise straight away. See the Jatiya layout chart.

Avro Phonetic

Avro Phonetic, from the free Avro Keyboard software, lets you type Bangla by spelling it in English letters: “ami” becomes আমি, “bangla” becomes বাংলা. It is the easiest way to start, and very popular for messages, social media and casual writing. It types Unicode.

The trade-off is speed and exactness. You are spelling sounds rather than pressing letter keys, so some words need extra keys or corrections, and the result depends on how you romanise. Phonetic typing is rarely accepted in formal typing tests. Avro Keyboard also includes fixed layouts, including Jatiya and Probhat, so it is a handy way to install them.

Probhat

Probhat is a fixed Unicode layout that places Bangla letters on keys that roughly match their English sound (ক on K, ম on M). That makes it easier to learn than Bijoy or Jatiya for people who already know QWERTY, while still being a proper fixed layout for fast touch typing. It is less common in offices.

Side by side

Which one should you learn?

• For a government typing test: ask the recruiting office or check the circular. Many tests still use Bijoy; some accept Unicode layouts. If the office uses Bijoy, learn Bijoy.
• For a job: learn what the office uses. Where nobody minds, Jatiya is a safe choice because it is the national standard and types Unicode.
• For everyday writing: Avro Phonetic is fine and quick to pick up. If you write a lot of Bangla, a fixed layout will make you faster in the long run.

Unicode versus SutonnyMJ

This matters more than the layout itself. Unicode Bangla text works everywhere: in browsers, email, phones, search engines and modern word processors. Text typed in non-Unicode fonts such as SutonnyMJ only displays correctly where that font is installed. Many offices still keep documents in SutonnyMJ, and converters between the two exist. If you are starting fresh, type in Unicode.

How Bangla typing speed is measured

This site counts Bangla speed the same way as English: every five Unicode characters, spaces included, is one word. A vowel sign (কার) or a hasanta is a character, so a conjunct such as ক্ষ counts as three. Because Bangla words often use more characters per syllable than English words, most people's Bangla WPM is lower than their English WPM, and government pass marks for Bangla are set accordingly, usually around 20 to 25 WPM.

Tips for learning a fixed Bangla layout

• Learn the home row first and keep your fingers on it, as in English touch typing.
• Learn vowel signs early. They come up in almost every word.
• Practise conjuncts (যুক্তবর্ণ) such as ক্ষ, ন্ত, স্ত and ন্ড as units once you know the single letters.
• Type real Bangla sentences, not only letter drills, as soon as you know most keys.

Start with the free Bangla typing lessons on the Jatiya layout, then measure yourself with the Bangla typing test.