deskthority

Let's say you're planning to get a split ortholinear keyboard in 6~8 weeks from now and all you have in the meantime is your standard staggered tkl mechanical keyboard. You're also just learning to touch type.

Would you:
A) - learn to touch type on the current "standard" keyboard, then have to learn again on the ortholinear kb?
B) - wait with starting to learn until you actually have the ortholinear kb?

So I guess I can rephrase my question like this: Does being able to touch type on a normal keyboard help or makes it worse when adjusting to ortholinear keyboards?

Shrug. Swings and roundabouts.

I’d put off learning until the new board arrives, but then cave into the inner pressure to try learning prematurely first.

Ortho is a very different typing experience anyway. There’s no harm in waiting until it arrives then diving right on in.

Thanks

You can learn both. Provided both keyboard have almost the same layout, e.g. both are more or less qwerty but one is row staggered and the second one is column staggered then most of your skills will be transferable (i.e. which key is pressed with which finger).
You will not forget the old layout if you use it al least occasionally. You will be able to switch between layouts easily. E.g. I switch between standard qwerty layout and qwerty for K84CS all the time.

Start learning now, switching to the ortholinear will be no issue and your fingers will adapt instantly.
Like vvp said, the important thing is that the layout is (nearly) the same on both keyboards.