I use the Bépo layout (dvorak equivalent for French) on a TypeMatrix at work and a TrulyErgonomic at home. I've had the same experience as you though, I switch

I use the Bépo layout (dvorak equivalent for French) on a TypeMatrix at work and a TrulyErgonomic at home. I've had the same experience as you though, I switched to touchtyping, changed the layout, and the keyboard (columnar) at the same time, so I can always switch back to an AZERTY (french QWERTY), but only on a regular standard keyboard (and it's a pain to use BÉPO on a non-columnar keyboard, slow and lots of mistakes). As for the speed, well, I was around 70wpm on AZERTY, and now (around 4 years later), I'm around 100wpm on BÉPO, so yeah, I'm never going back.