What is stenography? What can it be used for? Why should I learn it? Is it hard? and other FAQs
Stenography, from the Greek words stenos (narrow) and graphein (to write), also known as shorthand, is an abbreviated or symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand. Historically, stenography was written by hand on paper. The first stenography machines and keyboards were invented starting in the late 19th century. Stenography using a machine or keyboard is also called machine shorthand or less commonly, stenotyping, or simply steno. (See History of Stenography section for a great timeline that I went way overboard on.)
Most stenography/shorthand systems, whether written by hand or by machine, involve writing phonetically through use of written strokes or typed letter combinations to represent letter-speech sounds. Stenography is not, however, strictly phonetic; there are elements of mnemonics and abbreviation to it.
Above all, stenography is a SKILL you can learn to write in the most efficient and fastest possible way.
This fantastic 1928 silent video with French inventor Grandjean demonstrating the Grandjean Stenotype machine has an amazing "type off" speed contest between a stenographer and typist towards the end. This may be the oldest known video demonstration of machine shorthand!
How does machine stenography work?
Take a look at this picture of a typical steno keyboard layout:
Yes, I know, it looks intimidating and confusing, downright weird, but don't worry about it right now. Over time, it'll make so much sense you'll wonder why steno isn't taught in grade schools.
Looking at that keyboard, knowing nothing about stenography or the keyboard itself other than the concept that stenography is writing phonetically, that is, writing a word based on how it sounds, how would you write the word cat?
Sound out the word cat and take a guess!
Steno keyboards are chorded, meaning you can press one or more (or even ALL) keys at exactly the same time. With one stroke of the keyboard, you can write one - or more - entire words!
Steno keyboards process text from left to write - this is called steno order - but for now, all you need to know is we write the beginning part of a word, what I call the "predominate starting sound" of a word, with our left hand on the left side of the keyboard. Vowels are written using the bottom row of keys. Our thumbs rest on those keys and press them to indicate the "predominant vowel sound" of a word. The ending part of a word, the "predominate ending sound" of a word, on the right side of the keyboard with our right hand.
All at once. With a single movement.
The predominant starting sound of "cat" is a hard "c" sound, equivalent to the sound of the letter "K". The predominant vowel sound of "cat" is that of the short "a" sound. The predominant ending sound of "cat" is the sound of the letter "T".
So when writing in steno, we would press the K key with our left hand, the A with our left thumb, and the T on the right hand side of the keyboard with our right hand, all at once. A single stroke instead of typing three separate keys one after the other like on a standard keyboard.
In a nutshell, that is how steno works. Of course, there's a lot more to it, but we'll get into that in much detail later on in the course!
What can stenography be used for?
Stenography can be used for any and all text entry and writing purposes! While steno is most commonly known for its use in court reporting, it is also used by writers working on their next great novel, computer programmers coding the next hit MMO, certified CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) providers captioning in real time live television broadcasts, streams, conventions, classrooms and more, captioners captioning video and audio files, medical transcriptionists writing up doctor's dictation, police departments transcribing officer's reports and much, much more. Stenography has a long history of use by and for the blind and deaf communities and has often been found particularly useful for those with dyslexia and other language processing challenges.If it can be typed, it can be written with a steno machine!
Why should I learn steno?
I started out learning steno for practical reasons: A desire to work more efficiently (my main source of income for the last 11 years is legal and law enforcement transcription) and to reduce or eliminate the wrist and shoulder issues I've been slowly developing over 40+ years of keyboard work across my gazillion "careers". But I never expected steno to be so inherently elegant. As much as I harp that steno is a skill, it's so much more than that. There's a graceful artistry swimming in the logic and code of it. The dance of my fingers on keys to the rhythm of my thoughts or words spoken by another is just so sublime, I simply have not the words to describe it. The little endorphin rush I get as my fingers just know the right keys to slide across at just the right time ... it's just so gratifying and exhilarating!Having said that, there are numerous practical reasons to learn steno, which I think Mirabai Knight, the founder of Plover and the Open Steno Project, lays out far better than I ever could in her wonderfully detailed 6-part blog post series discussing all of the benefits of steno and more.
To paraphrase Mirabai, learn steno...
- To write and/or code faster and more efficiently - as fast as you can think!
- To ease/reduce/prevent repetitive motion injuries, wrist and shoulder pain
- For a plethora of accessibility purposes ranging from rapid text-to-speech input/output to real-time live captioning
- To expand your career opportunities or start a new career
- To write more accurately and spend a lot less time proofreading and editing your work
- And many, many more reasons than I can list here but most importantly ...
- Because it's really fun!
But isn't it really expensive to learn steno?
Yes and no.If you go to what are commonly referred to as "court reporting schools", yes, learning steno can be exceedingly expensive. I'm talking the cost of two new cars expensive. Sadly, most "court reporting schools" are private schools; tuition in the range of $15,000-$25,000 a year is not unheard of and on average, these schools take two to four years or more to "graduate" from with a certificate, as they won't "graduate" you until you reach 225 words a minute.
On the other hand, there are still a few public community colleges that offer court reporting and/or CART/captioning certificate and degree programs. These programs cost significantly less than a private school - a few thousand a year, usually the same tuition rate as you'd pay for any program at the community college and often offer financial aid. Some of the classes offered at community colleges are transferrable to degree-seeking programs, too!
Unfortunately, not very many community colleges offer court reporting/captioning programs anymore, and I have yet to come across one that teaches steno as a stand-alone skill. Every one of the private and public schools teach steno as part of a "career program" - exclusively for court reporting or CART/captioning purposes.
However, as I've already said, stenography is a skill that can be used for any text entry and writing purpose at all. In my humble opinion, both the private and public school systems have dropped the ball big time by not offering stand-alone learn steno programs. Not teaching steno as a stand-alone skill is a humongous lost opportunity for potential students and lost income for schools! Most importantly, learning the skill of stenography should not cost more than a small house.
And guess what? Thanks to Plover and the Open Steno Project, StudySteno.com (the web site you are on right now), and an absolute plethora of other free, open source Plover and steno learning websites, learning steno can cost you absolutely nothing at all but your time and effort. All free.
I heard that steno machines and steno software are really expensive.
Yes and no.
Proprietary steno machines are stupidly expensive and you (usually) need nearly as ridiculously expensive, limited proprietary software to use them. Most steno machine companies will sell you a lower-cost "student" model for $1,700-$2,500 that, under their terms and conditions, can't be used for commercial purposes, forcing you to have to purchase a new machine upon graduation for $4,000-$6,000 or more! Then you have to pay for the software to use the machine you just spent thousands on! The student version of the software typically runs around $350 a year, then another $3,500 to upgrade to the "professional" version of the software. Don't believe me? Take a look at Stenograph's machines (even the used machines are over $3,500) and software prices. Oh and if you want to use their software for captioning, you not only have to buy the $4,000 "pro" software, you then have to pay another $4,000 for the "broadcast captioning suite." Of course, there are other companies and other software options at lower (and higher) price points but still, this is ridiculous.
Yes, their machines are high quality and lovely to work on, but the products of most stenography related companies are designed nearly exclusively for the highly specialized purposes of court reporters and, depending upon the company and their software, can't even be used to write in Microsoft Word, answer emails or any other text entry purpose. Unless you pay more money for yet another software upgrade ...
Or you can use Plover. For free. On a regular QWERTY keyboard that you likely already own. You can even use Plover with those fancy expensive steno machines that cost more than my last car. Granted, I bought a used car.
Now, to be straight with you, you're likely not going to want to write steno on a standard QWERTY keyboard much beyond your initial learning of steno. Eventually, you are likely going to want a "proper" steno keyboard. Used older model steno machines are easily found on Ebay and other auction and sales websites for a few hundred dollars. One company that I recommend (this is not a paid promotion) is Stenoworks that regularly has professionally refurbished used machines for sale, usually starting from around $400 and up. They even offer a rent-to-own program!
Even better, numerous people in the mechanical keyboard community have developed a variety of open source build-it-yourself steno keyboards, providing plans, software downloads and more for free, with the parts to build them costing between $20-$50. Many of these wonderfully creative people will hand-build a keyboard to order or already sell hand-built steno keyboards for $80-$180, too, and frankly, these steno keyboards are adorable!
Left to right from the top: Georgi, EcoSteno, TinyMod, Soft/Hruf Splitography, Tiny Stenoboard 2, The Uni v2, Gherkin, Deshipu's
Oh and if you are one of those stenosnob types, sitting there rolling your eyes at the thought of a hand-made keyboard, well, that's your right to roll your eyes at anything you want. Just know that there are certified CART providers, captioners, court reporters, programmers and writers using keyboards like these and others right now, in professional settings. Many professional stenographers also own an open source steno keyboard as a backup keyboard, or for use at home, when traveling, or for their children to learn steno without spilling ice cream on their pricy "proper" steno machine.
I cover the various options for getting started with QWERTY keyboards, hand-built steno keyboards and steno machines extensively in the Getting Started: Keyboards, Steno Machines and Other Alternatives section.
Isn't steno really difficult to learn?
Guess what? You likely are already using a form of stenography every day. BTW, LOL, emoji are a form of stenography - a form of shorthand! Crazy, IKR? ROFL! (Yes, you can emoji with Plover steno!)
More seriously, I'd say it's more accurate to say the steno keyboard is simple to learn, writing in steno has a few occasionally frustrating hurdles to jump over, and reaching ludicrous writing speeds is very challenging.
At its heart, steno is writing phonetically. We all start out learning to read and write phonetically and over time, our natural, instinctive phonetic language acquisition is supplanted by years of studying rules of grammar and spelling. When learning to write phonetically with steno, you are reaching into the depths of your mind and memory to connect with those early years when you sounded out words as you learned to speak and read. In other words, you already know how to learn reading and writing phonetically. You just have to revive that natural instinct for phonetic language. It's not always easy; heh, getting over that first hurdle of fighting your mind telling you but that's not how it's "spelled" can be frustrating at times. Once you grok writing in steno, it's exhilarating!
How long will it take to learn?
That depends entirely upon you, your own personal goals for learning steno, your personal experiences, how much time you spend practicing and how much you immerse yourself in using steno. If you've previously learned a second/third/etc. language, if you've played the piano or have a musical background, if you are a teacher/tutor/student of phonics, if you've previously learned written shorthand, if you love word games, cryptography and logic puzzles ... there's research indicating you may take to steno somewhat quicker. On the other hand, there are people who have none of the above life experiences or interests who take to steno so fast, you'd think they were born with a steno keyboard. Then there are others with all of the above who never manage to get past writing the word "cat".In other words, there are no guarantees as to how long it will take you to learn steno, much less grok it, but there are some, in general, average expectations, assuming you are studying and practicing regularly, even if just 5 minutes here and there as you can. Any steno practice is better than none:
- Most people will be using steno comfortably at or near their regular typing speeds (assuming 50-80wpm regular typing speed) from within a few months (5 to 8 months) up to a year.
- If you are wanting to reach ludicrous speeds (225wpm+), it usually takes 1.5 to 2 years or more, with a lot of focused, concentrated practice.
I'm Greygal, aka Laura DiFiore. Thanks to Plover and the Open Steno Project community, I taught myself steno for under $160 - the amount I spent buying a used (but still new in the 25-year-old box) Stentura on Ebay. I got to the 160-180wpm range in about a year by fully immersing myself in steno, meaning I started using steno for everything I possibly could, chatting, emails, work, you name it, almost from the beginning. My primary source of income for the last 11 years is as a legal and law enforcement transcriptionist, which I've been using steno for almost exclusively for the last 2 years. My first "career" decades ago was as a typesetter, and I've have had many "careers" since that long-ago time ranging from proofreader/editor, ghost writer, bartender, bear chaser, hotel manager, bookstore owner, karaoke host, web site developer ... oh heck, you name it, I've probably had a job in it at least once. My educational background is in philosophy, history and curriculum development and I've been a volunteer tutor of English as a second language on and off for years. I am on the Board of Directors of the National Tutoring Association (and editor of their newsletter), an avid 12-year-long player of the online MMO EveOnline where I command fleets of Internet spaceships full of new players, love reading science fiction, working on crossword puzzles, cooking (especially baking bread), crochet, macramé, sewing quilts, and am absolutely, beyond belief, addicted to traveling. Seriously addicted. I've spent literal years traveling around the world. My parents should have named me Wanderlust.
Oh, and I have lots and lots of crazy grey hair. Yes, it's completely natural!
