I’m actually a fairly fast and accurate typist with traditional QWERTY (US) and the Hangeul Dubeolsik keyboards, and a middling typist on the Dvorak keyboard. Since I’m not allergic to code switching the fingering on the keyboards, I figure this is not something that will be impossible for me to learn. The thing is that I’m finding it harder to keep up with things with a regular keyboard and I no longer like using the shorthand (a variety of Speedwirting) I learned in middle school.
The basic questions I have are:
Is it worth learning stenography, basically as a hobby instead of in search for a job as a stenographer?
For those who actually are stenographers, what challenges did you encounter learning?
What is considered a competent speed?
Should I stick with the software that converts standard computer keyboards to steno machine layouts? (I hope I’m putting that correctly.)
How much am I looking to spend if I decide to go with a decent steno keyboard?
Sorry, I have no answers to any of your questions, but I wonder whether speech-to-text software has rendered stenography obsolete, or will in the near future.
I’ve used speech-to-text at home when I lived alone, but there are plenty of situations where it is not a choice for me. For example, there is far too much chatter among teacher and students in my office at school. Sadly, we teachers don’t have our own dedicated rooms which would double as an office for each of us.
I’d say not worth it for just a hobby.
The jobs would be interesting.
How about court reporter? Specialized machines. Cases, depositions, contracts.
Court reporter keyboard -
The stenotype machine (also called the stenograph), used by court reporters and transcriptionists, has a special keyboard with only 22 keys. The modern stenograph has two rows of keys on each side, which represent consonants, and 4 keys at the center, in front, with the vowels A, O, E and U.
Well, I’m not meaning to imply it would be just a hobby, but I do mean that I am not looking for a job as a stenographer. Basically, I want to up my typing speed a lot and thus replace the pen and paper shorthand with a keyboard shorthand.
I learnt stenography (the German version of it - different languages use different systems) years ago. It was partially out of personal interest, partially because I felt it might be useful for note-taking (I was about to begin law school at the time). Never use it, and have never done so since, other than practicing when I was learning it. It’s not that it isn’t interesting - in a way, it’s intriguing to see how much writing by hand can be optimised. It’s simply that I never got to the point where writing something in stenography comes naturally instead of requiring conscious effort. But I’m sure it’s possible to get to that point with a reasonable amount of practice, so if you’re interested in it, so for it. Just don’t expect too much of a practical and useful benefit for everyday life.
Edit: Just realised that you were asking about stenographic keyboard rather than shorthand (which is what I was talking about). So never mind my post.
Viele Dank! I learned Speedwriting many (many many many) years ago, and I have been using it but not as often as I should have over the years. The real issue is I got pressed for time as the world and thus my life got more complicated. It’s cool to transcribe the thing immediately afterwards because what I wrote is still fresh; however, the longer I put the transcription off (which is become quite often and quite long), the harder it gets to transcribe. The other issue is that I really am more comfortable with keyboarding than with scribbling. For some reason, the keyboarding does not make my wrist and fingers ache like they do after I’ve been writing for a while.
But I really am looking for on-topic responses to my OP.