Product Code Database
A steno machine, stenotype machine, shorthand machine, stenograph or steno writer is a specialized chorded keyboard or typewriter used by stenographers for shorthand use. In order to pass the United States Registered Professional Reporter test, a trained court reporter or closed captioner must write speeds of approximately 180, 200, and 225 words per minute (wpm) at very high accuracy in the categories of literary, jury charge, and testimony, respectively. Some stenographers can reach up to 375 words per minute, according to the website of the California Official Court Reporters Association (COCRA).
The stenotype keyboard has far fewer keys than a conventional alphanumeric keyboard. Multiple keys are pressed simultaneously (known as "chorded keyboard" or "stroking") to spell out whole , words, and phrases with a single hand motion. This system makes realtime transcription practical for court reporting and live closed captioning. Because the keyboard does not contain all the letters of the English alphabet, letter combinations are substituted for the missing letters. There are several schools of thought on how to record various sounds, such as the StenEd, Phoenix, and Magnum Steno theories.
The Open Steno Project Type 225 Words per Minute with a Stenographic Keyboard (Video), Slashdot, Posted by Roblimo, August 12, 2014 has written free open-source software, including Plover, and has developed cheap open-source hardware for stenography. Plover software translates keypresses to Stenotype on any modern keyboard, with a preference given to ortholinear keyboards that have NKRO functionality.
In "home position", the fingers of the left hand rest along the gap between the two main rows of keys to the left of the asterisk (little finger on the "S" to forefinger on the "H" and "R"). These fingers are used to generate initial consonants. The fingers of the right hand lie in the corresponding position to the right of the asterisk (forefinger on "FR" to little finger on "TS"), and are used for final consonants. The thumbs produce the vowels.
The system is roughly phonetic; for example the word cat would be written by a single stroke expressing the initial K, the vowel A, and the final T.
To enter a number, a user presses the number bar at the top of the keyboard at the same time as the other keys, much like the Shift key on a QWERTY-based keyboard. The illustration shows which lettered keys correspond to which digits. Numbers can be chorded, just as letters can. They read from left to right across the keyboard. It is possible to write 137 in one stroke by pressing the number bar along with SP P, but it takes three separate strokes to write 731. Many court reporters and stenocaptioners write out numbers phonetically instead of using the number bar.
There are various rule sets, known as theories, to combine letters to make different sounds; different court reporters use different theories in their work. Historically, reporters often created "briefs" (abbreviations) on-the-fly, and sometimes mixed theories, which could make it difficult for one reporter to read another reporter's notes, but current versions of theories are primarily designed for computerized translation using a standardized dictionary provided by the company that promulgates the theory, which forces reporters to stick with one theory and use only the specific combinations in that company's dictionary. However, it is not uncommon for students and reporters to add a significant number of entries to a stock dictionary, usually when creating briefs of their own.
Some court reporters use to translate and edit their work. A scopist is a person who is trained in the phonetic writing system, English punctuation, and usually in legal formatting. They are especially helpful when court reporters are working so much that they do not have time to edit their own work. Both scopists and proofreaders work closely with court reporters to ensure an accurate transcript. The widespread use of realtime translation of the strokes has increased the demand for scopists to work simultaneously with the court reporter. With transcripts produced on computer-aided transcription (CAT) software, a scopist no longer needs to have any knowledge of shorthand theories, because the software converts shorthand to text in real time via a dictionary. However, it may still be helpful in some situations while scoping, as misstroked words may not translate and would appear in steno. Depending on availability of scopists and proofreaders, court reporters may use a scopist only to clean up a rough draft of their transcript, then proofread and certify the transcript themselves, or they may use neither and produce a final transcript by themselves, though this is a very time-consuming practice.
| +Stenotype chords !colspan=2 | English letter
!Stenotype chord STKPWHRAO*EUFRPBLGTSDZ
!Example
!width=33% | Comments | |
| c (soft) | K R | cell (KREL) | Use for soft c only |
| ch | K H | chat (KHAT) | |
| d | TK | dug (TKUG) | |
| f | T P | for (TPOR) | |
| g | TKPW | get (TKPWET) | |
| h | H | hat (HAT) | |
| j | S K W R | jet (SKWRET) | |
| k | K | call (KAUL) | Includes hard c |
| l | HR | let (HRET) | |
| m | P H | met (PHET) | |
| n | T P H | net (TPHET) | |
| p | P | pet (PET) | |
| qu | K W | quit (KWEUT) | |
| r | R | rat (RAT) | |
| s | S | set (SET) | |
| sh | S H | shut (SHUT) | |
| t | T | top (TOP) | |
| th | T H | that (THAT) | |
| v | S R | vet (SRET) | |
| w | W | wet (WET) | |
| y | K W R | yet (KWRET) | |
| z | S * | zap (S*AP) | alternatively, commonly chorded by the entire initial bank, STKPWHR, in order to avoid thousands of potential conflicts |
| Long a | A EU | pair (PAEUR) | |
| aw | A U | wall (WAUL) | |
| Short e | E | said (SED) | |
| Long e | AO E | seed (SAOED) | |
| Short i | EU | kit (KEUT) | |
| Long i | AO EU | kite (KAOEUT) | |
| Short o | O | offer (OFR) | |
| Long o | O E | over (OEFR) | |
| oi | O EU | soil (SOEUL) | |
| oo | AO | hood (HAOD) | only used for words spelled with oo also used for words spelled with oa to disambiguate certain homophones, like road (RAOD) vs. rode (ROED) |
| ou | O U | howl (HOUL) | |
| Short u | U | cut (KUT) | |
| Long u | AO U | cute (KAOUT) | also used for words with that are not spelled with oo like crew (KRAOU) |
| See note | A E | pear (PAER) | used for words spelled with ea or a…e to disambiguate certain homophones |
| ch | F P | latch (HRAFP) | |
| d | D | lad (HRAD) | |
| dz | DZ | friends (TPREPBDZ) | use only for words that end with ds |
| f | F | laugh (HRAF) | |
| g | G | lag (HRAG) | |
| j | PBLG | ledge (HREPBLG) | |
| k | B G | lack (HRABG) | |
| l | L | lull (HRUL) | |
| m | P L | lamb (HRAPL) | also used for lm like calm (KAUPL) |
| mp | FRP | lamp (HRAFRP) | |
| n | PB | lain (HRAEUPB) | |
| nch | FRPBLG | lunch (HRUFRPBLG) | |
| ng | PB G | long (HROPBG) | |
| nj | PB G | range (RAEUPBG) | |
| nk | * PB G | link (HR*EUPBG) | |
| p | P | lap (HRAP) | |
| r | R | liar (HRAOEUR) | |
| rch | FRPB | lurch (HRUFRPB) | |
| rf | FR B | surf (SUFRB) | |
| rv | FR B | curve (KUFRB) | |
| s | S | lass (HRAS) | |
| sh | R B | lash (HRAFRB) | |
| sm | F P L | chasm (KHAFPL) | |
| st | F T | last (HRAFT) | *S may be used when in conflict with ft, like lost (HRO*S) |
| t | T | let (HRET) | |
| th | * T | lathe (HRA*EUT) | |
| v | * F | leave (HRAO*EF) | |
| x | B G S | lax (HRABGS) | |
| z | Z | craze (KRAEUZ) | |
| ing | G | laughing (HRAFG) | |
| shun | G S | nation (TPHA*EUGS) | |
| kshun | * B G S | action (A*BGS) | |
| Comma | R B G S | ||
| Question mark | ST P H | ||
| New paragraph | P F | ||
| Correction (asterisk) | * |
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