Hobbyist's Guide to Stenography | How to Learn Steno

Thought I'd finally update my beginner's guide video from three years ago.

Hobbyist steno boards:

Lapwing theory resource:

Plover theory resources:

Music:

0:00 Intro
0:12 Summary
1:40 Motivation
2:26 How long to learn
3:15 Learn steno as a hobby
3:54 Hardware
4:28 Keyboard setup
5:02 Using a standard keyboard
6:12 Using a hobbyist board
6:56 Writing your first words
8:20 Steno theory
9:03 Plover theory
9:17 Lapwing theory
10:04 Learning steno with Lapwing
11:08 Speedbuilding
11:42 Last remarks

[carstenschmitt]

Aaaaand now I am a proud owner of an Ecosteno - and I am feeling like the first human to ever use a keyboard. Again. Time to learn the layout in _painful_ drills...

Thanks, Aerick! Your videos made me take the first steps on this trip. I'm so happy! 😁

[tolrex]

After watching for a minute, I started wondering if I can code with a stenokeyboard 10 seconds later you coded with a stenokeyboard. Thanks!! 😂

[dereklomax]

Absolutely amazing! Thank you for all of your continued steno guides!

I have greatly benefitted from your work.
I'm going on my 3rd year of using steno, still as a hobby. However, I am using steno for every computer interaction including work as an engineer. So technically I am a professional hobbiest.

[Goober_tony]

im just getting into steno recently and i've been binging your videos and waiting for my keyboard parts to start learning lapwing. love your stuff!!!

[myshrinkingviolet]

I got interested in Steno when I first learned about traditional written shorthand. I am so glad resources like this are coming out. I have wanted to learn because I want to be able to transcribe things as a hobby but found myself struggling to get faster than 108 wpm with a regular keyboard (still awesome for an wpm, but still limiting as well.) I am so excited to start my journey into the world of steno!! Thanks for making this video!

[rcs]

Great video. Tip for the captions on this video: I recommend using dashes instead of parentheses for parenthetical information, like at 0:20. This is because it can be hard to tell as a reader whether the text in parentheses is actually spoken or not (some misguided YouTubers add postproduction corrections with parentheses in captions), and it's often used for sound effects as well.

So it would be "Machine stenography—or steno for short—is a method of chorded text input ..."

Again: Very good and helpful video. I just wanted to put this out here since I'm a supporter of captioned content.

[hstrinzel]

Thank you for explaining how long it takes. As an older citizen I think I will stick with my Dragon Naturally Speaking, 250 WPM or so.

[davidbcg]

Great stuff! Love your work.
I learnt to touch type for the first time with Colemak DHm 3 years ago and it's lovely.
Steno may be the next station... thanks to your inspiration!

[gfixler]

Excellent resource, Aerick! Thanks for another great video I can share with interested parties.

[kurushimee]

I want to learn steno because I have a Piantor which can perfectly emulate a proper steno keyboard. It's low profile with keycaps that are impossibly close together, and I'm using choc v1 pink switches which are the lightest variant, so even without a steno keyboard it should be easy to press multiple keys with one finger.

And also I'm a sucker for ergonomics (partly because of how much my spine and neck hurt) and efficiency

[vladimirpolusyan]

I found out about steno only 5 minutes before watching this video, it's very well made and you explain everything very clearly while putting things into perspective. Great video, I'm now interested in steno!

Also you remind me a lot of my friend from a couple of years ago)))

[bryophyta]

I learned how to unicycle back in COVID, not steno yet!

[AgencyPro-mcwe]

Thanks for the advice. I can't find the plover app in the Microsoft store app to download on my laptop. and it is also on defender mode so it is difficult to unlock this. do you have any advice or do you know if we can purchase plover software from some place? Thank you.

[usernmae]

This is the video i have been looking for thank you!

[aqwek]

How hard is it to switch from Plover to Lapwing? I've been stuck on affixes for a few months, and I can't understand how to learn them for Plover theory. I didn't like Lapwing when I first tried it, but I might reconsider soon.

[rubanov]

Great video! Going to read your manual

[tumultoustortellini]

I already learned and use colemak, ironically enough also in 10th grade. Maybe it's time for new horizons, looks like fun.

[EdouardTavinor]

i got a nolltronics about a week ago and am doing about an hour a day :) at the moment i'm progressing steadily. i've yet to learn some fairly simple stuff (how to enter a newline for example), but i'm sure i'll find it soon :)

[lefend]

Could you point me to a video on modifying a hobbyist keyboard with new keycaps? I have a Uni and can't seem to figure out where to get keycaps similar to yours and how to install them.

[buntistmeinelieblingsfarbe]

Love your videos!
My native language is german, and I couldn‘t find any resources on steno in german. Do you happen to know where to find these? 🤔