I saw some videos and still can’t understand, a lady just type like 5 buttons ans a whole phrase comes out on the screen. Also doesnt make sense at all what I see from the stenographer screen, it is like random letters no in the same line.
EDIT: Im impressed by how complex and interesting stenography is! Thank you for the replies and also thank you very much for the Awards! 🙂
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A stenographer have to be able to type over 225 words a minute. This is very hard with a normal keyboard so they have to use a stenotype. This is much harder to learn to write on and read (unless you have computers to translate) but when you can use it there is no need to move your fingers around so it is much faster. The concept is that instead of pushing one button at a time you press a combination of buttons. Just like a piano player may push multiple buttons to form a chord. This means you need fewer buttons to type the same information. You are even able to write down more information then with a standard keyboard as a stenographer is often typing the exact sound. Each chord of a stenotype is a complete syllable which means that most words can be expressed using only one or two presses of the buttons. The way a stenotype outputs its text is also a way to speed it up. Typewriters had issues with speed becasuse each type is striking in the exact same spot on the paper. This made it physically impossible to type fast as it would mean two types were in the same place in time and space. But the stenotype solved this by having the types strike the paper in their own spot and just fed out more paper for every chord. So you end up with a strip of paper with seamingly random character scattered all over it. But each line is a sperate syllable and the character (and possition) describes this syllable to anyone who can read it.
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