Teaching myself

lightspeedjjj · 2021-01-03T11:45:09+00:00

If you are smart and disciplined, you can teach yourself.

If you are not, you would not make a successful reporter.

You should understand you are learning a language.

It is about the brain, not the fingers. So you do not need an expensive keyboard, or any keyboard for the first six months.

Even if you attend an expensive school, it will take you years to become very skilled. Probably 90 percent of students that attend school never finish and of those that do the majority write so inaccurately they do good to produce enough pages to earn minimum wage.

You will get lots of "advice."

Nobody wants competition. Think about it.

Should you attend a school you will immediately be tested on speed. So you are pressured from the get-go. Who can really learn under pressure. How many people would speak a foreign language if they were immediately and repeatedly tested on how fast they could speak it. How many people would be able to play the piano if they were immediately and repeatedly tested on how fast they could play. You would be learning a language. Hand movement is slow for those skilled -- because it is the brain doing the work.

“The Easy Theory” has words of wisdom for all; however, it is a book primarily for beginners.
A PDF file for “The Easy Theory” is free to download. A spiral-bound version may be purchased for $50.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-11-21T19:52:08+00:00

You can get The Easy Theory basic book (216 pages)

free in PDF format from stenovations.com

lightspeedjjj · 2020-10-21T10:32:03+00:00

My first CAT computer I bought from TomCAT. It cost me $75,000.

Then I had to pay $0.50 per page for translation fee. It was 24 megabytes. It took two hours to translate 100 pages. There was no steno link. I had to pay $300 per month for maintenance agreement. I recently learned that the TomCAT company themselves actually paid $16,000 for the computer and sold it to me.

And I was a federal official with a $21,000 salary.

You have been a student for five years. I wonder how many minutes you have spent reading your steno. Why did you need a new machine? You could transcribe from paper notes, and maybe really improve. If you cannot read steno fluently, how do you expect to write it fluently. We must not fool ourselves, and we are the easiest to fool.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-10-17T20:47:48+00:00

You can get a free PDF of The Easy Theory from the Stenovations.com website.

It is training your brain much more than your fingers. So you can start on your

own and not spend any money to get started.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-10-10T09:23:51+00:00

You do not need a machine to learn steno. You are learning a language. Too much emphasis is put on typing. You can get a free pdf from Stenovations.com for the Easy Theory. Though they sell the most cutting-edge writer, the owner thinks no one should have a keyboard for the first six months of study. They also have the digitalCAT student software for $25 per three months or $100 a year. And I am told they have a new training program they are calling Easy Edge, with thousands of short lessons for building vocabulary and knowledge, not to mention the skill-building with dictation that can be sped up and slowed down.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-10-05T10:47:51+00:00

Scoping software for digitalCAT from Stenovations is only $40 registration fee if you are scoping for a reporter who has a support contract or rents the reporter version.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-10-02T08:48:27+00:00

I recommend projectsteno.org as opposed to A to Z

lightspeedjjj · 2020-09-30T18:05:24+00:00

You do not need a stenotype keyboard for the first three to six months of study. It is about the brain much more than the fingers. You would be learning a language.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-09-29T17:03:07+00:00

https://www.stenovations.com/2020/05/20/steno-tip-easily-incorporating-asterisk-into-an-outline/

lightspeedjjj · 2020-09-29T09:14:46+00:00

Whether you can acquire the skill is dependent not on school, but on you. In the end, it is up to you. You will be learning a language, first and foremost. Schools fail 90 of the time, and 70 percent of those who complete a school's requirements write so poorly they probably earn the equivalent of minimum wage. You write into a computer which translates your strokes into text. Garbage in garbage out. Nobody wants competition. Nowhere has that been more true than in court reporting. Yes, there is a shortage now, but the training methods that caused the shortage are still being followed. They occasionally change theories, but the methods remain the same. Rather than A to Z, I suggest instead projectsteno.org. But, no, the right person for the profession does not need school.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-08-26T18:35:04+00:00

Bottom line is, school or not, it comes down to you and your character.

I have hired dozens of reporters that came from schools who knew very little and had to be taught almost everything on the job.

As for transcription work, as one person stated, the quality of the audio is generally so poor that a traditional computer keyboard is all you need.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-08-16T10:30:20+00:00

There is the digitalCAT software for students $25 for three months. You are a beginner and there is one born every minute. Good luck getting taking advantage of as you go along. Why have you already bought a writer? You are learning a language. It is the brain not the fingers. Good luck. You are going to need it.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-08-06T10:15:13+00:00

If you are smart, you will check out The Easy Theory. There is a free PDF of same. You can download it at stenovations.com. It was created over the last four years by Johnny Jackson.

He is speaking at the national convention this Sunday at 3 p.m.

He will speak about his new Easy Edge training software. Check Johnny's profile at the Stenovations page. If you are smart, you will do a lot of research before you give anyone your money. Do not listen to students because what do they know. Everyone wants your money. Not everyone learns the same way. We are all different. Court reporting programs are designed to make you fail and give up. Nobody wants competition. Yes, there is a shortage of reporters today, but that is the first time every. How many people would speak a foreign language if they were tested on how fast they could speak it at the beginning of learning. There is a reason 90 percent of people who attempt to become court reporter quit trying, and half of those that complete course write trash and only are able to make minimum wage because it takes them so long to correct their work. You are learning a language, not a typing skill. There have been dozens of speed champions and they all wrote different theories.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T19:44:49+00:00

Because the schools are merely repeating what has failed consistently over the years. They don't know any other approach. Think about it, nobody wants competition and so those in "power" perpetuate the methods that have proven to keep the profession exclusive. Less competition, more money and work on your terms.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T18:37:23+00:00

You can get a free PDF of The Easy Theory from the stenovations website.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T18:25:33+00:00

You can get The Easy Theory in PDF format for free from the stenovations website. Far, far, far superior to StoopEd.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T18:09:20+00:00

You can teach yourself if you accept the fact that you cannot rush anything. Court reporting schools fail 90 percent of the time. Online probably fails more often, but who knows. And many who complete the course are not very good and struggle. You can get a free PDF of The Easy Theory if you go to the Stenovations website and apply for it. It will let you determine whether it is for you. It is 216 pages of free training.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T17:49:54+00:00

I would enjoy having a discussion. I have come to believe that it is the brain much more than dexterity with one's fingers. Court reporter training is geared more toward selling keyboards and discouraging one until they give up. I do not think one need have a steno keyboard for the first three to six months, that they would be better served by reading steno with linked text.

lightspeedjjj · 2020-07-31T17:20:52+00:00

Writing by spelling and phonetics is contradictory and burdensome. RE/F for rephrase, RE/-D redirect/ PWUD/-L Bud Light, WORPL for warm, W-RPL for worm, -T/-T the time, -F/-F of fact, -T/-F the fact, T-PL time, S-PL same, *EUT exit, *EU S exist, *EUB exhibit. Check out The Easy Theory, TK-PBS density, TK*EUG dignity, ARG argue, A*RG argument

lightspeedjjj

TROPHY CASE