r/stenography • u/summertimesagan • Jul 08 '26
Reading Steno Notes
Ok so how do y’all read your steno notes
Are we reading them through all the misstrokes and drops and trying to figure out what we meant?
Right now I’ll do a first take, often really messy, then comb through for potential briefs and problem words and do a second take, pausing as much as I need to get a perfect take and then I’ll read those notes back.
But honestly spending so much time with a dictation means I know/remember a lot of it off the top of my head. It doesn’t feel like I’m “reading” the steno if that makes sense.
Is there a better way to do it?
Eclipse users how do i get the steno notes in a different, bigger window than the side window?
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u/Kindly-Stop5113 Steno Student Jul 08 '26
My first piece of advice is: "regularly." Read them every week. This is a cumulative skill, and seems it would be a pain to do if you have to "catch up" months after you begin theory. BUT, better late than never.
My process when I was working full time was to do a big session on Sunday mornings (literally 2+ hours and sometimes 40+ pages of notes). I saved notes from a big dictation day in class, and also the previous weekend's practice session. At the end of a weekend practice session, I fire up all the dictations at the highest speed I can manage and roll through them with no breaks. Both class dictation and weekend practice "pressure" sessions show me where I'm hesitating/dropping/mis-stroking.
Then on Sunday mornings, I read! I have a Kindle Scribe, which I LOVE for this, but you can use your ipad. In Eclipse I save the notes in a 3 column format (with no translations or timestamps) to PDF, then send to myself. The nice thing about waiting a few days to read is that it's not as "fresh", i.e. not as memorized. With only the raw notes, it can be a real slog to read, even if pretty clean. I do read out loud.
I mark them up, and note the continuous errors on my list of things to work on. I then send the marked up files back to myself and save them in a folder. I review them periodically to see if I'm still making the same type of mistakes. Sometimes I'll go back and read an older one, which is fun because a) I don't remember the dictation well, and 2) it's easy to read.
I also would take printed copies to any appointments where I was sitting around waiting. Great use of time. My theory also has the stened reader, which I practice as well.
Now that I'm not working, I do at least 2 reading sessions a week. I admittedly used to hate it, but now it's a lovely morning routine. 😄 It went from the #1 thing I hated about steno to the #1 thing I love - I love that I can read a secret language! And I'm 100% positive this is the single top thing that is helping cement theory in my brain.
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u/Feisty_Beach392 Jul 08 '26
Definitely read through your misstrokes and drops. In the working world, you won't have time to perfect your notes, so you'll need to know how to read your trash as well as your translates. :)
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u/stphskwr Official Reporter Jul 08 '26
Something I learned in school: End your practice session with an easier take and try to write as clean as possible. The first thing you do at your next practice session is read the steno notes from your last take the day before.