Hello!

Sorry I'm just getting back to you. I'm assuming from your pm that you've done some research on theory, which is what we call steno or, in layman's terms, steno language?

Regardless, I'll be upfront and say again that I only know the one I learned and a couple tricks to boot. But like most professions, it is ever evolving. There is an object to this profession: be fast, be accurate, be technologically savvy. Honestly, I have not kept up with this job like I should have, but I'm doing my best to catch up.

It's kind of a long story, but so is the profession. I entered when the exams were given in school on typewriters and CAT (computer aided transcription) software had just recently become affordable for the everyday person. Before, the firm you worked for owned it all. You can imagine how the technology has evolved.

In an effort to keep it brief as best I can, steno theory adapted to be "conflict free." Back in the day, they wrote one stroke for "there," "their," and "they're," and just interpreted it as they were typing along, producing transcripts.

Jump ahead to 2015, and we try to "write" or "stroke" whole phrases and sentences and words all separately and so that it comes out on our CAT software or captioning software to be conflict-free, accurate, and right on top of(if not just a couple words behind) the speaker.

It's my belief, as someone who feels like I'm a student starting all over again, that you need to find out which theory allows you to do the above. I haven't been very exposed, so I'm hesitant to make a recommendation to you.

It would help me to know what state you live in, what research you have done, what your current level of education is, etc.

This is a great profession, but there's a lot to it and it's a full-on commitment!

Happy to answer more questions! Heather