Anki cards for steno

A while ago, before I took my hiatus from steno for a bit, I made a set of Anki flash cards for studying steno translations. The cards cover the top 10,000 most commonly used words. The cards are available here.

Some things that I learned from studying these cards:

• It is really easy to bite off more than you can chew. I think this is probably true of Anki in general, but I was pretty excited about getting as many translations under my belt as I could, as quickly as I could, so perhaps it was especially true in this case. So, a word to the wise – pace yourself, go slow, and pick a modest number of words to study each day, even if it feels like a really low number.

• There are so, so many words to study, holy cow. In fact, maybe too many words. So, my next piece of add advice would be, when it comes to learning objectives, mix it up; yes, it’s great to boost your vocab, but there are also other things. I guess that when I started studying the cards I thought “man, if I can just learn all of the words, then surely I can use steno full-time, for everything.” Welllllll.. that turned out not to be true. There is just so much to learning steno, that I think it’s unhelpful to tell yourself that once X happens, then you’ll be able to Y. I’ve found that with steno, it’s more helpful for me to let things happen on there own schedule. I try to make studying as fun as I can, enjoy milestones when they come up, but hold my expectations about progress loosely.

• Okay, so, the first two points are about pitfalls. My next point is that while Anki study can be tricky, it is also so, so powerful. Oh, man. I think Anki really can help you to memorize just about anything. It’s really addictive, and the whole idea of Spaced Repetition Study is so effective that.. just wow.. Anyways, you just have to try it.

• Hmmm, what else? I think that may be it for now, so, now that we’re here, I recommend you give the cards a shot! See if you like them. At the end of the day, I think they are just one more tool to add to your toolbox, one of many that can help you build proficiency for steno.

Happy studying!