Language proficiency is essential for a career as a stenographer

Language proficiency is essential for a career as a stenographer

 Written by Vijay Garg

 Every year, in order to climb the ladder of success, students take admission in various courses in schools, colleges, universities and institutes according to their interest. These courses are related to different fields, in which the trainees continue to make continuous efforts in government and private institutions to get employment. After studying or taking a course, some trainees start training at their own level in private institutes, viz Along with this, their employment also continues and their service in the field of education also continues. The course is conducted in many institutions. 

Talking about vocational courses, one course is Stenography. This is the art of writing, in which there is no scope for rest. Stenography is called 'Signet-Lipi' in Punjabi because it represents the letters or vowels of any language through special signs/symbols. Punjabi Stenography course is conducted in many educational institutions of Punjab and every year thousands of trainees get a job by getting training in this subject. A few trainees start giving Stenography training in private institutes at their level. Sign script is a script based on phonetic system. William Tiffin was the first to use the phonetic system in the world. 

Pay attention to the necessary equipment: In addition to seating, special attention should be paid to the equipment required for learning stenography. The first piece of equipment needed is a sign-writer copy, pencil, sharpener and any expert stenographer's book to learn sign-script etc. should be with you. A special copy for learning sign-script comes with a line width greater than the line width of normal copies and is similar in size to a notepad copy. When you want to write on the copy, keep the bottom edge of the copy folded. If you write with your right hand, keep the page turned slightly from the bottom left corner of the copy and if you write with your left hand, keep the page of the copy Keep the right corner slightly bent. By doing this, it does not take much time to turn the page when writing at high speed. 

Do five-seven hours of daily practice: Be it the study of any subject or the training of any course, as long as the learner does not acquire complete mastery in the respective subject, he cannot succeed in achieving success. Similarly, if we want to get employment in the field of stenography, we have to acquire special expertise in the subject of stenography. Enrolling the same learner in this course should have deep knowledge of the relevant language of the course and its grammatical rules and strong grasp of linguistic vocabulary. Trainees pursuing a stenography course should practice at least five-seven hours per day. Only a learner possessing qualities such as concentration, self-control, daily practice, good knowledge of the language, adequate knowledge of punctuation marks, mastery in the art of writing, etc. can acquire special expertise in the course of stenography. 

If we talk about learning the sign-script of the Punjabi language here, the first quality in the learner is that there must be a thorough knowledge of the respective language because whatever is spoken by the practicing speaker is written in sign language and later transcribed into the respective language. 

Mind and brain should be harmonious.: Any task undertaken with concentration can be successfully carried out. As sign writing is a work done by hand, it should have harmony of mind and spirit so that the tone of the writer is directly connected with the speaker. Also, when learning sign-script and while practising this consistently we need to pay special attention to our sitting postures as well. Always use a chair or stool to sit on. The difference between the chair and the stool should be such that you do not face any problem while sitting and writing dictation. Apart from this, keep in mind that when you write the dictation, there is no noise around you and do the dictation usually early in the morning, because at that time the environment is conducive and pleasant from all sides. 

Practice the different subjects: While taking the Stenography course, every student should take dictation from magazines, newspapers, articles and debates related to various subjects. The more diverse subjects the learner dictates, the wider and deeper his word knowledge will be. Also practice dictation of articles related to political, technical, agricultural, scientific etc. topics as such topics contain different and scientific vocabulary from our common usage. The effort of the learner should always be to use all forms of words and all vowels, but this is not possible in abbreviations and punctuation. Apart from this, some learners who practice continuously begin to understand voiceless lines well. This is possible only when you continuously practice different subjects for a long time. 

In the beginning, do the dictation at a normal speed for five minutes and after that gradually increase the number of words and the speed. While doing dictation, correct the wrongly written outline.  Instead of getting into the habit of doing this, keep the resolution that no wrong word should be written by your hand. If you rush to learn sign-script, you will not achieve mastery. Therefore, in order to become a successful stenographer and proficient stenography teacher, one should strictly observe all the rules related to the subject of stenography. By mastering it, you can also get good employment.  

Writer is a retired principal