Questions about steno machines and key layouts

[Hanchul Park]

Hello. It is the first time to post here. I am considering --- or dreaming --- an open source Korean stenography which is my native, and have difficulty both for hardware and software. I am wondering if the American steno machines are applicable for Korean steno. So I have some questions:

1. Is there a way to use a steno machine like an NKRO keyboard?
2. The S keys for the left pinky and the asterisk (*) keys (and the number bar in many cases) are divided into smaller piecies. Are they "essentially" the same keys or not? More precisely, can they be distinguished using some proper driver (like Plover) or not? I guess this depends on machines.
3. How about three keys for each thumb? This is the way used for the mainstream Korean steno as seen at http://www.junggo.com/data/file/computer/599354307_6FJd4gEh_011.jpg. (forget stupid keys other than the 36 main keys) Actually this makes sense because modern Korean language has 21 vowels in total (counting compound vowels), which cannot be covered by just four keys. What I am concerned is.... In English machines, each finger is responsible for 2 keys or 3 positions, except for number rows, (*), and the right pinky. But when a thumb (or other finger) is responsible for 3 keys or 5 positions (z, x, c, zx, xc in the above picture), it can deal with more information, but it should leave home position frequently. Any thoughts on this pros and cons from your experience? That is, more keys versus shorter finger movement. I understand you already have the standard 22 key layout, but I do not. In fact, two completely different layouts are used in Korea, and neither can be used on American machines since they have more keys.
   

Best,

Hanchul

[Mirabai Knight]

If anyone can answer these questions, it's Stan Sakai, professional
stenographer and polyglot. I hope he can help you out.

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[Harvey]

I think this is also a very good question for those who contribute to Plover. I don't think, given how it works right now, that Plover can make a steno machine work like a keyboard; it's the other way around right now, but that could change as new possibilities arise, such as finding and being able to purchase relatively cheap foreign steno machines. I think there was a thread around here about $300 Chinese steno machines that weren't that much different in layout from American ones.

As an aside, I really like what's going on with that Korean steno machine. I like that it has a qwerty-like layout on the keys itself. If you can switch easily from steno to qwerty, you could make "finger spelling" much faster than it is on a steno-only machine, but I don't know. Maybe professionals can finger spell fast enough that it doesn't matter, but having a 2-in-1 machine is kind of appealing. It's not like you have to use those extra thumb keys, and the other extras can just be taken as asterisk keys. I like the look of it, too. It's the slickest steno machine I've ever seen. Would you happen to know how much they cost? Mostly out of curiosity.

[Hanchul Park]

Yes, one can switch easily from steno to qwerty mode in the Korean steno machine. We Koreans use Korean alphabet, but when one should input Roman alphabet, he/she can use a brief for each letter or word which is recommended, or just switch to qwerty mode to type it. It costs roughly $2100 but used ones are cheaper.

2016년 1월 8일 금요일 오후 3시 10분 21초 UTC+9, Harvey 님의 말:

[anobo]

I would assume, that Hangul (as well as Japanese) is a little bit different, than any latin language.  You do rather create the signs/words (Kanjis in Japanese) by indicating the parts of that one sign with the steno machine (at least the machine on your picture shows exactly this).  As far as I know Hangul has a very close relationship between the parts of the sign and the pronunciation, which should ease the handling.  In Japanese this is not the case as one Kanji can have two pronunciations ("On yomi" and "Kun yomi").  Furthermore you can have the same pronunciation in Japanese, but the Kanjis look differently and have a totally different meaning.

[Hanchul Park]

Dear anobo,
Yes, it is very easy to input a Hangul block (or a syllable) with one stroke, at least in theory. Thus it has no problem to input any texts in Korean without dictionary, like Kingslet or Jackdaw. I am also curious how to deal with Kanjis in Japanese stenography. Chinese is not totally free with this problem, because by nature there are multiple Kanjis sharing the same sound, and the situation gets worse if they don't have a way to deal with 'four tones' in Chinese.

2016년 1월 13일 수요일 오전 6시 40분 3초 UTC+9, anobo 님의 말:

[Rafael Quintana]

Hi, Hanchul

I´ve tried to make for you a customized layout for Korean language using the Noppoo Choc Mini 84 or Keycool 84.  Both are Plover compatibles and NKRO.keyboards. (See Plover Wiki " Will my keyboard work ? ")  You only have to remap the standard keys for addapting them to the Korean language. 

See the link:

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/80852b605767904b74a3

Regards.

Rafael Q. (Spain)