Steno Layouts & Supported Languages
A chorded system, or system for short, is a set of rules for Plover that determines the keys, language rules, and default dictionaries in Plover. System Plugins allow Plover to support different machine types and languages other than English.
The American Ward Stone Ireland Stenotype is the default layout in Plover, and what we teach and recommend by default. However, there are many different chorded systems worldwide and some of them have been implemented in Plover.
Note that not all of these systems have been fully implemented; many of them are probably not going to be implemented in Plover, but they have been listed so that you may use them as a reference should you choose to create your own layout/system.
For systems proposed for implementation, check out the issues list.
| 🔴 | Not supported in Plover |
| 🟠 | Work in progress, not actively updated or maintained |
| 🟡 | Work in progress |
| 🟢 | Stable and available for Plover |
- English:
- Chinese, Mandarin (國語 / 普通话):
- Chinese, Cantonese (粵語):
- Czech / Čeština:
- Danish / Dansk: Especias
- Dutch / Nederlands:
- Finnish / Suomi:
- French / Français:
- German / Deutsch:
- Greek / Ελληνικά: Stenotype
- Hebrew / עברית: Stenotype
- Italian / Italiano:
- Japanese / 日本語:
- Korean / 한국어:
- Polish / Polski: Trillo
- Portuguese / Português: Stenotype
- Russian / Русский:
- Slovak / Slovenčina: Trillo
- Spanish / Español:
- Swedish / Svenska: Palantype
- Thai / ภาษาไทย: Stenotype
- Turkish / Türkçe: Stenotype
- Vietnamese / Tiếng Việt: Stenotype
The default system in Plover. Used internationally for English-language transcription, invented in the United States in 1913.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Plover | Mirabai Knight | English | Phonetic | Built-in | 147k entries | Learning Resources |
| 🟡 Lapwing | Aerick | English | Phonetic | Built-in | 122k entries | |
| 🟡 Cocoa | Kaoffie | English | Phonetic | Built-in | ||
| 🟢 LaSalle | French | Phonetic | Built-in | 4.2k entries | Non-realtime-capable theory, taught at the École de sténographie judiciaire du Québec | |
| 🟡 Pluvier | Vermoot | French | Phonetic | Realtime-capable theory based on LaSalle | ||
| 🟢 Stanley's | Stanley Sakai | Spanish | Phonetic | Built-in | 12k entries | |
| 🟢 EO Variant | Eliseo Ocampos | Spanish | Phonetic | plover-spanish-system-eo-variant | 71k entries | Developed for the default Plover layout, proposes a syllabic system trading-off a little of abbreviations for consistent rules. |
| 🔴 Marino | Spanish | Phonetic | Spanish theory used in the Argentine Senate, along with Spanish Grandjean. Overview Facebook Page |
|||
| 🟢 Trillo Finnish | Priscilla Trillo | Finnish | Phonetic | 49k entries | Textbook (in Finnish) | |
| 🟢 plover-vi | user202729 | Vietnamese | Orthographic | plover-vi |
Shavian is an alternate alphabet for English; the Shavian Stenotype is a steno system designed to be used on a regular English Stenotype keyboard.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Magpie | Lynn (Ruma) | English (Shavian) | Orthographic | Capable of both Shavian and orthodox (Latin script) translation |
Brazilian Portuguese system used by Paulo Paniago. Also included in some Stenograph machines.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Brazilian Stenograph | Portuguese | Phonetic | plover-portuguese |
4k entries (available on the Plover Discord) |
The Czech layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Czech Stenograph | Czech | Phonetic |
The Greek layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Greek Stenograph | Greek | Phonetic |
The Hebrew layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Hebrew Stenograph | Hebrew | Phonetic |
The Turkish layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Turkish Stenograph | Turkish | Phonetic |
The Russian layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Russian Stenograph | Russian | Phonetic |
The Spanish layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Spanish Stenograph | Spanish | Phonetic |
German stenography system for Plover based on the not realtime capable theory of the book "Deutsches System der computerkompatiblen Stenografie". This book can be found in the university library of Dresden and can be read via interlibrary loan. This is also the system that is built into some Stenograph machines.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 German Stenograph | German | Phonetic | plover-german |
A German steno system based on a modified English stenotype layout; the -Z key is replaced with -N.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Regenpfeifer | Martin Körner | German | Phonetic | plover-regenpfeifer |
219k entries | Dictionary generator |
Simple kana input system designed to work alongside the English layout to input Japanese without switching steno systems.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 42triangles' Kana System | 42triangles | Japanese | Orthographic (Mora + Coda) Romaji-only |
Relies on a user IME |
A way to write Japanese kana in steno. This is not focused on speed; instead it is meant to be easy to learn for English steno users while still being reasonably efficient. It uses the standard English layout.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Willem's Kana System | Willem Sonke | Japanese | Orthographic (Mora + Coda) Romaji-only |
plover-japanese-kana |
Relies on a user IME |
A Danish steno dictionary based on the standard English layout with slight modifications. While the layout is different from the standard English one, this system does not come with a separate system plugin and uses the default English one, so the tape output might not reflect the actual phonetic value of each stroke.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Hjejle | Lars Rune Præstmark | Danish | Phonetic | Built-in | 5k entries |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Melani | Italian | Orthographic | plover-melani |
Stenolab |
Spanish system based on the Melani Italian layout, used at MQD.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 MQD Melani | Noelia Ruiz Martínez | Spanish | Phonetic | plover-spanish-mqd |
11k entries |
Not much is known about this layout; see this discussion about Russian steno.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Melani | Russian | Phonetic |
A work-in-progress Thai steno system.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Thai Steno | Parnikkapore | Thai | Phonetic | plover-thsteno |
Orthographic Vietnamese system designed to input one syllable per stroke.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Aerick's Vietnamese System | Aerick | Vietnamese | Orthographic | plover-viet |
Dutch steno system that uses a modified version of the English stenotype layout with one extra G key on the left.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Jade's Dutch System | Jade Geels | Dutch | Phonetic | plover-dutch |
3.4k entries |
Dutch steno system that uses a modified English stenotype layout. It was made to be as similar as possible to the default English system to minimize confusion between the two; nevertheless, quite a few differences are unavoidable to make the system practical.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Willem's Dutch System | Willem Sonke | Dutch | Phonetic | plover-dutch |
7.7k entries |
The Grandjean Stenotype was created in 1909; it is also known as the "Continental" layout by some manufacturers and is the preferred phonetic system in France (The orthographic Velotype system is more commonly used for transcribing many TV programs and broadcasts).
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Grandjean | French | Phonetic | plover-grandjean |
690k+ entries | GitHub | |
| 🔴 Grandjean | Spanish | Phonetic | Asociacion Española de Estenotipistas |
A piano-like keyboard layout, widely used in Italy. The English adaptation is drawn from the "Method for the English language" included in the machine's 1878 American patent.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Michela | Sillabix | Italian | Phonetic | plover-michela |
103k entries | Manual |
| 🟡 Michela | Sillabix | English | Phonetic | plover-midi4text |
150 entries | Manual |
| 🟡 Midi4Text | Sillabix | Italian | Orthographic | plover-michela |
95k entries | Manual |
| 🟡 Midi4Text | Sillabix | English | Orthographic | plover-midi4text |
159k entries | Manual |
The Possum Palantype is a system invented in the UK which was optimized to have readable shorthand notes (the untranslated output). It has more keys than the Ireland layout. It is still used by some STTRs worldwide for writing in English.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Palantype | English | Phonetic | plover-palantype |
21k entries | Learn Palantype | |
| 🔴 Swedish Palantype | Swedish | Phonetic | plover-swedish-palantype |
87k entries | Swedish Theory |
German steno system based on the Possum Palantype layout with two additional keys.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 German Palantype | German | Phonetic | plover-palantype-german |
85k entries |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 German Palantype | Ruben Moor | German | Phonetic | 100k entries, with plans to expand to 2 million | Tutorial |
A realtime theory for Russian writing based on the Tréal machine.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Trillo Russian | Priscilla Trillo | Russian | Phonetic | plover-russian-trillo |
15k entries | Textbook (in mixed English/Russian) |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Trillo West Slavic | Priscilla Trillo | Czech, Slovak, Polish | Phonetic | Textbook |
Yawei is the most commonly used Chinese stenotype system - it is widely used in Mainland China and Taiwan and uses Pinyin without tones as its main way of inputing characters; learners are required to memorize the positions of homophones based on their position in a frequency-based selection menu for fast character entry.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yawei (亚伟) | Mandarin (Traditional / Simplified) | Symmetric Toneless Pinyin | Wikipedia |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 MaaJik (孖翼) | Sammi de Guzman, Samuel Lo | Cantonese (Traditional) | Symmetric Toneless Jyutping | plover-maajik |
314k entries |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟠 SanSan (珊々) | Sammi de Guzman | Cantonese (Traditional) | Symmetric Toneless Jyutping | Steno Explainers |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 TCIM (千鳥詞註) | Mandarin (Traditional) | Symmetric Toneless Zhuyin | plover-tcim |
EXun is a Mandarin steno system used in Mainland China. Not much is known about it other than the fact that it is based on pinyin and uses a structure system for individual character input.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 EXun (E 讯) | Mandarin (Simplified) | Symmetric Toneless Pinyin |
Very little is known about the Suoheng system and there are no plans to implement it in Plover.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Suoheng (索恒) | Mandarin (Simplified) | Symmetric Toneless Pinyin |
The Computer Aided Steno-machine, or CAS, was developed by Korea Steno and features one of the two modern stenography systems for Korean in use today.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 CAS | Korean | Orthographic (Initial/Medial/Final) with Briefs |
plover-korean ("Korean Modern C") |
Theory documentation |
Sorizava, developed by a company of the same name, is the second of the modern stenography systems for Korean in use today and the more recent to have been created.
The Sorizava system is not currently under development. There are partial pieces of an implementation in plover-korean but outside of a partial dictionary no theory materials have been obtained to progress further.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Sorizava | Korean | Orthographic (Initial/Medial/Final) with Briefs |
plover-korean ("Korean Modern S") |
Also known as the Stentura (ステンチュラ) layout. The two sides are symmetric and are each in charge of a syllable, while the thumb is in charge of connecting the two sides; there are also one-side briefs that can be mirrored on the other side or merged.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Sokutaipu (ソクタイプ) | Japanese | Semi-Symmetric 2 Mora + 1 Coda Pure Kana |
plover-japanese-sokutaipu |
365k entries | Kana table |
The preferred Japanese steno system for NHK live captions; the left hand is for consonants and the right hand is for vowels.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 StenoWord (ステノワード) | Japanese | Orthographic 1-Syllable Pure Kana |
plover-japanese-stenoword |
2.6k entries | Kana table |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Frag's Japanese System | Frag | Japanese | Symmetric 2 Mora + 2 Coda Stucture-based kanji conversion |
A Japanese steno system created for the Georgi machine; the layout is symmetrical to allow the user to type one kanji on'yomi on each side. This system also addresses the problem of inaccurate kanji conversions in existing systems by introducing a way for users to directly input kanji using a structure-based system where most common kanji can be entered in just one stroke.
This is the updated version of the Japanese layout available on TypeyType.
Japanese steno system created to fix all the downsides of Sokutaipu and introduce an intuitive Kanji input system. The system is symmetrical and each side is capable of inputting a full on'yomi; the layout is designed to keep as many keys from the English layout in the same position as possible whilst also maintaining compatibility with as many hobbyist keyboards as possible.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Hachidori (はちどり) | Kaoffie | Japanese | Symmetric 2 Mora + 2 Coda |
The Velotype is an orthographic system designed to support many European languages. It has also been implemented as a separate app in Qweyboard by kqr.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Velotype | English, Dutch | Orthographic | plover-syllabic-chording |
Official website |
An orthographic system based entirely on spelling rather than phonetics, allowing the user to type any word as long as they know the spelling.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Jackdaw | English | Orthographic | plover-jackdaw-alt1 |
Learn Plover! Jackdaw tutorial |
Kinglet was an attempt to create a spelling-based steno system that would have a theoretical speed equal to Plover (about 1 word per stroke). It succeeds in doing this at the cost of a high degree of finger contortion and accuracy in each individual finger, making it difficult to use.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Kinglet | Zachary Brown | English | Orthographic | Plover 2.5.8 modified for Kinglet | Learn Plover! Kinglet tutorial |
Phenrsteno is a machine shorthand theory implemented as a system for Plover. It's designed for non-rhotic accents—British English in particular—but really anyone might like to use it or adapt it to their own idiolect.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Phenrsteno | Gregory Chamberlain | English | Phonetic | plover-phenrsteno |
15k entries | Phenrsteno wiki |
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟠 Plover Czech | Ashlynn Anderson | Czech | Phonetic | plover-czech |
An orthographic system (spelling-based) for Finnish capable of writing Swedish loadwords. The layout allows writing two "vowels" and two "consonants" per stroke. The available consonants include a few consonant clusters, and the first vowel must be from a list of mostly short vowels and the second vowel is chosen from one of two lists to match the frontness of the first vowel.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Especias | Lars Rune Præstmark | Finnish | Orthographic | Built-in | Dictionary |
A layout that allows writing two "vowels" and two "consonants" per stroke. It uses the same layout as Finnish, except for one of the colon keys being replaced with an s to write plurals.
| Author | Language | Type | Plugin | Dictionary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Especias | Lars Rune Præstmark | Spanish | Orthographic | Built-in | Dictionary |