Abstract: The present invention involves a stenographic translation system which comprises (a) a stenographic processor device for converting lexical stroke symbols to first output units comprising language text words and sets of undefined lexical stroke symbols; (b) a speech recognition system using clusters of speech word models of a vocabulary to define word output units from speech, the units each having a system clock time value; (c) an output controller for outputting defined words by matching the output units within a time window and selecting a final output word or undefined symbol. A method is provided wherein a human speaker makes an utterance which is received essentially simultaneously by a stenographer and a speech recognition system. The stenographer manually applies first inputs to keys in a stenographic processor device to generate first outputs by using a scan chart with translations to define a word output from the stenographic processor.