What is actually involved in a court reporter jobs?

Allen asked:

I mean I have been to court (for undisclosed reasons) a couple of times this year, what the heck are they really typing, is it every word, how is it done, they all talk so fast, i am interested to know what really happens?


Reply:

A court reporter brings their little machine called a stenograph with them into the courtroom where they type every word including punctuation being said in the courtroom. They have to learn how to translate what they wrote in stenography into written words edit it and put it in proper form. This is offered at many colleges and usually takes about two years to complete. They do talk fast and you have to write about 250 words per minute in shorthand. You can also take this into a classroom for someone who is hearing impaired and type what the teacher is saying and you bring your laptop which can immediately convert the shorthand into english and they child can read what the teacher is saying right off your laptop, the laptop thing can also be done in the courtroom. The keyboard on the stenograph is something like typing a T and that means The, S is Is, and many many more combinations of a few letters that can mean long phrases, all on a very different keyboard. Well I only went for a semester and a half for this and it is a very time consuming,intense job, something you have to really want to do, they can make excellent money.I don't know if that answered your question. :)