They sit behind those little machines, face still, fingers
flying and never say a word. They are seen but not heard. A court reporter’s
ability to capture the spoken word is mysterious, puzzling and ingenious.
Here’s how they do it:
- It’s more than a typewriter. While those little machines might resemble typewriters they are anything but. The keyboard does not even have all the letters of the alphabet, there are only 21 keys and the keys can be pressed down simultaneously unlike a typewriter which only allows one key to be pressed at a time.
- It’s a lot of memorization. Steno theory is a phonetic-based language and just like any language it’s memorized. With a single stroke court reporters can write syllables, words, even entire phrases.
- It’s more than just what’s said. Court reporters not only capture every single word that’s spoken, they indicate who is speaking as well as punctuation.
- It’s all about speed and accuracy. Graduation requirements for court reporters require standards of both speed and accuracy. For legal question and answer testimony, a court reporter must be able to write 225 words per minute – that’s fast – with 95% accuracy.
- It’s a whole lot of focus. Court reporters develop the ability to have a blank mind, focusing on the present and hearing the words coming in.
When you see closed captioning on the news or at a live sporting
event, that’s a court reporter providing that service. And if you ever wondered
how they did that, now you know.
