How Stenographers Type at 300 Words Per Minute

Video written by Ben Doyle

[CaptSpizzo]

Stenographers do more than just type what people say, they also have to identify the speaker which includes asking people to speak louder, stop talking over one another, and repeat or spell words that could be misunderstood. This is why California's push for automated/computer stenographers failed so spectacularly.

[joeyfathom]

My mum was a stenographer, she still has the stenograph from her time in Hansard. I tried to learn, but couldn't wrap my head around it, it's crazy impressive. She says that during conversations, her brain will translate the words into steno.

[Sam_on_YouTube]

The best stenographers can transcribe several speakers simultaneously. If you've ever seen one in a courtroom, it is impressive.

[Gogogordy]

My father was a career Court Reporter, a “CSR” actually which is a “Certified Shorthand Reporter”. The good money was when a legal team ordered a “daily”, which is a typed, record in english of the day’s proceedings which had to be dictated after hours, and delivered to the typist for final typing. Dictation involved reading those stenograph notes from the narrow accordian folded paper from his stenograph “steno” into a special tape recorder (Dictograph) and giving the typist the tape recording from which to type from. When he was involved in a daily, we didnt see him till weekends, but he was always in a great mood for the substantial extra dough he earned from this out of the norm service to the legal teams. Interesting video….

[stacyroth]

My mom has been a stenographer or court reporter for 30 years now. When she started, the teacher warned the class it was a dying industry. 30 years later and the industry is full of middle to late age women who are making absolute bank because no one is coming in to continue the profession. I would say it’s sad, but my mom and her fellow group of 50 year old court reporters would disagree. More money for them. 😂

[graf]

if anyone is looking for a way to dip their feet in steno without buying anything I highly recommend Plover, it's free & open source and makes your keyboard work like a steno machine

[pupusamonkey]

Im a janitor in a courthouse and have spoken with Stenogrophers here about their machines and their uses. And they wont be replaced by audio recordings anytime soon because the courts legally keep all copies from the stenograph and its translation into words. Those are legal documents and cant be destroyed or altered and have to be used in case of retrials, appeals and other such court operations and have to be kept on record for any lawyers to come and request a copy in case they are needed for discovery in such instances.

[queenmotherbug]

Mad props to stenographers. (Do people still say "mad props?") I went to school to learn court reporting for four and a half years. It is incredibly difficult--I've heard it compared to learning a new language and a new instrument at the same time. I didn't graduate or get certification. I got stuck at 170 WPM for MONTHS and burned out. In my class of twenty-five, only two people didn't drop out by that point. Stenography is hard, but it is vital to the legal system. Also, closed captioning is just as important, if not more so, to make information and shows accessible to hearing impaired.

[jwhiterptr]

They also do closed captioning for the hearing impaired on television, college classes, doctor appointments, etc. captioning can be VERY challenging because the stenographer has no ability to ask speakers to repeat or slow down, or to control how many people speak at one time. If you know any young person who isn’t sure what they want to do in the future, and they enjoy typing/reading, this is a FANTASTIC profession and is in HUGE demand all over the US.

[WayneMercy]

For anyone curious why court transcripts need to be written instead of simply audio:

I’m a law school intern at the district attorneys office and one of my duties is transcribing police interrogation videos for my supervising prosecutor. The reason being that she can quickly glance thru a word document and see what’s important and keep referencing it as she writes out her motions and stuff. On the other hand, audio files suck because you have to listen to the entire thing to know what the hell happened and u obviously can’t just skim thru it to find what u need or see what’s important as easily. Court records will always be written down as opposed to audio files. Additionally, there are microphones in court but sometimes people cough or whatever so it’s not easy to hear, while the court reporter is right there and can ask them to repeat themselves so the written record will be much more accurate.

[sherrypalmer]

I was a trial lawyer when the only record of courtroom proceedings was made and kept by a stenographer. Their ability to function during hour after hour of sometimes tedious testimony, argument and requests to read back statements was amazing. To me they are the hardest working person in the courtroom. Then, at the end of the day, they may be requested to prepare of transcript of some or all the days testimony. If that isn’t enough, they may be asked to prepare a full transcript of a trial for an appeal. Audio recordings cannot ask someone to speak up, repeat an answer, spell out a scientific word, identify a speaker, etc, etc, etc.... . Sometimes a human cannot be replaced by a machine.

[walterb]

I'm a federal reporter w/26 yrs experience. I thought this video would be cool, but what a letdown. When I started, I was warned that audio would take over soon. Not gonna happen. Our magistrate judges use recording equipment, but there are so many parts during witness testimony where someone coughs in a microphone, papers shuffled near a microphone, attorneys walk around away from the microphone...well, you get my point. Most don't realize that you learn your writing theory on that crazy looking keyboard within maybe 2 or 3 months. It's getting up to speed that probably 90% of folks get frustrated and quit. And school only teaches you how to do 5 minute takes at certain speeds. It doesn't account for multiple speakers, accents, fast talkers, nervous attorneys butchering the English language, etc. And you're processing this in a split second and have to keep your fingers moving. It's strange because some days I can write perfectly several attorneys cutting each other off w/objections while an expert witness is still testifying, and I think I'm the greatest reporter on the planet. Then the next day, I flub the easiest most basic words I've written a million times. Such is life. Anyway, it's a great career that hardly anyone knows about.

[worcestershirey]

"It dates back to ancient Greece"

*Shows a Roman politician*

[Chiffonkek]

There's a growing number of hobbyist stenographers now which might change the way that most people can type since modern mechanical keyboards more than likely have the firmware capability for that. Who knows, might change the entire way you write.

[douglasboyle]

I once briefly dated a stenographer I got her to try to show me how to use her machine, it was baffling.
The interesting thing is people still have to transcribe the recorded audio into written transcripts, she did this as a side gig. She used a transcription machine plugged into a computer and would play the audio into headphones and use foot pedals to control the playback plus a few other software hotkeys and type on the machine while her computer brought up her output and the translation on a split screen. She was a demon, the audio was playing at close to 2x speed.

[jansonsynder]

I actually ran into a Stenographer last year. She said that many court rooms are recording AND trying to incorporate Human Stenographers because the human ear can detect the conversation better than when the audio cuts out or there is crosstalk and muddies the recording. Hence, she said there is a need for them now more than ever!

[codyallen]

A stenograph is closer to a musical instrument than a keyboard. A unique machine to be sure.

[ScarlettStunningSpace]

This is one of those things that would be really hard to learn at first, having to remember what keys mean what and what order to press them in, etc. but I'm sure you would get exponentially better at it once you finally know what you're supposed to do

[seamarie]

I never realized that stenographers typed by chording until now. I'm partially blind, so I'm also used to chording, though in a much different way than stenographers use. However, as I grew up writing in Braille, I've always felt like I'm able to type faster in Braille than I can with a standard QUERTY keyboard, though my typing speed's not bad either. It certainly helps when I need to write a lot on my phone and can just enter my iPhone's Braille Screen Input, which is WAY faster for me than the on-screen keyboard.
For those who don't know, standard Grade 2 Braille has a lot of shorthand in it, like one cord for the words and, the, as, of, the, etc, as well as a lot of contractions within words. While physical Braille takes up a lot more space than print, it's pretty interesting when I think about just how much shorthand there is. To be honest, sometimes when I'm spelling things, I kind of have to translate OUT of the Braille contraction in my head, if that makes sense. I find it amazing that stenographers can learn to type by syllables alone.

[maxxiong]

Thanks to openstenoproject and plover, it is actually possible to use steno with an NKRO keyboard on a computer.

Also, fun fact: in Chinese, typing the way you speak in slower than typing the way you write because many characters have the same sound. That being said, Chinese stenography is still sound based because that is faster for transcribing speech.