Stenography students battle for title of fastest fingers

Scores of college students studying to become stenographers competed in a nationwide fast-fingers contest in Queens on Thursday.

With the rise of technology these days, some might call stenography a dying art, but stenographers say that's just not true.

"It's a well-kept secret of a profession most people don't know about," said Plaza College Court Stenography Program Director Karen Santucci.

More than 100 students studying at Plaza College to become broadcast captioners and court reporters participated in the contest.

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[jererojasg]

I don't even have 96% accuracy when talking

[JODmonn]

i want to learn that language and that typing style so that I can finish my 15000 word thesis in like 15 minute haha

[aotoda]

1:05 when he said _"TKHROMT"_
I felt that.

[humha]

Final exams be like: "Alright, here's audio of the songs Rap God and Dissapearance of Hatsune Miku. Minimum accuracy for this test is 97%."

[DannysMyNanny]

As someone who goes to a college with a large deaf community, we always have the stenographers for big assemblies with the students. Much appreciated work done here.

Edit: noticed this has a lot of likes. In case people were wondering, I go to Rochester Institute of Technology. We have a large NTID program here. Most if not all classes are available to have interpreters for ASL. Pretty much all of my zoom classes have an interpreter present.

[anishakakkar]

My mum is steno and it always excites me the way she types. Like they type so fast that too effortlessly. And even they have symbols in place of words which they can type or write when they are in hurry. ( me who types with two fingers staring her while types with all fingers while talking to someone else ). Also, she trained in the 90s so the typewriter keys used to be a bit stronger, and they were required to press harder. And yes typing without not looking is hella difficult. Hats off to all stenos out there.

[paigesellick]

As someone who is currently a student in stenography, the nuance of court room processes and the need for a live person is something that will never be replaced. I n depositions outside the courtroom, the court reporter swears in participants in the deposition, offers life read back, and the captions that you see on live tv for people with auditory disabilities are all the work of stenographers. My mother has been doing it for 40 years and there is not soon to be anything introduced as reliable and accurate as a human.. thank God

[johngrindal]

“Everyone thinks that Alexa and Siri are gonna take over, but they can never take over from the human” - famous last words

[lynnes]

I was a judicial clerk at the state trial court level from 2007-2008 after graduating from law school. The judge for whom I worked had a court reporter/stenographer. Some of the other judges did as well, but some also had moved to "On the Record" digital court recording. The court reporter/stenographer was far superior to the recording--she very much was the Guardian of the Record. It didn't happen often, but absolutely no hesitance in interrupting court proceedings to clarify a word when someone mumbled or was too quiet. She was also a hoot. She looked very presentable, clean, polished, well-kempt, but she had a sailor's mouth and was really into heavy metal, lots of stories from her about wild times at concerts. She said that when she was learning stenography she used to practice by watching and transcribing the television. I'm a bit of a luddite anyways, especially when it comes to things like this, so I would love to see stenographers stay relevant and needed.

[NoOne-pyor]

“Never take over for the human” hmmm we will come back to this in 10 years

[fopperer]

"but they can never take over from the human"
Oh boy...

[Michelle-oogp]

I love when someone explains in a different video if someone coughs to a recording and you can't hear anything, you can't rely on recordings while a stenographer can pick it up and also they can easily give the transcripts for fast reading.

[.]

"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."

[grim_raider_]

This is amazing. I remember seeing a stenographer when I was on jury duty but didn’t realize it was like this. Props to anyone who goes this route.

[iceid]

"Giant Iceburg Almost Crushes Two Men" brought me here.

[mikeisfly]

whos here after daily dose of internet?

[Leally]

I was a court reporter for almost 32 years. I do miss, but I started practicing again. That's the beauty of it.

[vietking]

At 2:12 she woke up all my devices in a single second 🤙

[ghtdut]

im currently going to school to be a stenographer, and all the curiosity and positivity in the comments is really motivational!

[sundarsundar]

I started my career as a stenographer and worked in Admn. Offices and Courts. Writing from India. I practise the Pitman shorthand. It is methodical and step by step. No memorising except for some frequently occurring words and phrases. Regular practice is necessary. Variable speed Voice recorders are available to finetune the skill of writing dictations and corrrecting the mistakes. I can write max. 150 words per minute. Some could write 180 or 200 wpm. Most are able to write 120 wpm. Exams are conducted in India, by Government. Sir Isaac Pitman and his brother Mr.Ben Pitman made a lot of efforts during their life time for the art. A steno should constantly expand, though not deeply, his knowledge in various subjects to work with ease. And the audibility and clarity of the speaker also contribute to the transcription. Machines cannot replace humans in this field.