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If court reporters don’t want or don’t have time to turn their steno notes into plain English transcripts, scopists do it. Court reporters call the steno we create during testimony our “notes.” This is the English language transformed into a sort of written code decipherable only to court reporters and scopists.įreelance scopists are the behind-the-scenes people who frequently transcribe court reporter notes into the verbatim transcripts that are then used by the parties in court cases. But the language court reporters use to write on these machines is not called English – it is called steno or machine shorthand. The keys of court reporters’ machines contain letters of the English alphabet. ![]() Many people ask me if steno machines contain “those squiggly lines” – in other words, old-fashioned shorthand. And we’re far more high tech than most lawyers. Today there is no paper and no risk of accidentally flushing the only record of trial testimony down a toilet. Steno machines, thank God, are now computerized. When the paper ran out, the court reporter had to halt the proceedings in order to change it. As we wrote, the paper would flow from the bottom to the top part of the tray, with each word that was spoken recorded in blue ink. Court reporters would place a block of paper about a foot long and two inches high in the bottom part of the tray, then thread one end of the paper through a little slot in the back of the steno machine. Because they were, of course, not computerized, a double-decker paper tray stuck out of the front of the machine. Steno machines in the early years were quite primitive. (Fun Fact – Court reporters don’t call what they do typing they call it writing.) ![]() Although steno machine technology has been very much improved over the centuries, the way in which court reporters write down testimony has not changed much, if at all. The history of court reporting is quite lengthy, spanning three centuries and two millennia so far. The rather fascinating history of steno machines Doing this, we can type much faster than anyone can type on a computer, and this is why court reporters and steno machines are used to write down things that people say. When people at depositions ask me how does a steno machine work, I explain that court reporters press down groups of individual keys simultaneously to write syllables, words and phrases phonetically rather than spelling them out letter by letter like on a computer keyboard. Modern steno machine How does a steno machine work? That means that only a minuscule 0.015% of Americans know how to use steno machines. ![]() The population of the United States is about 328 million. who know how to operate steno machines is approximately 50,000. ![]() So let’s say the total number of people in the U.S. Thousands more are retired or currently studying court reporting. Only approximately 30,000 court reporters are currently working in the United States. Here is how court reporters use those little machines.Ĭurrent court reporters, retired court reporters and court reporting students are the only people in the world who have any idea how to use steno machines. But these really are good questions that these people ask, because no one in the world – except for court reporters ourselves – has any idea at all how we do what we do. “ How does a steno machine work?” “ Is that shorthand?” “I don’t understand how you type on that little machine!” And probably every court reporter’s favorite, “ Now, did you go to school for that?”Īnd of course, like probably most of us, I explain as concisely as possible exactly how I manage to operate steno machines. There are, of course, variations of the question. Witnesses at depositions are usually the ones who ask, having never before seen a steno machine outside of television courtroom scenes. Most freelance court reporters have heard that question dozens if not hundreds of times over the years. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at World of Freelancers contains affiliate links.
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