Hi Robin. I see that you are going to Penn Foster. Can I ask how you like it so far? When I was doing research about CR schools, I remember seeing that one and was just curious to what you think about it. Where are you in your classes? I'm currently attending The Court Reporting Institute of Dallas, online and love it! I'm in my second speed-building class. Hope all is well with you.
Hey Robin. Sorry I haven't been gotten back to you sooner. Like you I have been busy as a bee. I repeated my theory class and of course was immediately behind. Been playing catch up all quarter. Also, been planning my high school reunion (one event) and that has taken up quite a bit of time with one mess up after another. Anyhoo, hope all is good with you. Talk to you later.
I'm at 140 Q&A and Lit. and 180 J.C. Don't be afraid of making some mistakes in your writing; you'll find that you can figure out the word (s) your were trying to use, because you'll get used to the way your write and the mistakes that you make so you can begin to clean them up. You'll also realize that when you're in 120, your 100 translations will have high accuracy, and when you're at 140, your 120s will be very accurate, and so on. You'll be constantly reviewing your theory, so don't EVER through away your books. Your fast-track will also become a valuable tool for drills to re-enforce your theory. Anyway, have fun learning each and everyday. I'll talke to you soon, Nikki
I like the color...
In my picture, we were on a carribean cruise to the Bahamas. I'm really loving CR school because it really is a challenge. You will never get bored; there's always something to learn.
Have fun speed building. It's very rewarding to go from one speed to the next. The key is: Master your theory and any briefs you may use to eliminate any hesitations in order to gain that speed.
Hello, Robin...
I am a soon-to-be married (in June) lady with five children, ages are 19, 17, 8, 5, and 14 mo.s. (boy, girl, boy, girl, boy) LOL!. I noticed that you and your husband like to travel as we do. I'm very new to this site. I hope to talk to you soon.
What I did was bought a digital recorder and a speech silencer. Then I started listening to practice tapes, cds, the television, anything I could listen to and I dictated into my mask. I then played back my dictation and typed from it. Then after I got it typed, I went back and listened to the tapes or cds again and read along from my transcript. I marked down any errors that I made and kept track of my accuracy.
What you have to do is concentrate on getting every single word when you're dictating. And you have to get them accurately. Then you have to type them exactly as you spoke them when you were dictating. In other words, if you hear "they are" but you type "they're," that counts as an error. If they say "did" but you said or typed "didn't," that's an error. You have to get every little, "if, and, but." You'll be surprised how many words you'll miss at first -- the little words like "the, it, if, not, or"....etc. At first you'll miss them when dictating, but once you get the hang of it, it'll all come naturally. Then, you'll miss those words when you're typing. But when you slow down the recording and really listen to what you dictated, you'll hear those words just pop right out at you. The key is to "listen, listen, listen." And repeat exactly what you hear. Then listen some more and type what you hear.
Even if you don't want to invest in a mask right now, just turn on the tv and repeat everything you hear. See how easy or hard it is to keep up with every single word that's being spoken. I used to turn on the news channels, CNN or Fox or one of those. Those guys tend to talk pretty fast and I figured that would be good practice. And if you've already got a speech recognition program, why not dictate to that and save yourself some typing. Proofing and editing is essential.
Oh yeah. When you're dictating, get in the habit of saying your Qs and As. You're tested on that. You have to be able to identify on your voice track where your questions end and your answers begin. So learn to say "question" or "q-co" or some identifying marker when you're dictating. Same thing for answer...dictate "answer" or "a-co" or some marker. If you don't, you won't know what part belongs in a question and what belongs in an answer. I hope I'm not confusing you.
I just saw your post on the CRForum asking about Voice-Ed materials. The program was developed by Phil Kaufman from Lafayette. He's the firm owner I mentioned in my earlier post, the one who took me on right after I got certified. He's a wonderful guy. He's also the one who started Audioscribe (along with Chad Theriot.) Bettye Keyes is his ex-wife. I've never read any of his Voice-Ed books, but I think they, too, are geared toward realtime. I'm not saying they're not worth it (I'm sure they are), but it sounds like you're not that interested in doing realtime to start out. Honestly, I would suggest at this point that you just start practicing your dictation and getting your speed and accuracy up. It really doesn't take that long to get the hang of it. Like I said, the hardest thing for me to overcome was learing how to breath properly so I could keep up without running out of air. If you know any voice writers in your area, ask them if they could give you a sample format so you can see how they need to be typed. Or maybe they would let you intern with them (go on jobs to observe). WOW! 118 words per mintue? Is that on a keyboard? Or were you talking about steno? Either way, you could probably get your transcripts out in no time at that speed. I'm at about 80 wpm and I feel like it takes me forever to get done typing. LOL!
It's probably a little too late to mention this, but there's an NVRA workshop/testing in Lafayette this weekend. The workshop is tomorrow and the test is on Sunday. If you're interested, you could call them and see if it's too late to register. That's exactly how I did it. I went to a workshop and took the test (after only one week of practice.) I passed the written exam and the 180 literary that day. I didn't expect to pass any of it. I only went so I could get an idea of what was involved in voice writing and what the testing would be like. Imagine my surprise when I got the results that I'd passed half of it. I took the state test the next time it was offered and here I am.
As far as just basic voice writing, I pretty much trained myself. Got some practice tapes, started dictating into my silencer, and then typed the transcript from my voice file. I practiced until I knew I could keep up with the required speeds and have at least 96% accuracy when I typed it all up.
As far as formatting the transcript, I got some sample transcript formats from other reporters. Then I was fortunate enough to hook up with a voice writer who needed a typist (she didn't like typing her transcripts) and that was a big help in getting me prepared for the real world. I ususally typed from her room track and then she would proof and edit using her room and voice tracks. She would send me a copy of the notice along with any handwritten notes she had taken during the depo, and I would go from there.
Typing for other people was really a great asset because it let me get a sense of what goes on in depos and how things are done. It was like being there without actually being there.
When I got my certification, my reporter friend let me tag along with her to depos to get some "hands-on training," and then she introduced me to her firm owner and he started using me right away. I also started contacting other firms around the area to let them know I was available. They all started using me. I've been busy ever since.
Now, keep in mind, I already had my basic classes behind me (legal and medical terminology, grammar and punctuation, ethics, professionalism, all that stuff). I mean, obviously there's more to court reporting than just typing up the transcript. You have to have some knowledge of the rules of civil procedure and know what the rules are regarding licensure. But as far as just voice writing, I pretty much accomplished that on my own. And believe me, it does take a little practice, mostly with learning how to breath properly so you can keep up at 250 words per minute. Let me know if you decide to go for it.
I was referring to the CAT system's ability to work with voice. CC offers Catalyst VP, I think it's called. Eclipse has Vox, and Procat, I think, is called Winner VR. Those are all basically the same as the steno version, but with the addition of the speech recognition engine. If you have either of those, you could work in steno or voice or both. DigitalCAT, as far as I know, does not offer a voice writer portion of their software. But for me personally, that's not a problem because I already have a voice CAT. It's called SpeechCAT from Audioscribe. SpeechCAT is for voice writers only and does not offer steno capability in their software. So basically, I'll have two different CAT softwares; one for voice, one for steno. That's not necessarily the best way to go about doing things. It just happens to be what worked out best for me financially. In your last message you mentioned ProCAT. But I want to make sure you know that the software I was talking about with the 90-day trial and the $79/mo. rental is not ProCAT. It's DigitalCAT.
Since you already have the student version of CC, you might want to call them and see what would be involved in adding the voice feature to that. Like I said, you can purchase Dragon or ViaVoice off the shelf at Office Depot or get in online for a pretty reasonable price. Maybe they could walk you through installing it to work with your existing student version. Again, just a thought. Good luck!
Yes, right now I'm typing my transcripts, but I just bought DigitalCAT and am waiting for it to arrive so I can start using my steno machine again. I'm still trying to get my speech recognition up to par, but it's not going so well for me.
I've heard that Vista's SRE (speech recognition engine) isn't so hot, but you might as well give it a try since you already have it. But don't get discouraged if it doesn't work so well. Personally, I prefer Dragon over Via Voice but everyone has different opinions on what works best.
And believe me, the microphone or mask you use can make a real big difference. Also, you need to make sure your computer meets all the specs. Bettye's book gives a lot of great information on what the computer specs should be and how it should be set up. Yes, I have the book. I'm not sure that it covers Vista though because the book was written before Vista was released. I'm not sure if she's put out a 2nd edition or not. Anyway, her book has a lot of information and advice. You might have to read it a few times to get the hang of what it all means, though.
I think Stenograph offers a $400 or $500 credit if you upgrade from the student version to the reporter version. At least that's what it was for me. But I ended up going with DigitalCAT because they offer a free 90 trial. Then if you want to purchase it, you can pay $79 a month for the first 12 months that will be applied to the purchase price. And they don't make you use that stupid security button. They give you a code instead. According to the sales guy, the student version of DigitalCAT is the full working version, just minus a few bells and whistles. He says you can use it to get out your transcripts. The price for students is lot less. I'm not trying to sway you away from CC by any means, but if you're on a tight budget like me, that might be an option for you. However, as far as I know, DigitalCAT does not offer a voice product. CC and Eclipse both offer a voice product in their software. I haven't used either of them. I use AudioScribe's SpeechCAT. It's a good program -- I just wish I was better at it.
I forgot to mention one thing. If you plan to use your steno machine to actually get transcripts out, you'll need the full reporter's version and not just the student version. That's why it took me so long to get back to using steno, because I had to save up enough cash to get a full working version. That darn student version isn't much good for anything except practicing.
Another thing: If you want to give speech recognition a try without spending a lot of cash, you can purchase Via Voice or Dragon at Office Depot for somewhere around $75. That, along with Bettye's book, can at least let you get a feel for it so you can decide if that's the route you want to take. Good luck and please keep me posted!
I started out taking an online course in steno. After I got through theory and the basics and started speedbuilding, I switched to voice because I needed to start working ASAP. My online course was through Thomson Education (formerly Harcourt Learning).
As far as voice writing, I trained myself. Like I said, voice writing itself is not that difficult as long as you can talk really fast and keep up, word for word, with faster-than-lightning attorneys and witnesses, even when they speak on top of one another and hardly allow you time to breathe. It's also helpful to be taking handwritten notes at the same time. On the other hand, if you want to use a CAT software and speech recognition, I suggest that even if you don't go through a voice writing school or some sort of training, that you at least get a mentor or someone that can help you with your dictation techniques and help you understand how briefs work.
If you utilize CAT software and speech recognition and become proficient at it, then you can realtime with the best of them. If you do not use CAT and speech recognition, you're going to spend a lot of time typing transcripts the traditional way in a word processor.
There are many reporters who have great success when it comes to speech recognition. I'm not one of them. Sometimes I think it's the mask I'm using, other times I think it's because I'm speaking way too fast. As much as I train and correct the dictation, I'm still having problems achieving accuracy. But I'm working on it. In the meantime, I plan to start using my steno machine to "type" up my transcripts.
Which brings me to another point. I'm not sure how far along you are in school, but if you're already past theory and into speedbuilding, you might consider getting certified in voice so you can start working, and then using your machine to get out your transcripts. That way, you're getting valuable practice time on your steno and you're practicing to actual testimony instead of those crappy tapes. It will also allow you to actually start working and earning money and still get your transcripts out quicker than typing them. Just a thought.
Seriously, even if you do switch to voice, I wouldn't give up completely on steno. In fact, I'm getting back into steno and hope to someday be certified in that as well. Best of both worlds, ya know?
< Do you find that you miss out on any work due to prejudices against voice writers?>
Hi, Robin:
Honestly, no, I don't think I miss out on a thing. In fact, I've been so busy lately I've had to turn down jobs because I'm already booked.
< I had no idea voice writers could real time. Honestly, I'm just blown away by what I found out yesterday!>
I'm glad you got to see a voice writer in action and that she was doing realtime. Not all voice writers do realtime, just like not all steno writers do realtime. It does take a lot of hard work and training your software for accuracy. I'm still training my system, so I'm not doing realtime at the moment. I haven't been very successful getting it to recognize my voice, but I think that's because of my mask. I really need to invest in a new one.
< I had always heard that attorneys did not like voice writers because they could "hear" the writer speaking, but when she put that mask over her mouth I couldn't hear a thing. >
That may have been true many years ago, but it's just not the case anymore (despite what some steno reporters will say). I've never run across an attorney who had a problem with my method. In fact, most of them don't even notice one way or the other what method you're using.
Voice writers work much like steno writers in that we also use briefs or short forms, we just do it with our voice instead of our fingers. In other words, on the steno machine, when you want to insert the "Q" for question, you strike the question bank. When a voice writer wants to insert the "Q" for the question, they say a voice brief. Example: when I say "Q-co" it automatically inserts a period at the end of the sentence, inserts a new line, tab, followed by Q, and then another tab. Then I start dictating the question. When I say "A-co," it automatically inserts the question mark at the end of the question, then starts a new line with the tab, A, tab so that I can start the witness's answer.
Voice writing itself is not that difficult to master; it's the speech recognition that gives people the most trouble. There's definitely a technique to it. Some of us have it, some of us don't. Unfortunately, I'm one of the unlucky ones :-(
Please feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer whatever I can without muddying the waters!
Yes, I purchased Marc's book and the CD. I think it was about $600, but you also get his dictionary. Believe me, it was worth it. He has a really neat way of writing. I have to tell you, there are very few words that I give 2 strokes. He tucks the r, the g and if a word ends in "ing' he adds DZ. Like the word singing would be SEUPBGDZ. So you can do it in one stroke.
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Great Drilling Material For Any Steno Theory...
www.thebriefzone.com
Great Drilling Material For Any Steno Theory...
www.thebriefzone.com
I'm at 140 Q&A and Lit. and 180 J.C. Don't be afraid of making some mistakes in your writing; you'll find that you can figure out the word (s) your were trying to use, because you'll get used to the way your write and the mistakes that you make so you can begin to clean them up. You'll also realize that when you're in 120, your 100 translations will have high accuracy, and when you're at 140, your 120s will be very accurate, and so on. You'll be constantly reviewing your theory, so don't EVER through away your books. Your fast-track will also become a valuable tool for drills to re-enforce your theory. Anyway, have fun learning each and everyday. I'll talke to you soon, NikkiIn my picture, we were on a carribean cruise to the Bahamas. I'm really loving CR school because it really is a challenge. You will never get bored; there's always something to learn.
Have fun speed building. It's very rewarding to go from one speed to the next. The key is: Master your theory and any briefs you may use to eliminate any hesitations in order to gain that speed.
I am a soon-to-be married (in June) lady with five children, ages are 19, 17, 8, 5, and 14 mo.s. (boy, girl, boy, girl, boy) LOL!. I noticed that you and your husband like to travel as we do. I'm very new to this site. I hope to talk to you soon.
What you have to do is concentrate on getting every single word when you're dictating. And you have to get them accurately. Then you have to type them exactly as you spoke them when you were dictating. In other words, if you hear "they are" but you type "they're," that counts as an error. If they say "did" but you said or typed "didn't," that's an error. You have to get every little, "if, and, but." You'll be surprised how many words you'll miss at first -- the little words like "the, it, if, not, or"....etc. At first you'll miss them when dictating, but once you get the hang of it, it'll all come naturally. Then, you'll miss those words when you're typing. But when you slow down the recording and really listen to what you dictated, you'll hear those words just pop right out at you. The key is to "listen, listen, listen." And repeat exactly what you hear. Then listen some more and type what you hear.
Even if you don't want to invest in a mask right now, just turn on the tv and repeat everything you hear. See how easy or hard it is to keep up with every single word that's being spoken. I used to turn on the news channels, CNN or Fox or one of those. Those guys tend to talk pretty fast and I figured that would be good practice. And if you've already got a speech recognition program, why not dictate to that and save yourself some typing. Proofing and editing is essential.
Oh yeah. When you're dictating, get in the habit of saying your Qs and As. You're tested on that. You have to be able to identify on your voice track where your questions end and your answers begin. So learn to say "question" or "q-co" or some identifying marker when you're dictating. Same thing for answer...dictate "answer" or "a-co" or some marker. If you don't, you won't know what part belongs in a question and what belongs in an answer. I hope I'm not confusing you.
It's probably a little too late to mention this, but there's an NVRA workshop/testing in Lafayette this weekend. The workshop is tomorrow and the test is on Sunday. If you're interested, you could call them and see if it's too late to register. That's exactly how I did it. I went to a workshop and took the test (after only one week of practice.) I passed the written exam and the 180 literary that day. I didn't expect to pass any of it. I only went so I could get an idea of what was involved in voice writing and what the testing would be like. Imagine my surprise when I got the results that I'd passed half of it. I took the state test the next time it was offered and here I am.
As far as formatting the transcript, I got some sample transcript formats from other reporters. Then I was fortunate enough to hook up with a voice writer who needed a typist (she didn't like typing her transcripts) and that was a big help in getting me prepared for the real world. I ususally typed from her room track and then she would proof and edit using her room and voice tracks. She would send me a copy of the notice along with any handwritten notes she had taken during the depo, and I would go from there.
Typing for other people was really a great asset because it let me get a sense of what goes on in depos and how things are done. It was like being there without actually being there.
When I got my certification, my reporter friend let me tag along with her to depos to get some "hands-on training," and then she introduced me to her firm owner and he started using me right away. I also started contacting other firms around the area to let them know I was available. They all started using me. I've been busy ever since.
Now, keep in mind, I already had my basic classes behind me (legal and medical terminology, grammar and punctuation, ethics, professionalism, all that stuff). I mean, obviously there's more to court reporting than just typing up the transcript. You have to have some knowledge of the rules of civil procedure and know what the rules are regarding licensure. But as far as just voice writing, I pretty much accomplished that on my own. And believe me, it does take a little practice, mostly with learning how to breath properly so you can keep up at 250 words per minute. Let me know if you decide to go for it.
Since you already have the student version of CC, you might want to call them and see what would be involved in adding the voice feature to that. Like I said, you can purchase Dragon or ViaVoice off the shelf at Office Depot or get in online for a pretty reasonable price. Maybe they could walk you through installing it to work with your existing student version. Again, just a thought. Good luck!
I've heard that Vista's SRE (speech recognition engine) isn't so hot, but you might as well give it a try since you already have it. But don't get discouraged if it doesn't work so well. Personally, I prefer Dragon over Via Voice but everyone has different opinions on what works best.
And believe me, the microphone or mask you use can make a real big difference. Also, you need to make sure your computer meets all the specs. Bettye's book gives a lot of great information on what the computer specs should be and how it should be set up. Yes, I have the book. I'm not sure that it covers Vista though because the book was written before Vista was released. I'm not sure if she's put out a 2nd edition or not. Anyway, her book has a lot of information and advice. You might have to read it a few times to get the hang of what it all means, though.
I think Stenograph offers a $400 or $500 credit if you upgrade from the student version to the reporter version. At least that's what it was for me. But I ended up going with DigitalCAT because they offer a free 90 trial. Then if you want to purchase it, you can pay $79 a month for the first 12 months that will be applied to the purchase price. And they don't make you use that stupid security button. They give you a code instead. According to the sales guy, the student version of DigitalCAT is the full working version, just minus a few bells and whistles. He says you can use it to get out your transcripts. The price for students is lot less. I'm not trying to sway you away from CC by any means, but if you're on a tight budget like me, that might be an option for you. However, as far as I know, DigitalCAT does not offer a voice product. CC and Eclipse both offer a voice product in their software. I haven't used either of them. I use AudioScribe's SpeechCAT. It's a good program -- I just wish I was better at it.
I forgot to mention one thing. If you plan to use your steno machine to actually get transcripts out, you'll need the full reporter's version and not just the student version. That's why it took me so long to get back to using steno, because I had to save up enough cash to get a full working version. That darn student version isn't much good for anything except practicing.
Another thing: If you want to give speech recognition a try without spending a lot of cash, you can purchase Via Voice or Dragon at Office Depot for somewhere around $75. That, along with Bettye's book, can at least let you get a feel for it so you can decide if that's the route you want to take. Good luck and please keep me posted!
As far as voice writing, I trained myself. Like I said, voice writing itself is not that difficult as long as you can talk really fast and keep up, word for word, with faster-than-lightning attorneys and witnesses, even when they speak on top of one another and hardly allow you time to breathe. It's also helpful to be taking handwritten notes at the same time. On the other hand, if you want to use a CAT software and speech recognition, I suggest that even if you don't go through a voice writing school or some sort of training, that you at least get a mentor or someone that can help you with your dictation techniques and help you understand how briefs work.
If you utilize CAT software and speech recognition and become proficient at it, then you can realtime with the best of them. If you do not use CAT and speech recognition, you're going to spend a lot of time typing transcripts the traditional way in a word processor.
There are many reporters who have great success when it comes to speech recognition. I'm not one of them. Sometimes I think it's the mask I'm using, other times I think it's because I'm speaking way too fast. As much as I train and correct the dictation, I'm still having problems achieving accuracy. But I'm working on it. In the meantime, I plan to start using my steno machine to "type" up my transcripts.
Which brings me to another point. I'm not sure how far along you are in school, but if you're already past theory and into speedbuilding, you might consider getting certified in voice so you can start working, and then using your machine to get out your transcripts. That way, you're getting valuable practice time on your steno and you're practicing to actual testimony instead of those crappy tapes. It will also allow you to actually start working and earning money and still get your transcripts out quicker than typing them. Just a thought.
Seriously, even if you do switch to voice, I wouldn't give up completely on steno. In fact, I'm getting back into steno and hope to someday be certified in that as well. Best of both worlds, ya know?
Hi, Robin:
Honestly, no, I don't think I miss out on a thing. In fact, I've been so busy lately I've had to turn down jobs because I'm already booked.
< I had no idea voice writers could real time. Honestly, I'm just blown away by what I found out yesterday!>
I'm glad you got to see a voice writer in action and that she was doing realtime. Not all voice writers do realtime, just like not all steno writers do realtime. It does take a lot of hard work and training your software for accuracy. I'm still training my system, so I'm not doing realtime at the moment. I haven't been very successful getting it to recognize my voice, but I think that's because of my mask. I really need to invest in a new one.
< I had always heard that attorneys did not like voice writers because they could "hear" the writer speaking, but when she put that mask over her mouth I couldn't hear a thing. >
That may have been true many years ago, but it's just not the case anymore (despite what some steno reporters will say). I've never run across an attorney who had a problem with my method. In fact, most of them don't even notice one way or the other what method you're using.
Voice writers work much like steno writers in that we also use briefs or short forms, we just do it with our voice instead of our fingers. In other words, on the steno machine, when you want to insert the "Q" for question, you strike the question bank. When a voice writer wants to insert the "Q" for the question, they say a voice brief. Example: when I say "Q-co" it automatically inserts a period at the end of the sentence, inserts a new line, tab, followed by Q, and then another tab. Then I start dictating the question. When I say "A-co," it automatically inserts the question mark at the end of the question, then starts a new line with the tab, A, tab so that I can start the witness's answer.
Voice writing itself is not that difficult to master; it's the speech recognition that gives people the most trouble. There's definitely a technique to it. Some of us have it, some of us don't. Unfortunately, I'm one of the unlucky ones :-(
Please feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer whatever I can without muddying the waters!
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