Future Student: Stenography or Voice Writing?

[Emily]

Hi Everybody!

I'm a senior in high school and I plan on becoming a court reporter, CART captioner and/or broadcast captioner (not totally sure which one yet; maybe more than one. . .) I plan to start training later in the summer.

I've heard that regular stenography schools have a really high dropout rate and many students take more than two year to finish school and get certified. I found a voice writing school that allows you to work at you own pace in Arkansas that sounds pretty good and relatively inexpensive. Since the whole program is online, I'm going to be living at home with my parents and working. I hope to attend a regular four year school fall 2012.

 

Anyway, I've read a few things lately that made me question voice writing. Should I go for stenography or voice writing? What are the pros and cons of each method? Which one is better for court reporting? CART? Broadcast captioning? Closed captioning? I would love to hear others opinions!

 

Thanks!

 

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Most people on this website are stenograph reporters.  I feel that's the real talent.  Don't know much about voice writing.  A few attorneys have told me how distracting it is because you can hear the person talking after they have heard the words. 

 

Yes, it can take a longer amount of time.  It took me three years to get through school, although I was working full time too.  I don't know anything about captioning either.  Sorry, can't help there.  I love court reporting, though. Great job and you get to meet tons of interesting people and can even travel.  You can work as little or as much as you want. 

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Hi, Emily. Regular stenography schools DO have a really high dropout rate. Whether machine shorthand or voice writing, your product/service in the form of a transcript or instant realtime feed, will only be as good as the operator: You! I don't know much about voice writing, but in voice writing, you are training your computer to respond to one input, which is your voice. Both methods require skill. In Georgia and probably other states both methods are recognized and certified. You're in Arkansas, and the answer to "Which one is better for court reporting?" will be found in your local reporting community, if that's where you wish to stay and work. I would suggest right now, before you go any further, look around your hometown area if that's where you want to stay and start calling up reporting firms and talking to THEM about what they are experiencing right now. If you have both machine and voice in town, by all means, contact both. Keep in mind that while machine stenography is standard in all states in the country, voice writing is not. Like Kelli says, there are areas, cities, counties and large geographic areas where it is very difficult if not impossible to get a job as a voice writer court reporter, despite the fact that the final product is more determined by the smarts of the reporter than the method of takedown.

What did you read that made you question voice writing? You mentioned two years to finish school and get certified. Do you want to be gainfully employed before two years? You also mention a four-year school in fall of 2012. Why is that? Is that for reporting, or something else?

To be a court reporter requires a certain level of skill. To become a CART writer or broadcast captioner requires a whole other level of skill, as does working as a realtime court reporter in litigation matters. I would venture to say you will not be able to walk into a realtime-requirements job immediately, that proficiency in realtime comes with age, experience, and skills development.

Because I've been in reporting for 34 years now, and court reporting has been very, very good to me and my family, I will tell you that many parts of the country are full up with reporters. That is not to say that there are not reporting jobs available. There are! Plain and simple, the reporting profession does not need any more hangers-on, reporters who want to meet bare entry-level standards for quality, and professionalism, for that matter. What we DO need are shining stars, reporters who care about quality, attention to detail, ethics, professionalism, who are in it to win it, who can bring something TO the profession and help us raise the bar. Perhaps I speak for myself alone (but I doubt it) when I say that I believe in continually raising the bar for standards, not lowering it. You've got your future ahead of you, Emily. You've got your chosen path, other than making a few final decisions. You want to be certified before you start working - always a good thing. You want to make decisions that are good for the profession, also a good thing. I would suggest that you continue to strive to be the very best you can be, from grammar to writing skills to business savvy, and no matter what path you take, bring that "best" TO the court reporting profession.

We need you out here!

Regards, and best of luck, signing off with the full sig so you know where I'm coming from.

Mary Ann Payonk, CRR-RDR, CBC, CCP, CLR
CA CSR No. 13431, CA CSRR No. 206
President, GWSRA
Greater Washington DC Shorthand Reporters Association

[Emily]

Mrs. Payonk,

Thank you so much for all the info! I truly appreciate it when court reporters take the time to give me advice, it is SO helpful!

Here's the article that made me question voice writing:

http://www.ncraonline.org/technology/tracker/2011/1104/1104_TechTra...

In addition, a good friend of mine who is a lawyer in Florida told me that a fair number of lawyers do not like using the voice writers. I've also been told that voice writing is most popular in the south and on the east coast.

I live in Missouri and I'm looking at colleges in Texas, Arkansas and Virginia. And yes, the four year school plan is for something else. I definitely want to be a court reporter, anything after that is constantly up to change. However, I'm very interested in liberal arts but I first want a job that I like and that allows me to support myself and work on a four year degree if I so desire.

 

From the research I've done, and the court reporter school teachers I've spoken with, the average student takes two years to become a stenographer (although stats show otherwise) and one year to become a voice writer. My main reason in choosing voice writing over over stenography is because of the shorter training time. However, if voice writing is seriously going to limit my employment opportunities, then I would reconsider stenography.

 

I'm very excited with the idea of becoming a court reporter and I will definitely strive be be a good one, but first I need to decide which method to go for.

 

Again, thank you so much for your reply!

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Uh ... Mary Ann.  Or M.A.  Or chickie, girlie, or even Mare.  So it depends on where you want to land!  Depending on where that is, voice writing may indeed severely limit your employment opportunities.  You're welcome, li'l missy! 

 

M.A.

(Two things.  I can say "li'l missy" because I'm 53.  While I'm no Kathy Bates, I have been naked in a hot tub.  And, Jennie, that second comma was for you, dear.)

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I call calling agencies in Tampa a today asking about a job.  I  told them I passed the RPR in1981 and was going to retake it in August.  I asked if they had reporters who didn't have their RPR (Flori-duh is a no requirement state).

 

He said they have a reporter who has been working for ten years and just took the RPR and passed.

[Keith Rowan II]

Emily, I am a stenographic reporter and can't tell you much about voice writing, but I can tell you that learning to be a stenographic reporter is completely a self-paced thing.  These days, with more focus on realtime, most people take, on average, 3 to 4 years to complete school.  However, there are many that do it in 2 years and many that take five, six or even more years.

 

No one can be sure how quickly you can complete the program or if you will at all until you get in it.  However, there are many things that make someone a good candidate: great work ethic or indefatigable spirit, good language/ English skills, ability to recognize and understand complex language, experience playing piano or doing other things that make one very skilled with their hands, etc.

 

You sound like someone who would be a great fit for a reporting program of any kind.  One thing I would caution you about is going to any school that promises you success or that you will graduate in a certain time period (at least with stenography -- I can't speak regarding voice writing).  They can't promise you anything.  It's all based on how well you do.  It's not easy, and it takes a lot of work.  It is not for the faint of heart.  You have to want it, and you have to give it your all.  It will be the greatest and last job you ever have.  You won't want to do anything else.