How'd you get into that job? Do you have to do any special training or is it just "fast typists wanted"? I was thinking of doing that as a part time job when I'm at uni next year
A long story, but I started doing Pitman's Pen Shorthand in 1979, but then I bought a computer, and started working on my typing speed and general knowledge by typing university essays and theses for a few years, then got some evening work in a big legal firm doing audio typing of legal documents. I then expanded into "legal temp secretary" (that's when I started taking my Maltron with me), then in 1990 I figured I knew enough and had good enough typing speed to apply to be trained as a reporter.
In Australia, most court reporting is done via audio recording, either cassette tape or digital, rather than Stenotyping in "real time", so there's no necessity to go through the years of learning machine shorthand, but just, as you suggest, fast typing speed.
The other requirements are good English comprehension, good understanding of law and how legislation is framed, grammar, ability to punctuate accurately, knowledge of current affairs, particularly criminal matters, attention to detail, ability to work at high speed under extreme stress (I was a clerk in an Australian Cavalry unit in South Vietnam in 1970, so THAT helped a lot :wink:), ability to improvise, patience (people with stammers and accents) and a couple of other things I can't remember.
I don't know about other countries, but here the SRAA (Shorthand Reporters Association of Australia) according to this link
http://www.sraa.org/seems to have gone into a bit of a slump.
As well as fast typing speed, I'd suggest you get a good handle on speech recognition (Dragon Naturally Speaking is just absolutely all the aces) and work out some form of shorthand as I did.
http://proword-transcription.blogspot.com/It's difficult to give any strong suggestions as this sort of stuff varies from country to country, and even state to state (in Australia).
You could try a different route and get into an area such as medical transcription. That's a pretty specialised area, which I've had a year or so experience in. Perhaps you may be able to find a small firm in your area which you could hook onto, sort of like an apprentice, then later on, as I did, go solo. I work exclusively at home and set my own hours. It's a real lifesaver.
Google "Medical Transcription" and see what comes up. Or perhaps even Google "Audio Transcription".
There are one or two groups you can join as well:
transcribing@yahoogroups.comGood luck,
Joe
