Stenograph machine how does it work

The left hand spells out the beginning of a syllable, while the right hand spells out the end; all keys are pressed at the same time, and the machine produces an alphabet soup that's incomprehensible to anyone who's not trained in machine shorthand. Stenographers spell out syllables phonetically, but there aren't enough keys on each side of the keyboard to cover every sound. Certain combinations of adjacent keys correspond to the missing consonants: For example, there's no "M" anywhere on the keyboard, so you have to press "P" and "H" together to start a syllable with that sound.

There is a "B" on the right side of the board, but none on the left—that means it's easy to end a syllable with "B," but for words that begin with "B" you need to hit "P" and "W" together. Each stenographer might use different conventions to represent homonyms or other ambiguous words. At court-reporting school, you can learn one of at least half a dozen machine shorthand "theories," which teach different approaches and general rules. The stenotype transcript may seem completely meaningful to a trained stenographer.

But to the lawyer, jury, or litigants at court, or to the medical practitioner using the transcription services, it looks like gibberish. It has to be translated into the common tongue before it can be used further. So the transcript needs to be translated into English. In the earlier days, a stenographer was required to translate their own script to English and a stenographer, called the scopist, would check if the translation was correct.

The court reporters usually have a dictionary of their own based on their steno theory. Modern-day stenotype machines, however, have their own translation software that can translate the script in real time. Real-time translation helps them send an instantaneous feed to all parties involved in the proceedings. With the advancements in technology we have witnessed, it may seem like stenography is a replaceable skill.

There are AI tools and speech recognition software that can transcribe speech to text. For instance, a digital system relies on clear and audible speech. The microphone in the courtroom often tends to distort the speech by producing static, buzzing sounds. Or the speaker becomes inaudible when they move a little farther from the microphone.

In such cases, the AI transcription tool may produce inaccurate transcripts and in court cases or medical transcription with high stakes, this can have a very high impact.

There is a long way to go before they can match the accuracy and IQ that a trained stenographer brings to the table. Stenography is a skill that not many people have been able to master. It requires years of practice and studies to turn into a highly skilled stenographer. Court reporters, in particular, require extra training on legal proceedings, terms, and vocabulary. They are often required to undergo certification courses to be fit to handle legal documentation, as their transcripts are used as evidence and verdicts rely on them.

If you are looking for a court reporter with shorthand skills in Miami, make sure you only choose someone who is qualified for the job. DLE Legal offers court reporter services and process server specialists in Miami. Get in touch with us to know more about our court reporter services by experienced stenographers in all areas of litigation.

Web design and development by Paton Marketing. In former days, what a stenographer had typed onto the machine would be printed to a narrow roll of paper tape. Nowadays the translation is computerized and modern-day stenographic machines are providing translations at the same time.

The narrow paper tape is still recording the original notes, yet these modern machines come with an LCD display that is showing the words in for us understandable English. Court reporters usually save their individual spelling and abbreviation system in a personal dictionary on their computers at home. Their personal dictionaries then generally are transferred to the stenographic machine they are using, and up-to-date stenographs come with USB ports and floppy-disk drives.

Practically all stenographers have machines that are customized specifically to them, and for the specific tasks, they have to perform.