After going back and reading my posts that have to do with court reporting, I realize my question, Are transcripts suffering because of real time, might not be all that clear. First and foremost, let me say that no, I am not perfect. I am not the aficionado on court reporting. I am not the aficionado on anything. I am however, not crazy, nor off my rocker. My name is not Sweetie. I wasn't having a bad day yesterday. I don't punctuate everything correctly (whatever that may be).
With all that being said, here we go:
My thoughts along those lines are this: Is the court reporter who took my deposition so confident with her real-time abilities (which that in and of itself is something to be admired) that maybe the punctuation has kind of gone by the wayside? I'm not slamming this court reporter or any court reporters for that matter.
I think it's just human nature for people to focus on mastering one thing. I myself would have never made it through court reporting school had I not focused on learning how to write word for word. I didn't learn every single brief there was to learn. I was so focused on getting out of school, that I wrote everything out. If I sat there and thought, Okay, there's a brief for that...what is it? By the time that thought went through my head, the instructor had already read a couple more sentences and I would be thinking, Oh, crap...what the hell did he just say?
Is that the correct way to learn court reporting? Probably not, but it worked for me. I also could only type about 25 wpm on a typewriter when I started CR school. I failed typing the whole time I was in school. Why? Because my focus was on learning how to write on the steno machine, not the typewriter. As some of you are aware, the steno machine keyboard is nothing like a typewriter keyboard. I felt like trying to learn both keyboards at the same time would be kind of like learning two languages at the same time.
Maybe this will explain it better. I have a 22-month-old daughter. I'm sure everyone has heard of the cartoon Dora The Explorer. I don't like for my daughter to watch that at this age. Why? Because I'm trying to teach her how to speak English and only English for now. When she's mastered putting together an English sentence, then she can watch Dora to her heart's content. Does that mean I'm stupid or the world's worst mom? Does that mean I think this is the correct way to raise a child? No, I don't. It's what works for me.
To prove I'm not an aspiring journalist, once again I've gotten way off subject. But this all really does have to do with my original thought.
I think once you focus on one thing, other things tend to go off by the wayside. Not just in court reporting, but in life. Certain things seem to be more important at times, while other things you kind of let slide. And that's what I meant about transcripts and real time. Maybe we're focused so much on writing real time, that maybe some other things that were once important don't seem all that much important anymore.
I'm sorry if none of this make sense to anyone other than me. If these thoughts mean I'm crazy or off my rocker, then call Wichita Falls and tell them to get me a bed ready.
(Please note that I am not the official proofreader of the world. I did not scour this with a fine tooth comb. I am entitled to make errors, just like everyone else in the world, so please, cut me a break. And yes, I know the proper terminology would be "give me a break" but I like to mix things up now and then.)
Monday, September 3, 2007
Transcripts and Real Time
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4 comments:
Shelley -
I'm sorry, I can't agree with your hypothesis that once someone focuses on one thing, everything else goes by the wayside. We, as humans, are perfectly capable of multitasking. There are various aspects of any job, and all of those aspects have to be learned at some point. Court Reporting is absolutely no different. You start off by just trying to get every word. After you learn that, you can focus on fine-tuning your writing. While doing those things, you are in classes to teach you how to correctly punctuate, among other things. I certainly don't think it takes all of my brain power to learn to punctuate or to put that education into practice, so I can't imagine that if I focused on something else, that my punctuation would fly right out the window.
Comparing that to your child learning a language is a bit far-fetched, in my opinion. Court reporters are adults. Our brains are fully developed, and we can therefore use them in different ways than a 22-month-old child.
Also, punctuation for a realtime writer is very important. You need to be able to insert that punctuation while writing. However, if the speakers are talking over one another or speaking too quickly, our first priority is to get the words. Punctuation can always be added in the editing process, and should be.
Like I said when you posted this on the CR forum, I haven't read the transcript in question, so I have no idea how bad or good it was. I've said before and I'll say again, this person may just punctuate differently than you, or it may have just been a complete lack of punctuation. Either way, the transcript you read was a final draft that had been through the editing process. Punctuation should have been added during that process. I don't see how realtime can be blamed for that.
Personally, I write realtime for myself at every job. It has only improved my transcripts. I drop punctuation when the testimony gets too fast, because the words are, absolutely, my first priority.
While I agree with you on some points, I think you actually agreed with me at least a little bit when you said this, You start off by just trying to get every word. After you learn that, you can focus on fine-tuning your writing.
I'm not saying at all that punctuation goes right out the window. No one would be certified shorthand reporters if they allowed that to happen. I was only comparing my daughter learning a language to me learning how to type on a steno machine and a typewriter. That sounds a little far-fetched now that I think about it, but I didn't know how else to explain it.
I guess what it all boils down to is I assumed that since I had been out of practice for a while, that maybe people were changing the way they punctuated transcripts. I remember "when in doubt, leave it out" being drilled in my head over and over. But there's no way this reporter could have doubted herself that much. I do appreciate your comments. I just hope you can understand my way of thinking too. Every comment that anyone has made, I posted it, whether I agreed with it or not. You have been very respectful to me and I appreciate that.
I don't know if you got a chance to read this post or not, but if you get a chance, read it and let me know what you think.
http://shelleyssnippets.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-i-should-have-said.html
Let's see if this works.
Shelley's Snippets: What I Should Have Said
Sorry, but I'm still learning.
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