High School
You should take typing and computer courses to increase your keyboard speed and accuracy and to develop an understanding of word processing programs. Because you'll be working with a variety of news, sports, and entertainment programs, you should keep up on current events by taking journalism, social studies, and government courses. English composition and speech classes can help you develop your vocabulary and grammar skills.
Postsecondary Training
You should first complete training to become a court and conference reporter (stenographer), which takes anywhere from two to four years. An associate's or bachelor's degree in court and conference reporting, or satisfactory completion of other two-year equivalent programs, is usually required. Because of the additional training needed to learn computer and English grammar skills, some two-year programs have become three-year programs. In fact, many real-time reporters and their employers believe that additional formal education in the arts and sciences is needed to perform the work properly and to adapt to the swift technological changes taking place. They are urging the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), to which most captioners and other reporters belong, to require a bachelor's degree for entry into the court reporting profession, which would extend to captioning as well. About 100 postsecondary vocational and technical schools and colleges offer court reporter training programs, and NCRA has certified approximately 27 programs, many of which offer courses in real-time reporting and computer-aided transcription. A few four-year college programs already exist, to allow students a well-rounded background. A degree in English (or the primary language in which captioning will be done) or linguistics would be helpful. Others argue, however, that while a formal education is beneficial, many court reporters who never earned a four-year degree are working successfully with high skill levels.
Even after graduating from court reporting school, you will have to undergo more specialized training, during which you'll hone your reporting skills to achieve the proficiency needed to create broadcast-quality captions.
Other Education or Training
Real-time captioners must participate in continuing education classes and webinars to stay up to date with industry developments and become eligible to renew their certification. The National Court Reporters Association and the National Verbatim Reporters Association, along with state-level court reporting associations, provide continuing education opportunities. Contact these organizations for more information.
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