Training Captioners

The basic training for court reporters and captioners includes a solid foundation in English, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.
It's all about the right words presented in a way that the reader gets the full benefit of understanding the oral language conveyed.
Both professions take the spoken word and turn it into accurate written English.
There are two main types of captioning: Post Production (or Offline Captioning), and Realtime Captioning.
Post production captionists can use either the QWERTY keyboard or the court reporting computerized stenotype machine to create the script for the media to be captioned, because the video is already created and needs an accurate script as the first step of captioning. The script must then be time-coded and applied back to the media to create a captioned version. Some post-production captioners work at home creating scripts.
Realtime Captioning is done by high-speed stenotype reporters who take down the words, instantaneously translating the steno to English using highly developed personalized dictionaries and specialized software. This skill is used for CART reporting (Communication Access Realtime Translation), for broadcast captioning (what you see on your television screen), and for large audience captioning. This is a highly developed skill and the pay is much higher than post production captioning.
So, where does court reporting fit in with captioning? Both professions require solid English, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary skills. Both professions require the skill and understanding to hear and accurately put into English the spoken word. So realtime captioner students are court reporting students and the program for either vocation is basically the same, with the exception of some alternative choices for academics. (For example, captioning students would not need to take Courtroom Procedures, or Deposition Procedures, etc.)

If you are interested in becoming a realtime captioner, you need to sign up for Theory and Theory Review to learn the stenotype machine. That is where everyone starts. That will be followed by speed building from 60-200 plus words per minute on the stenotype machine and academic classes, including English, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, terminology, and computer-aided transcription.

Scholarships Available NOW!

Three scholarships are available!  (For students seeking...

1. Beginning Realtime Captioning Scholarship (.. to become realtime captioners, also taking specified classes)
2. Advanced Realtime Captioning Scholarship (.. to become realtime captiones, minimum speed, taking specified classes)

For more information and application, please go to www.cerritos.edu/foundation and follow the links to the Court Reporting and Captioning Careers Scholarships!

Article:  From Court Reporting to Web Casting - Captioning in the New Millenium

Important Registration Information:

If you are unable to register for your classes, get yourself on the wait list.  If you are unable to register for your classes or get yourself on the wait list, send an email as indicated below with your name, student number, contact information, the class you are trying to get into and the problem that you have experienced.  

To: vmorgan@cerritos.edu

Subject:  HELP registering for classes 

Message: Make sure you include all the information we need. 

New Students: Here's What You Need to Know!

Fall 2012 begins August 20. See www.cerritos.edu/courtreporting and the "getting started" and "getting a machine" links.

Miscellaneous Info:

The contents of this Web page were developed under a Congressionally-directed grant from the U.S. Department of Education.  However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.