Learning stenography can be challenging and requires significant time and practice to build speed and accuracy. Training typically takes 2 to 4 years, depending on the individual and program rigor. Many students attend specialized court reporting schools or certification programs, focusing on theory, machine operation, and speed-building exercises. Certification exams, such as the Registered Professional Reporter (RPR), are often pursued to demonstrate proficiency and professional skill.

Stenographers have various career options, including court reporting, broadcast captioning, CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) services for the hearing impaired, and transcription for meetings or depositions. Court reporting remains one of the most common career paths, but broadcast and live-event captioning are also high-demand fields due to increasing requirements for accessibility.

Stenography is a shorthand typing method used to record spoken words rapidly. Unlike regular typing, where letters are typed individually, stenography involves pressing combinations of keys simultaneously to form sounds, syllables, or whole words. This approach enables stenographers to achieve very high typing speeds, essential for real-time transcription, especially in fields like court reporting and live captioning.

A steno machine has a specialized keyboard with fewer keys than a regular keyboard, and instead of typing each letter separately, it allows combinations of keys to be pressed at once. These combinations represent phonetic sounds or word parts, which the machine then converts into readable text. The machine records strokes in a shorthand format, which specialized software later translates into full text.

Professional stenographers typically type between 200 and 300 words per minute, sometimes even faster, depending on their skill and experience. This high speed is due to the phonetic nature of stenography, where multiple letters, sounds, or words can be represented by a single keystroke combination. This efficiency is critical in environments where real-time transcription is required.