Stenographers write shorthand on a stenography machine, which allows them to write as quickly as people speak. They write 250 words a minute on average.
They don't type in all the letters like on a normal keyboard, but work with phonetics. So instead of 13 strokes on a Qwerty keyboard, the word 'unfortunately' needs only four strokes on a steno machine (un, forch, n-t, lee).
In the past, stenographers had to transcribe their paper notes at the end of the day. Now, computer-aided transcription software instantly matches steno strokes against a lexicon of English words.
Stenographers mainly do court reporting. They are hired by lawyers who want a verbatim (word for word) record of what is said. But a stenographer is an officer of the court. His record is verbatim and impartial.
Their skills are also applied to produce live television captions and realtime transcription to help deaf people during festivals and lectures.
Young Post interviews stenographer Jade King to understand what this little-known career entails.