Writing realtime is so totally
different from what you learn in school. I've always known I wanted to
go into captioning, so I was always doing everything I could to "write
realtime." But it wasn't until I shadowed a class and imagined someone
reading my product that I really understood what it was all about. If
you're not watching the screen, you're not doing realtime. And I didn't
train for that at all. I always stared at a point on the wall. It's
great for focus, but it's no way to realtime.
Transitioning
from that has been really difficult. It's a whole new layer. Not just
the mechanics of dividing your attention, which I've talked about
before, but developing the instinctual knowledge of when to
paraphrase, when to drop things that aren't vital, when to correct a
mistake and when to just let it stand.
I've been focusing on getting names down, even if it means dropping a little of what comes after the name. If the anchor says, "And now here's Bryan Edwards reporting in on the carnage from Syria," it's better to write "Bryan Edwards from Syria" than "And now the carnage from Syria." It's a tough switch. The whole realtime thing is all about figuring out what the most important thing is to get through. I can't believe I never realized that until I shadowed that class, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
2.19.13
I've developed a couple of new habits recently. Writing the same 10 minutes of a news show has allowed me to more easily identify words that give me trouble. I'm being a lot more "lenient" in terms of admitting that I have trouble with a word, and adding it to my practice list. It also gives me a chance to see lots of sentences where I wrote "an" as AN, even though I'm trying (unsuccessfully at this point) to write A*N.
I keep a record of every setence in which I wrote AN, and gradually add them to my daily practice. I write the whole sentence once, and then the phrase (i.e., "an extraordinary") five times. I'm finding that I never, ever get used to writing "A*N." It just doesn't feel comfortable. But I'm determined to do it. It's important to have a distinction between an, an-, and -en a. Once I'm comfortable with both the sentence and the phrase, I take it off the list and replace it with a new one. I have a mandatory 5-session minimum requirement on all the sentences, too.
It's really fun when names translate properly. I use NAO*EP for a "-ney" suffix, and I was able to write "Rodney" on the fly the other day, and have it come up even though it wasn't in my dictionary.
I finished re-writing/entering all the proper names in my dictionary. There were about 10,000, and it took me almost three months. Hopefully that will help them translate better now, though. I decided, rather than going through the rest of the dictionary, it would be more beneficial to go back to focusing on groups of words that I know I write differently than the way they're defined right now, so that's another thing I have to watch out for when I review the 10-minute takes.
In just 10 minutes of audio, I found issues with -lous, -rous, "yore" sounds (meteor, senior, etc.), and -mic. In fact, I discovered I had no idea how to write -mic. I have Mick, -mic, mic, Mc-, and mechanic, so it's tricky, but I think I'll remember -mic now. There aren't that many words with it, anyway; most words that end in -mic are written with a final IK.
I was able to go through those four sets pretty quickly, rewriting every word in the group to make sure it was defined the way I'm most likely to write it. That will be my first priority next time I find words like that, but until then, I think I'm going to go back to my pass through the theory book. I'll probably hit on some good word groups that way, and it's really beneficial to go back and see what fingering is tripping me up. The only problem is I've been writing with my steno machine on top of my theory book, so I'll have to find another book to write on.
I keep a record of every setence in which I wrote AN, and gradually add them to my daily practice. I write the whole sentence once, and then the phrase (i.e., "an extraordinary") five times. I'm finding that I never, ever get used to writing "A*N." It just doesn't feel comfortable. But I'm determined to do it. It's important to have a distinction between an, an-, and -en a. Once I'm comfortable with both the sentence and the phrase, I take it off the list and replace it with a new one. I have a mandatory 5-session minimum requirement on all the sentences, too.
It's really fun when names translate properly. I use NAO*EP for a "-ney" suffix, and I was able to write "Rodney" on the fly the other day, and have it come up even though it wasn't in my dictionary.
I finished re-writing/entering all the proper names in my dictionary. There were about 10,000, and it took me almost three months. Hopefully that will help them translate better now, though. I decided, rather than going through the rest of the dictionary, it would be more beneficial to go back to focusing on groups of words that I know I write differently than the way they're defined right now, so that's another thing I have to watch out for when I review the 10-minute takes.
In just 10 minutes of audio, I found issues with -lous, -rous, "yore" sounds (meteor, senior, etc.), and -mic. In fact, I discovered I had no idea how to write -mic. I have Mick, -mic, mic, Mc-, and mechanic, so it's tricky, but I think I'll remember -mic now. There aren't that many words with it, anyway; most words that end in -mic are written with a final IK.
I was able to go through those four sets pretty quickly, rewriting every word in the group to make sure it was defined the way I'm most likely to write it. That will be my first priority next time I find words like that, but until then, I think I'm going to go back to my pass through the theory book. I'll probably hit on some good word groups that way, and it's really beneficial to go back and see what fingering is tripping me up. The only problem is I've been writing with my steno machine on top of my theory book, so I'll have to find another book to write on.
Practice Strategy and Dilemma #1 Billion
Now that the CBC exam is over and I'm not doing metered speed takes anymore, I'm back to practicing to the news. My usual rotation of ABC World News, CBS Evening News, PBS NewsHour, and local Q13 Fox News. I think it's a good variety. Before the exam, I would write half an hour of a show, basically just "doing my best" in terms of watching the screen, accuracy, and completeness. Then I'd go back over it, record an accuracy score, and move on to 30 minutes of a different show the next day.
The strategy I've been trying out since the exam comes from the NJ Captions manual. I've been writing only the first 10 minutes of a show several times, focusing on a different aspect each time, like writing numbers. That's the easy part. I've found that the hard part is pushing myself in all the other areas. I tend to want to just slack off on everything else, since the manual says I should focus on the one specific area to the exclusion of all others. I don't think that's a great idea, though.
Even when I'm focusing on speed, I try to keep it under control a little bit. I let myself write whatever feels natural and I don't go back to correct anything, but I don't write utter slop just to get a stroke down for every word, either. I think it's important to keep at least some focus on every aspect. Especially when it comes to fingerspelling.
I could focus exclusively on the fingerspelling, and not worry about writing what was said after that word. That would be following the instructions literally. But what good does that do me? It's not fingerspelling I really need to work on, it's fingerspelling while retaining and writing what's said after that word.
It's a tough balance. I really can't decide if I should focus on each area exclusively, or just focus "more than usual" on it. If I really focus on only one aspect per take, and throw everything else to the wind, will my overall skill improve, or will I just lose all the "focus on all the balls in the air" skill that I've been focusing on building up for the past few months?
The strategy I've been trying out since the exam comes from the NJ Captions manual. I've been writing only the first 10 minutes of a show several times, focusing on a different aspect each time, like writing numbers. That's the easy part. I've found that the hard part is pushing myself in all the other areas. I tend to want to just slack off on everything else, since the manual says I should focus on the one specific area to the exclusion of all others. I don't think that's a great idea, though.
Even when I'm focusing on speed, I try to keep it under control a little bit. I let myself write whatever feels natural and I don't go back to correct anything, but I don't write utter slop just to get a stroke down for every word, either. I think it's important to keep at least some focus on every aspect. Especially when it comes to fingerspelling.
I could focus exclusively on the fingerspelling, and not worry about writing what was said after that word. That would be following the instructions literally. But what good does that do me? It's not fingerspelling I really need to work on, it's fingerspelling while retaining and writing what's said after that word.
It's a tough balance. I really can't decide if I should focus on each area exclusively, or just focus "more than usual" on it. If I really focus on only one aspect per take, and throw everything else to the wind, will my overall skill improve, or will I just lose all the "focus on all the balls in the air" skill that I've been focusing on building up for the past few months?
CBC Strike Two
I did much better this time. I still didn't pass, but I think I improved my score by leaps and bounds. I'm estimating about a 94%, which is a lot better than the 85% I got last time.
Last time, even though I arrived almost an hour early, I was the last one in the room. This time, I got there first, even before the chief examiner. It was nice to be able to set up without anyone else there. I still had to leave my seat about halfway through my warmup to check in. I managed to stay fairly calm while I was warming up, but it was really distracting that the examiner started playing some practice takes to "test the audio system."
She started playing the audio, and then left the room. It seemed to go on forever. I didn't want to listen to it! When she got back, she asked if we wanted to practice to that or our own material. I said I'd prefer our own material, so she didn't play anything else...until a little while later, when she asked again, and unfortunately someone said they wanted to hear it.
I was just about to start my own speedbuilding practice for the first time that session. I think it was about 8:10. I figured the best strategy for me would be to start with the non-audio stuff I do at home before I start speedbuilding practice, and then do a nice easy speedbuilding take that I already had the hang of to calm me down and get me in the groove of "getting" it.
So when the examiner started playing a different audio, I was less than thrilled. I turned up the volume loud enough that I could hear my own audio over what was coming out of the overhead speakers, and then took my earbuds out to make sure I wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was distracting writing that way, to say the least.
Finally both sets of audio ended, and the examiner said they'd be doing the CRR first, again. I didn't listen to the recorded instructions because I thought they'd be played again before the CBC/CCP. Then I had to sit for 7 minutes and listen to the CRR practice and exam. It seemed way too fast. I didn't want to write it, get all tripped up, and have that be my mindset going into the CBC.
I also didn't want to sit there and do nothing for 7 minutes when I was all warmed up and ready to go. I wound up doing a little of both; not writing for most of the time, but jumping in once or twice to slowly see if I could get anything. Being Q&A, it wasn't geared toward what I'd been practicing at all, so it was hard not to stumble over the material.
Eventually it ended, and the examiner asked if it was okay if she didn't re-play the instructions. Ugh. Hope I didn't miss anything important. I did okay for a while once the CBC started, but I think I lost it a minute or two in. I just wasn't able to relax and write my best. I didn't "drop" any words this time, so much as I just couldn't exactly remember what the speaker said anymore by the time I was ready to write it, so I just kind of made something up that made sense. It's so much easier to write things when they don't have to be verbatim!
Last time, even though I arrived almost an hour early, I was the last one in the room. This time, I got there first, even before the chief examiner. It was nice to be able to set up without anyone else there. I still had to leave my seat about halfway through my warmup to check in. I managed to stay fairly calm while I was warming up, but it was really distracting that the examiner started playing some practice takes to "test the audio system."
She started playing the audio, and then left the room. It seemed to go on forever. I didn't want to listen to it! When she got back, she asked if we wanted to practice to that or our own material. I said I'd prefer our own material, so she didn't play anything else...until a little while later, when she asked again, and unfortunately someone said they wanted to hear it.
I was just about to start my own speedbuilding practice for the first time that session. I think it was about 8:10. I figured the best strategy for me would be to start with the non-audio stuff I do at home before I start speedbuilding practice, and then do a nice easy speedbuilding take that I already had the hang of to calm me down and get me in the groove of "getting" it.
So when the examiner started playing a different audio, I was less than thrilled. I turned up the volume loud enough that I could hear my own audio over what was coming out of the overhead speakers, and then took my earbuds out to make sure I wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was distracting writing that way, to say the least.
Finally both sets of audio ended, and the examiner said they'd be doing the CRR first, again. I didn't listen to the recorded instructions because I thought they'd be played again before the CBC/CCP. Then I had to sit for 7 minutes and listen to the CRR practice and exam. It seemed way too fast. I didn't want to write it, get all tripped up, and have that be my mindset going into the CBC.
I also didn't want to sit there and do nothing for 7 minutes when I was all warmed up and ready to go. I wound up doing a little of both; not writing for most of the time, but jumping in once or twice to slowly see if I could get anything. Being Q&A, it wasn't geared toward what I'd been practicing at all, so it was hard not to stumble over the material.
Eventually it ended, and the examiner asked if it was okay if she didn't re-play the instructions. Ugh. Hope I didn't miss anything important. I did okay for a while once the CBC started, but I think I lost it a minute or two in. I just wasn't able to relax and write my best. I didn't "drop" any words this time, so much as I just couldn't exactly remember what the speaker said anymore by the time I was ready to write it, so I just kind of made something up that made sense. It's so much easier to write things when they don't have to be verbatim!
Breaking the Habit
I'm going to try to stop avoiding
updating this blog, and to post things when they come to me, rather than
saving them up for so long that I have to divide them into 5 different
posts.
I've been trying to get into the habit of dashing instead of "backspacing" with the asterisk. It's definitely a lot cleaner. I "talk" to myself a lot when I do my steno practice. I write what I'm "saying." If I made a mistake, I would often write "or [correction], rather." Instead of doing that, I've been training myself to dash and re-write the phrase.
That didn't really come in handy when I did my practice for the CBC exam. It doesn't do any good to dash on the exam. In fact, it's actually detrimental. If you do that, you're just giving yourself more of a chance to mess up on the "correction," and you're going to lose points for the incorrect words whether they're followed by a dash or not. It really just gets you farther behind for no reason.
So on the exam, if you have time to delete something, great - if not, you're better off just moving on than dashing and trying to clear it up for a potential reader.
It's kind of bothersome how I was originally training to do verbatim, not looking at the screen, and in order to do CART/captioning, I have to switch out of that mindset - but then to test, I have to switch back into it. Break a habit, intentionally re-form it, break it again..
I've been trying to get into the habit of dashing instead of "backspacing" with the asterisk. It's definitely a lot cleaner. I "talk" to myself a lot when I do my steno practice. I write what I'm "saying." If I made a mistake, I would often write "or [correction], rather." Instead of doing that, I've been training myself to dash and re-write the phrase.
That didn't really come in handy when I did my practice for the CBC exam. It doesn't do any good to dash on the exam. In fact, it's actually detrimental. If you do that, you're just giving yourself more of a chance to mess up on the "correction," and you're going to lose points for the incorrect words whether they're followed by a dash or not. It really just gets you farther behind for no reason.
So on the exam, if you have time to delete something, great - if not, you're better off just moving on than dashing and trying to clear it up for a potential reader.
It's kind of bothersome how I was originally training to do verbatim, not looking at the screen, and in order to do CART/captioning, I have to switch out of that mindset - but then to test, I have to switch back into it. Break a habit, intentionally re-form it, break it again..
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