First U.S. Court Reporting Delegation to China
When I
received my invitation to be a member of the first People to People Court Reporters' Delegation to China, I wondered what
I could possibly learn about court reporting and the legal system in a Communist country. To an observer, the Chinese court
reporter's method of machine shorthand utilized in making a written record of the spoken word is very similar to our CAT (Computer
Aided Transcription) method.
Denise McCauley from Charleston, S.C. and I were two of 45
court reporters and 12 guests from across the country who participated in this excursion in June of 2007. We had panel discussions
in various locations with Chinese court reporters, attorneys, and court reporting educators in Beijing in Northern China and
in Guangzhou in Southern China. We visited the Beijing Stenography Association, the Beijing National Culture & Art Vocational
School, and the Weisu Stenographic Service Company.
All of our meetings were with translators
and I definitely had a sense of some "lost in translation" moments. First, we were a group of 43 women and two men,
all in our 40's, plus. Students attending stenography schools in China are very, very young. Only a small percent become court
reporters, but instead procure jobs with the government, TV stations, publishing houses, etc.
The
students who progress on to become court reporters only work for about five years after which they attend studies at universities
such as the National Judge College or the National Prosecutor College and become judges and prosecutors. So our counterparts
couldn't figure out why we were all so "senior". Why had we been court reporters for 25 to 40 years? Surely, something
must be wrong with the American system.
Another
"lost in translation" subject for us was: Do the Chinese reporters take down every word that is spoken? We are still
not sure, but we don't think so. Their written language utilizes 40,000 pictographic square characters of which 10,000 are
in current use and only 3,000 of those are in very common use. Their transcripts are instantly signed off on and made a part
of the record. In our litigious society, court reporters go through the transcript in its entirety before certifying it.
And on the subject of our culinary experiences, our group found
the food to be very ... interesting. We were served Chinese food twice a day for two weeks. Breakfast buffets were also comprised
of Chinese food with some American entrees such as omelets. Firsts for us were the garnish of the rooster head, deep fried,
on a platter of chicken. The cooked scorpions of which a few reporters actually consumed. The pig head and feet used to garnish
a pork dish. Snake soup which resembled cut-up jelly fish in a sauce.
Lasting friendships
were formed and experiences shared that can't be replicated. I really, really love my job!
