Pavel Dibelka Head of the Stenographic Service of the Czech Parliament - Prague

Situation of Stenography Services in Czech Parliament

 Actual and Future Tasks

Intersteno Congress - Vienna July 2005

Dear colleagues, I would like to give you a brief information on the situation in Czech Republic. I will present you a survey of what we do in Parliament and where else is stenography used up today. An important part of my report will concern the problem of requiring new stenography stuff eventually replacing shorthand writers by machines or typewriters.

According to the Constitution the Parliament of Czech Republic consists since 1993 of two chambers – Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The rules of procedure of both institutions order to provide shorthand records. If we make a small look into the history, some of us could be surprised – in our library we can  find shorthand records since 1848 (Imperial Assembly)! We can read about all important events in remote or recent periods of time. This records are used in many areas of public life, e. g. by journalists, lawyers or Constitutional Court. But this is the result. Now let`s have a look at the procedure how they are made.

In the lower chamber there is a special department that provides all stenography services during the meetings of Parliament. This department has six stable employees and uses also services of external associates. During the meeting there are usually 9 – 10 stenographers which rotate every 10 minutes. In the council hall under the chairman seats there is a table reserved for two shorthand writers, equipped with a tape recorder and headphones (sometimes there is such a noise, you can not hear the speaker standing two meters next to you). We have to write every spoken word on the microphone and we also record all important reactions in the hall, e. g. applause, shout, bumping etc. From time to time it is necessary to record verbal reactions in the assembly, if the speaker replies to them. Sometimes it is very difficult to do this work – the speakers are using a lot of foreign, special or technical words, anglicisms, local names, do not articulate well, occasionally are not able to read the text correctly or just speak too fast. My older colleagues say it is no more possible to write shorthand without help of tape recorders. The way of expression has changed essentially since the end of communism in our country.

The shorthand notes are immediately transferred to the computer. Some stenographers prefer dictating the texts to a secretary, the others prefer typewriting by themselves. Then it is necessary to control the record if there aren’t any grammatical mistakes, typing errors, now and then we have to search in dictionary or on the Internet. All this takes about an hour, but it depends on the factors mentioned above. The final record is saved not only on the local disk but also on the server and it is automatically published on the Internet pages of Parliament, so it lasts only circa an hour since the speaker pronounced his speech. But this is not the end of the procedure. During and especially after the meeting it comes through language correction. This corrected texts are sent to every speaker to the authorization. The speaker is allowed only to suggest such improvements that don’t shift the substance and meaning of his speech. This adjustments (if acceptable) are implemented and again published on the Internet. This final document completed with content and full program is printed and distributed where necessary.

The whole process is long-established. There is no time to spend time. The lower chamber runs on a six week cycle: First two weeks are dedicated to work of committees and commissions, third one is dedicated to the deputies and their work and contact with voters and the fourth, fifth and eventually the sixth week serves the plenary session. The session begins on Tuesday in the afternoon and lasts to Friday. The rules of procedure say that every negotiation day begins at 9 a. m. and ends at 7 p. m. (with the option of voting) or at 9 p. m. But a discretion is given – the deputies are allowed to change the times ad hoc by voting. Regularly every week meets the Organizational committee and makes decisions about distribution of work. It is also our duty to make record of these meetings. We usually don’t write other committees or commissions with exception of The Media Commission.

And now I would like to say a few words about the upper chamber – Senate. The volume of work is essentially minor. The plenary session takes place ad hoc, commonly once a month and a half and it lasts two or three days. The atmosphere is remarkably different – the whole assembly has only 81 members, they are older, don’t speak so quickly and emotionally and the noise level is low. Today they are only two stem employees and they are exploiting external associates. But there is a habit different from the Chamber of Deputies – some committees request the records of their sessions. In the most of the cases there are provided audiotapes and these are subsequently transcribed. The process of authorization supports the press department and language corrector.

I also promised to tell you where else is stenography used up today. The most of my colleagues are regularly attending meetings of labor unions, town councils, associations, clubs or institutions. Most of them are doing the same range for many years. But who will do their work when they are old, it is a question more then actual. A lot of them are over sixty, some are over seventy and young people are not interested in studying stenography. I think it is the consequence of development and progress, we can’t stop it and we can’t say that it’s bad. All students use mobile phones, computers, MP3 and DVD-Players and I don’t know what else. In brief, they don’t need shorthand any more. And the schools know it too. They know that today’s children require language-, computer- and communication-skills. There’s no more place for stenography.

But we (parliament) know that we need somebody who is able to assure quickly and high-quality records as the stenographers do. I am convinced that in a few years we’ll be confronted with the question how to go further. At the present time in Czech Republic there are only about 20 active working shorthand writers and they are getting old very fast. We will have to try to find a solution of this situation. So far I see more questions than answers: Shall we train future stenographers ourselves? How and who will do it? Who will pay it? Where to acquire adequate candidates and time for their training? Machine stenography doesn’t have tradition in our country. The other considered way is the usage of modern computer voice programs. It would represent totally different organization of work, training people and creating new system.  But as we well know also this method has a few difficulties – the system has to be personalized, the articulation has to be perfect, it uses frequency dictionary and mistakes can occur, the person has to sit in the assembly hall as up today to record the reactions of the auditorium etc.

Both alternatives are real and we have to discuss them, their pro-and-con, or look for another ones. I would appreciate your reactions, experiences and advises. I believe we are not the only country where it is necessary to solve this problem. Only discussing this matter can get us a piece forward.