TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 175

12.

The obstacles are serious and they call for early, determined

and single-minded action by the Judiciary's administration team however

constituted. The question calling for an early answer is what systems

of reporting should be adopted. I would not advise an immediate

·

decision to choose one system to the exclusion of other feasible

systems for three reasons :-

(1) transition towards wider coverage, the need

for which is urgent, will be quicker if all

available means are used;

(2)

some kinds of court may be better served by

one system and others by another;

(3) it would bc better to build on existing

capability than phase it out.

13.

The first problem is

recruitment.

Many see ordinary

secretarial work as preferable and its need for knowledge of English as

less demanding. Stenographers do not like to risk failure in training.

In New Zealand there is the added difficulty which may arise here that

the private sector poaches the court's staff after it has recruited and

trained them.

14.

Next there are the problems of training. It is difficult

enough to train someone to take an

accurate note at 200 words per

minute in his or her own language. It is to the great credit of

teachers and pupils that some Cantonese speakers reach those standards

in English. . A reporter here has to record English spoken in such a

wide variety of accents as to daunt even one whose mother tongue is

English. And lawyers' English is not all understandable by the

uninitiated.

15.

Some but not all of the recruiting and

the recruiting and training problems apply to the audio-typists needed for transcribing from sound.

- 67.

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