There are two types of captioning services: (1) offline and (2) live (or "realtime"). For offline, please check the appropriate FAQ question.
(2) REALTIME: Realtime writers attend court reporting schools that also teach captioning, which requires skills in addition to the base court reporting skills. Like court reporters, realtime captioners use a steno machine.
Realtime writers who work with CaptionMax must have court-reporting skills with a minimum of an A.A. or B.S. in Court and Conference Reporting or satisfactory completion of other 2-year equivalent program. They must be certified as a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) or Certified Broadcast Captioner (CBC). Independent contractors must possess their own equipment, preferably Total Eclipse Accucap or CATalyst BCS. Our independent realtime writers are contractors working via satellite or modem uplink - usually from their home. We also have full-time staff positions in our Burbank facility.
Realtime captioners work in the language of their expertise. Realtime translation by captioners is rarely, if ever, performed.
You can learn more about captioning by studying several websites and following up on a variety of books and other print materials. Information is available on:
http://www.ncraonline.org, notably:
http://www.ncraonline.org/education
http://www.ncraonline.org/students