How do I explain my major to people?

My major is really confusing and I get asked a lot "so what are you majoring in?" and it's hard to answer. I almost always answer differently because I want people to understand but it's not simple. My major is technically called Transcription Services but I'm going to be a realtime captioner (someone who puts captions on live television broadcast). I am basically learning stenography, which is using a shorthand machine, but the problem is that most people don't even know what that is. I usually say "you know the person who types what's said in the courtroom? I'm learning how to do that but for the television captions"

Is there a simpler way for people to understand my major without saying all that? Like I can't just say "stenography" because a lot of people don't know that term. I thought it would common knowledge but I've been pretty surprised at the little amount people know about it all.

can anyone help me find a way to say my major so people can understand it quickly?

Just say "I major in Transcription". Then hang out with people with enough of a vocabulary to understand what 'transcription' is.

Otherwise, say "I'm studying closed captioning". It might not give the full flavour and excitement of using stenography equipment in real time, but you'll get the idea across.

when you said you were a transcription major, I knew exactly what you were talking about, even though I am not in that field. It can be hard explaining your major to people who don't understand! I think people you meet should know what shorthand is, especially the older members of your family, as back when they were in school they were required to learn it. You could explain it to them by saying you are learning shorthand for media purposes. Or just say you are a media major, even if that isn't exactly correct.

Just tell them your Major is in Broadcast Media (most people know, that means something to do with Television or Radio). If they ask for more information, then you can explain in more detail what you want to do, since they're interested, and probably don't mind hearing about it in some detail.

Stenography has been around for a long time so if there are people who don麓t know what it is then you are mixing with the wrong type of people. I am a little at a loss as to why you need to put transcripts on the screen in English unless of course they are for foreigners speaking unintelligible English but if that is so then I don麓t see how you will understand them either.