Dec 18, 2009
Free Dictation Passages
Categories: Featured, Freebies, Resources, Technique
Written By: admin
Hi everybody. Just a few days until Christmas and it is now snowing in the UK. These are some passages which have been on the site before but were taken off line during a complete site rebuild. Hopefully they’ll be useful – either for those visiting the site for the first time or for those who have tried them before (though hopefully forgotten about them)…
They’re courtesy of WaveMedia and are taken, in Mp3 format, from the CDs which are available in the shop.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Great Stuff – thanks. Not sure I’ve heard the 60wpm one before????
December 26th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I want to buy Monthly Magazine of Pitman’s shorthand. Please guide me.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:12 am
I havent used my shorthand for a long time and it was a great way to sharpen up my skills so I could apply for work which required it again.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:47 am
I want to buy shorthand magzines for practice for my promotion. If let me know from where can i get this magzines.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:37 pm
There is rather a dearth of “free” dictation out there but if you go to the Gregg site “Shorthand shorthand shorthand”, if you navigate down the page there are links to sites such as “Stenospeed” which give free dictation material and the gentleman who runs the site also puts some dictation on the site himself, which changes monthly.
There is a blog which is now about 5 years old called “Fancy Pants Loves Binita” which a New York court stenographer put up in her training days. There is some stuff available for download there but you’re on your own because the lady doesn’t have time to blog anymore now that she’s a fully fledged court reporter.
Like the gentleman who runs THIS site (ie shorthand world) I have gone to You Tube and googled stuff like “wpm” “steno” “shorthand”. I have also googled “mock trial” and “mock deposition” and chosen some of the shorter videos to practise from, though of course these aren’t timed and some of the videos I had difficulty hearing. I’ve also gone to “Internet Archive” and clicked on the “Audio” tab and tried to do some of the shorter pieces. This has loads of open source old radio programmes and videos. Again, you are on your own because there is loads of stuff, some of it better quality than others, so you have to sift through it and find something that suits you – and of course again it’s not expressly for shorthand so it’s not timed.
BBC World Service website have some 6 minute English lessons for speakers of other languages wanting to learn Englishbased on current affairs. They seem to me to speak at actual speed – i.e. fast, but as it’s only in 6 minute sound bites and they give you the English dialogue, you could practise the vocabulary – drill out the short forms if you are a pen writer or drill the ‘briefs’ if you are a steno-typer or palantypist [or any other type of machine shorthand user that I don't know of] and then try and take it without looking at the longhand.
Oh, and the lady who maintains the “Love of Pitman Shorthand” site has links to some readings from the Bible and some old Queen’s speeches – may not be everybody’s cup of tea but the Queen does speak clearly.
Will post again if I find anything else that might be of use.
Pat O
April 21st, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa,
The site run by the lady who links to the bible is in fact http://www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk not “love of pitman shorthand”, though there is a site about the love of Pitman shorthand – I think it’s called “Pitman homestead” or something v. similar. Sorry about that
Pat O
April 27th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
hi
h r u
i want dictation of shorthand 100wpm
May 31st, 2010 at 3:28 pm
dear Pankaj,
I was also trying for the same. Original publications are in Delhi at the below address: Please find
PITMAN SS PUBLICATIONS 51/3, DB GUPTA ROAD, KAROL BAGH, NEW DELHI – 110 005, INDIA PHONE 011 – 25722865 …
and another is
National Shorthand School (books)
49-6-22, “Balaji Sadan”, NGGOs Colony, Akkayyapalem Post
Visakhapatnam – 530 016
Andhra Pradesh
email: nssbooks@gmail.com
PH: 0891 – 2551063
Mohan
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Please send me the catalog of the books which are published from your institution either monthly, weekly or annually which would help in building speed in shorthand.
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Hi Lalilita – we’re a website rather than a publisher or institution and as such don’t produce a catalogue. Books we recommend are hoever available via the bookshop which is affiliated with Amazon.
Kind regards,
Amazon
September 14th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I did a posting earlier in the year and said I would be back if I came across any other free dictations. Well, the most comprehensive list (which includes good old Shorthand World!!!!) I have personally found is on the blog of an American steno-typing student. Look up “Court Reporter Bound – A Steno Student’s Quest” on Google (or any other reasonable search engine) and follow the links to the free dictations on the blog (or else search her blog for “dictations”. Many thanks to Steno Student for making us aware of all these resources!
September 16th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I’m doing a case study entitled “Factors Affecting the Speed in Shorthand Writing” and my problem is for my RRL( Review of Related Literature.) Could you help me find reliable books and websites?
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
i need the dictation practice in short hand of 60 wpm, 70 wpm. 80 wpm and and 100 speed …..can help me……
October 26th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I’m getting back to Pitmans after a break of 60 years. I retrieved a tape recorder and recorded newspaper editorials at 80 wpm on one side and 100 wpm on the other. I intend to keep going through the tape time and time again until I get the 100 just about 100%, then I’ll do another tape at 100 and 120. Will I ever get to my 150 wpm certificate? Who knows but it is a lot of fun.
January 8th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Hai everyone stenographer ! Wish you happy new year 2011
my name zubair. i want to 60 wpm shorthand dication passages downloaded any one please send me my id zubair1152@yahoo.co. in or zubair1152@gmail.com
please help me !
i will not forget them.
May 10th, 2011 at 8:46 am
I want shorthand practice i.e. magazine and dictation. Where can I have magazines and cds etc.
May 14th, 2011 at 7:33 am
Hai, can any one send me the high speed material (Above 120 wpm) to coolguy.501@rediffmail.com
June 8th, 2011 at 10:22 am
I want passages with shorthand speed 80wpm for practice, i am preparing for shorthand exam.
June 8th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Anyone looking for free dictation can visit my site (ShorthandShorthandShorthand.com) under link from the home page for DICTATION. At the bottom of that page, I have clickable material dictated at 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 which changes monthly. The direct link to the dictation page is: http://shorthandshorthandshorthand.com/Transcribed.htm
Please remember that I use the Gregg method of counting materials where a “word” is actually 1.4 syllables. In other words, you may find you can write at a slightly higher speed than you would if the material were counted differently.
June 9th, 2011 at 5:03 am
Hai,
Sir, i want 150 W.P.M above passages material.I am preparing Shorthand English high speed examination
June 12th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Mark Semler’s site comes very highly recommended – please browse beyond the dictation part though as there’s a wealth of great info on there.
Brian and KY – good luck getting the 150!
June 29th, 2011 at 3:48 am
This is awesome! Thank you! I have not used my shorthand skills for a long while, and your site will be a great resource to practice my shorthand.
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:36 am
This is awesome! Thank you! I have not used my shorthand skills for a long while, and your site will be a great resource to practice my shorthand
September 13th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Further to the topic “free stuff” I did a couple of postings in the past (look above), I noticed recently that some of the links on the “stenostudentblogspot” are now ‘dead’, but the young lady who maintains the blog adds to it from time to time, so there is still plenty of stuff to practise. I came across a site recently – http://www.shorthandcourse.co.uk which has a very limited amount of dictation matter. It hasn’t been updated since last year, so it seems that the person who started it may have lost interest or not had the time to maintain it. There is a short paragraph read from low speeds through to 110 wpm, so may be helpful to people in the early stages of learning shorthand.
On the Podomatic site there are some drills which have been uploaded by a British stenostudent. This seems to be a relatively new series of podcasts and again is currently at slower speeds, though I suspect faster speeds may be added from time to time.
I personally have been doing some practice from You Tube videos – not necessarily specifically shorthand or stenography biased, but “Lady Steno” reviews some products etc and the talk she gives can be taken down as shorthand. Also on You Tube the NCRA have some videos of interviews of successful American court reporters and these interviews can be taken down as shorthand.
I may have mentioned this before but if anyone is based in London, England or the Home Counties, England, the Incorporated Phonographic Society has ‘live’ dictation practice on Thursday evenings in the term time at Bishopsgate Institute in Liverpool Street, London. Website is http://www.the-ips.org.uk. It is free for the first visit (to see if the visitor likes it) and £3 for any subsequent visit (the hire of the room has been increased recently). I used to go there when I lived in London and my rusty shorthand did improve.
Also from time to time I look on the student forum of the Stenospeed site to see if any dictation material is mentioned by the students who contribute to the forum. Last time I looked mention was made of an American government site which had quite challenging stuff. The posting was made a few years back, mind.
Will report back if I find out anything else of use. Pat O
September 20th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Sir,
Pls. send me the passages of 100 wpm, 120 wpm and 140 wpm.
Thanking you,
Somnath
September 23rd, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Please send me the legal dictation passages of 500 words at the earliest.
Regards
Prasad
October 18th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Please send me the legal dictation passges of 500 words at the earliest.
Regards
October 18th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Please send me the legal dictation passges in English 100 W.P.M. & 120 W.P.M. at the earliest.
Regards
November 16th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Very helpful, but I need some more dictation mp3 with different-different speed variations for more practice of shorthand
November 17th, 2011 at 2:05 am
Is there an available CD’s here in Philippines? were can i buy it…..?
November 24th, 2011 at 8:46 am
It is nice to see the website and i am really very impressed with the online dictation, which is very helpful for mantaining the regular speed. I shall be very thankful ,if am supplied some high speed dictations.
thanks, parveen
December 5th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I look for online dictation using Google from time to time and though I have not found much that I haven’t posted before I came across a listing from a lady called “Lisa” (a stenotype reporter I think) who has posted some links. They are of difficult material so maybe for the more advanced shorthand writer or machine stenographer and some of the links are dead – but plenty still work – so try typing “Free dictation Facebook” (or I suppose you could search directly on Facebook if you are part of the Facebook Community – I’m not!!! Happy shorthand writing (or Stenotyping or Palantyping).
Pat O
December 8th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
Thanks Patricia – I shall certainly check these out!
December 9th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Last time I posted something another poster made a snide remark to the effect that I’d posted the same thing 5 times (not true – the Facebook links I mentioned recently were new to me) but you know, I feel if I’m trying to be helpful and get a sniping comment, then I don’t really feel like bothering anymore (albeit I think our editor has been editing the nasty commen). Anyway if this is to be my last posting I may as well try and say something useful. This site http://www.courtreportingstudents.com seems to be mainly a paid for site, but there is one free dictation on the blog with a promise of more to com. The IPS website now has a few free taster dictations available (I have mentioned IPS before but not the dictations as they are new). Any time I have posted anything to Shorthand World, I have only been trying to be helpful and share stuff that I have found useful with others – but like I say, sniping and sarcastic comments do curb one’s enthusiasm so in future if I do find anything else I’ll probably keep it to myself.
December 12th, 2011 at 10:19 am
I want to purchase Pitman S.S.Publications’ Shorthand magazine “Shorthand Reading and Dictation Exercises Monthly”. Please let me know the yearly subscription for the same. (Yearly Indian)
Also prices of CD or Cassette for the speed of English 100 & 120 W.P.M. dictation.
(including postage charges for Raigad District (Maharashtra)
December 12th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Hi Patricia – I’m really sorry to hear this. You’re one of the most valued of contributiors to Shorthand World so I’m gutted to hear there’s been any form of sniping or snide remarks sent your way.
I always find your thoughts and suggestions relevant, useful and insightful and I’m sure others do to.
Laurence
Editor
December 19th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I want to purchase Pitman S.S.Publications’ Shorthand magazine “Shorthand Reading and Dictation Exercises Monthly”. Please let me know the yearly subscription for the same. (Yearly Indian)
Also prices of CD or Cassette for the speed of English 100 & 120 W.P.M. dictation.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:43 am
Once when I was about 15 I was sitting in the back of my mom’s van while it was parked. I was waiting for her to get back from shopping. Both vehicles parked to the left and right of the van that I was in began to back out of their parking spots giving the illusion that the van that I was in was rolling forward. I had an adrenaline spike like you wouldn’t believe. I dove from the back of the van landing with some insane crawling movement to press my hand on the brake. I moved my foot up to replace my hand and looked around, noting what had really just happened. Derp. http://www.moarrs729917.net
January 27th, 2012 at 10:39 am
Don’t know if this would be of interest to any Gregg writers (not the system I use). I typed “shothand video” into Google and it came up with some Gregg instruction videos, which might be useful to people who are learning or revising that system.
February 7th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
I have seen a recommendation on a machine shorthand students’ forum for a site called c-span.org which appears to be an American cable news site. Not for beginners though.
February 24th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Wonderful site and worthy information..also thank you so much Marc Semler for the great site shorthandshorthandshorthand.com.. love this site..
Its been almost 10yrs i havent done the shorthand practice.. I wanted to start practice for 180 WPM. I am certified for 150 WPM in the year 2000 its tough though..wish me luck.. thanks
March 31st, 2012 at 10:19 am
There are some new (to me) if not to YouTube videos on YouTube uploaded by “walandnoah” which seem to be fast stuff – aimed at American stenotypers probably. I also found on YouTube “Teeline Practice-Dawn Johnston” (not so fast as the ‘walandnoah’ stuff uploaded by staffygirl30.
April 4th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Kalyani,
Thanks for the kind words! Visit monthly because I change the dictation on or about the first of each month.
I’ll admit, I don’t always read exactly what the transcript says and, occasionally, you’ll hear my cat “helping” me, but I hope everyone finds the extra practice material helpful. From the main page (shorthandshorthandshorthand.com), click on DICTATED; once on that page, the buttons for various speeds–from 60 through 140–are at the bottom of the page.
Marc
April 25th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I haven’t tried these yet but I found some medical type videos at a site for medical transcriptionist http://www.mt-stuff/video1.html but it does carry the following warning “Disclaimer: Some video presentations contain graphic material not suitable for young children. These video links are posted for medical education purposes to assist Medical Transcriptionists in their careers. Disclaimer: Some video presentations contain graphic material not suitable for young children. These video links are posted for medical education purposes to assist Medical Transcriptionists in their careers.” So it’s up to you if you want to try them.
May 7th, 2012 at 7:30 am
Thanks very much for sharing RSW! Doing something unusual such as medical terminology dictation can stretch the grey cells.
May 16th, 2012 at 11:28 pm
While I think of it, I downloaded the free version of “NaturalVoices” software
which is a text to speech program. The free version only has the “Microsoft Sam” voice and you can’t save anything as MP3 and it’s not infallible [read "intestacy" as eye-en-tacky] but if you are into doing your own dictations and want to rest your voice and can put up with the robotic quality of the synthesised voice it might prove useful if limited (unless you want to buy the paid for version) but I appreciate some of the folk who refer here are cash-strapped students!
May 18th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Me again – I do have a life away from the internet honest!. I’ve just come across some videos on YouTube “CC Prose” “CCProseKids” and “CCPoems” – readings from classics. I’ve only tried a couple – a short burst from “Jane Eyre” and even shorter from “Black Beauty” – these two were read well and evenly. The voices were English – mind you I haven’t tried any American books as yet. They do “close caption” the videos so if you use ‘em you might want to put another window across the screen.