I frequently get asked what single action should a practitioner take to improve their speed. Being a holistic type of chap, I find myself immediately spouting off a ream of suggestions rather than just one - more practice, looser grip, less white space, tighter outlines and so on. But it has sparked an idea. What if, in and amongst the composite approach to speed improvement, we focused on improving a single aspect of our shorthand each week? It's the type of thing athletes do all the time - they'll focus on stride pattern one week, elbow movement the next and so on. Perhaps it could work with shorthand too, and build better long term style discipline by focusing our minds on a single aspect of practice above all others for a given week, rather than bombarding ourselves with too many things to concentrate on. If there's something in this (and it is only an idea), then the next thing would be to put together a programme. Now I've been thinking about this for a little while. And, in the self-help style,  I've come up with a 12-week programme! It would run more as a guidance list within existing classes, providing an area ...

One question I get asked a lot is  "where can I learn shorthand these days?" I learned Teeline in classes with the National Council for the Training of Journalists here in the UK. Because shorthand is still THE skill editors want from new recruit reporters shorthand training remains a "live" subject taught in classes here in the UK. The NCTJ is still thriving and each year hundreds of newly tooled-up reporters armed with shorthand head out of training ready to start their reporting careers. I know of others too who teach shorthand primarily to those entering the media. But what if you're not a journalist and have no interest in becoming a reporter? Are people able to sign on for a short course in shorthand whether in Teeline or Pitman? I'm hoping to compile a database of shorthand training centres which I hope will be of use to Shorthand World visitors. If you've had a good (or bad) experience of shorthand courses run in the UK please drop me a line. Equally, if you are a training provider who offers shorthand training, please get in touch using the "Contact Us" button and tell us more. Thank you to Will Smith for providing the following: Darlington College ...

Anybody who has ever learned shorthand has, at some stage, experienced the “speed plateau”. It’s not a nice place. No matter what you try, it seems you’re stuck with a certain speed. We blame our hands (they just can’t go faster), we blame our brains (it just can’t go faster) we may even blame shorthand (why did I learn this lousy system in the first place). First things first. Plateaus with shorthand speed are natural. You’ll get them in pretty much any activity you could think of – sprinting, piano playing or ping pong. I believe plateaus are where knowledge and skill consolidate, levelling and steadying the ground for further progress. The key is to use our plateaux as a srpingboard for the leaps forward we are about to make. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of our plateaux becoming a rut. So what’s the plan? Essentially, breaking out of a plateau is a two-fold process – consolidating what you know and pushing yourself onto pastures new similtaneously. Sound difficult? It needn’t be. First, establish your maximum speed – the speed at which you can only just keep up with the speaker, where you only get down a hint of an ...

A while ago, I was asked by a graphic design student whether there was a special piece of software that translated keyboard-input type into shorthand. Sadly, I don’t think there is. But what got me was the fact she was interested in using shorthand in a graphic design project. Now, I’ve got a passing interest in design and imaging and it got me thinking…and creating. Sticking with my native Teeline, I decided to create a desktop wallpaper – purely for my own fun and use. But I thought I’d share my (fairly miserable) efforts with everybody. What did surprise me was how nice shorthand outlines are to use as a shape as opposed to the more utilitarian purposes I put them through each day in my work. Anyway, enough of all that, here’s my stuff. If anybody is mad enough to want any of these as a wallpaper simply say so in the comments section and I’ll get some linked up to the images below. [caption id="attachment_45" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Teeline Tree"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_46" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="My Desktop Reflected"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_47" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Shorthand Can Be Art"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Teeline Burned"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_49" align="alignleft" width="390" caption="Shorthand Spew "][/caption]

Thanks to the contributor who raised the following points and questions: Do reporters really need shorthand in this day and age? An age of hi-tech wizardry and miniature digital recording devices? I understand that its pretty much mandatory to get 100wpm to get a reporting job in the UK - but in the US it's not and you have loads of trainee reporters starting their careers without shorthand. I think they only learn shorthand if they are inclined to do so - and many are not. What do you reckon? Shorthand's days are numbered? My personal view is a little old fashioned - shorthand has survived thousands of years and it's got a few more years left. You're right to point out that the requirements for getting a reporting job in the UK and US are different. You do need shorthand to get a newspaper reporting job in the UK - and for good reason, too. First, an editor has an element of legal leverage if a reporter is accused of making up a quote (which is often levied at reporters when those involved in stories don't like their words printed in black and white). The editor can check his reporter's shorthand note, waive a certificate ...

He was one of the greats of modern shorthand. But have you ever wondered what became of his books, letters and, yes you guessed it, his pen? Well Shorthand World decided to go on the Pitman history trail to find out more. Born in Trowbridge (Wiltshire) in 1813, Isaac Pitman trained and worked as a teacher. But his name will forever be almost synomymous with shorthand – thanks to his invention of a ’stenographic system’. In June 1839 he took up residence in Bath and shortly afterwards opened a ’school for young gentlemen’ where phonographic writing was taught alongside other subjects. By 1843 the use of stenographic sound-hand, or phonography, was becoming increasingly widespread and Pitman found it necessary to give up his school to concentrate on the full-time production of instruction manuals and other phonographic literature. He established his first printing press and by 1873 was publishing over 80,000 phonographic works a year. By the time of his death in 1897, Pitman’s shorthand, still used in offices today, was commercially successful, widely popular and internationally renowned. Bath University’s Library and Learning Centre now holds a number of items which once belonged to the great man. In 2004, the centre acquired one of Sir ...

1. Sleep well the night before - go to bed early and avoid doing any shorthand the evening before. 2. Remember to check AND DOUBLE CHECK your transcriptions before you submit your script. Oh, and write your transcriptions out clearly - many students fail not on their shorthand but on their transcriptions, so make sure the transcription can be read by an examiner! 3. Half an hour before the exam, loosen and relax your hands, fingers and neck with light stretches and joint rotations. During the exam sit with a straight, but forward-slanted back. Despite the urge, don't hunch over with bunched up shoulders - it constricts your breathing and blood flow. 4. Breathe well and try to keep your mind clear of distractions. 5. Once the passage has been read out, read back your shorthand notes before transcribing them. Mark any outlines you are uncertain of. 6. When transcribing, leave those marked shorthand outlines out of your longhand transcription - only try filling in the blanks afterwards, when you can confidently compare your notes with what you think the word might be. Remember, the context of the piece itself might just solve the riddle. 7. Triple check your transcription for any ...

Shorthand World readers frequently ask us which are the best books for learning shorthand. There are hundreds of excellent books out there which will help you learn or improve, so choosing from them is no mean feat. But we’ll have a stab at naming our top ten books for Pitman and Teeline. To find out more about any of the books below just hover your cursor over them! Teeline Fast (Teeline) Teeline Revised Edition (Teeline) Teeline Gold: Speed Ladder (Teeline Gold) Teeline Gold: Word List (Teeline Gold) Teeline Gold: Student Pack (Teeline) Shorthand Pitman 2000 (Teach Yourself) Pitman 2000: Shorthand Short Course Pitman New Era Shorthand: Anniversary Edition Pitman 2000: Shorthand First Course (Pitman 2000 Shorthand) Shorthand, Pitman’s: New Era: Facility Drills (Anniversary Edition) But what do you think? What are your top ten books? Why not drop us a line to let us know!

Thanks to Bill and Patricia for inspiring this post! As Bill points out the Dasi pen firm went out of business ( I think in the 1970s?) which left the entire world of shorthand worse off as a result. Luckily, if we’re prepared to look slightly further than the nearest stationery shop and its vast range of biros, there’s still some excellent pens out there. One of the best I’ve tried is the fantastic Pelikan Steno pen. It is incredibly responsive, ideal for shorthand, feels well weighted in the hand, and the ink flow is superb even at higher speeds. I don’t know whether Pelikan still makes this model, but they can be picked up second hand from specialists. Pelikan make a number of other pens and I have to admit to being a bit partial to this brand as they always feel right in my hand for some reason. I’ve also become particularly enamoured with the Pilot V5 (and V7) which is a super glider of a pen across a page. I actually tested this against a standard biro once and found my shorthand speed was a good 5-7wpm higher with the Pilot than the standard biro (done using a 120wpm exercise ...

I imagine most of us have been writing since we were children. Most of us don’t remember the day we learned to hold a pen – at least I don’t Holding a pen seems a little like riding a bike, or speaking, or breathing. We just do it. Although we might occasionally ask why we write, I doubt many of us think about how we write But for those of us learning and/or using shorthand, how hold a pen might have a major bearing on what we write and, more importantly, how quickly we write shorthand. Ben Pitman, the brother of Sir Isaac Pitman, knew the how of penmanship was controversial. Nevertheless, he was undeterred from making a suggestion. He said, in his Manual of Phonography: “The learner is advised to hold his (or her-Ed) pen or pencil in the manner usual in writing longhand – between the first and second fingers – unless he (or she-Ed) finds that in so doing, he (or she!) is unable to easily and accurately to write the stroke “t” in an exactly vertical vertical direction. If after a few days’ practice any difficulty may be found in doing this does not disappear, he may find it ...