I decided to write about shorthand since most of us had taken shorthand in high school. I am sure many of you will relate to this and recognize the script or may even be able to read it.
I was first introduced to shorthand in my junior year when I and a group of other girls entered into the Pre-Tech program which required us to take business courses and office skills. The Pre-Tech program consisted of a 2 year study of shorthand, typing, and academic studies needed to complete in order to fulfill my grading requirements and continue to the next level of my studies. With the completion of the 2 year program we would be able to attend a 2 year community college. We were the first group to enter into this program. You might say that we were the ones that were the test group being the deciding factor whether this program was going to continue depending on the success of the program.
I can recall how exciting it was to learn shorthand. I also knew that once I understood it that other people would not be able to read it. Everyday we learned a new
consonant
vowel
punctuations.
It was a fun class and I learned alot. Here is a video of the introduction of Gregg Shorthand Dictation. You will have to mute the music on the right side Ipod in order to hear the video. As the man is talking, he or she is writing it all down in shorthand.
Here is an article about a woman who translates shorthand from documents and it is titled Miss Stevens, can you take a letter? Shorthand skills dying out Her name is Letha Sanders and she is a shorthand translator and she has turned it into a business. Here is her website Shorthand Translation Services.
How many still use shorthand at your job or in writing your journal? Has court stenography replaced shorthand? Would high schools bring this art back into their curriculum? For anyone who has been through this program and remembers shorthand, let us know what you think about this. Are you or have you used shorthand at your present or previous jobs? You can leave a comment on after this article.
References:
Gregg Shorthand - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_shorthand
Gregg Shorthand on Facebook "like" page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gregg-shorthand/106179482745866
Gregg Shorthand Dictionary - http://books.google.com/books/about/Gregg_shorthand_dictionary.html?id=J5kLAAAACAAJ
