On this page:
Portraits of Sir Isaac Pitman
Shorthand Books
Writing Equipment
Shorthand Websites
Shorthand Articles
Dictation
Typing/Dictation Software
Shorthand Interest
Language
Museums & Sir Isaac Pitman Pub
Miscellaneous
Please note that information here is gained only from the
websites, and you should check out authors' credentials before
buying goods or services.
PORTRAITS OF SIR ISAAC PITMAN
National Portrait
Gallery, London
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05032/Sir-Isaac-Pitman
An oil painting of Sir Isaac Pitman in the National Portrait
Gallery, London.
Mary Evans Picture
Library, London
www.maryevans.com Picture No.
10220330, this is the photograph that appears in the Wikipedia
article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Pitman).
Science Photo
Library
http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/227652/view Engraving of Isaac
Pitman as a
young man.
Bath In Time
http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image/197319/sir-isaac-pitman-&%3B-sons-shorthand-and-publishing-works-twerton-on-avon-c-1890
Bath Central Library's photo of Pitman's publishing works in Twerton,
UK.
Please see their various terms of
use for purchased prints or high res downloads: generally for
personal display only, not for reproduction or website use.
SHORTHAND BOOKS
www.bookbarn.co.uk
Based in Bristol, UK, stock
and sell second-hand books on behalf of sellers who receive 50% of
the selling price. Their search site
www.look4abook.com will turn
up a large number of shorthand books that they have in stock (more
than you will find on Ebay), often several of the same title with
different prices, according to condition. They always seem to have
several of the big Shorthand and English dictionary at a very
reasonable cost. I found their mail order service to be quick and
efficient.
www.bookbutler.com is where
I would normally start a book search, so that I can see which
sellers around the world have the book (or books on that
subject-matter) in stock and compare prices. If you use the keyword
search, it is very useful for alerting you to the availability books
that you did not know existed!
Ancient shorthand (pre-New Era)
books are available as free PDF downloads from American Libraries
Internet Archive, see link below,
useful for learning from experienced writers and teachers of the
past.
Ebay UK always has a
plentiful supply of Pitman's Shorthand books, far more than the
Ebays for other countries. Do check that the version says New Era on
the cover or title page (or 2000 if you are studying that), as
"Centenary" and "20th Century" are the older versions before the
theory revisions of 1922.
Recommended Books
Theory instruction books
available are described on Theory Intro
page. As long as it says New Era, whichever one you have, of any
age, will match the shorthand here exactly and will get you to your
goal. Pitman's Shorthand can write all the modern 21st century
terminology, so no problem there. With a measure of
self-determination, old book = perennial skills = new you!
"Guide to Phrasing" by June Swann (Official Court Reporter),
which is a rewrite of the original "The New Phonographic Phrase
Book" by Emily D Smith. I learned from these in the 1970's. They
are both equally useful and very similar in content, with full
explanations of the principles, long lists of sample phrases and
some practice material. A pen lift is equivalent to writing an extra
stroke, and phrasing avoids this.
"Pitman's Shorthand Writing
Exercises and Examination Tests - a series of graduated exercises on
every rule in the system." The shorthand
Key is a separate book. Very extensive vocabulary lists to learn
from – see
Vocabulary Intro page for further description.
If you are a committed
shorthand learner you will be delighted with your purchases. Speed
comes from knowing the outline!
Any shorthand book by high
speed writer Emily D Smith is worth buying, they are all very good
and packed with useful information. In fact, I never see any
shorthand book anywhere that is not of interest.
Shorthand Dictionary
Your internet
searches for an online Pitman's Shorthand and English dictionary may
come across the following link from American Libraries Internet
Archive:
www.archive.org/details/englishshorthand00pitmiala
Please note that this is a
digitization of the Centenary version of 1917 and not New Era which
did not appear until 1922. There are many differences in theory
details between the two versions and so the above book is not
suitable for learners, but is of course of great interest to
existing writers. The text-version generated by OCR from the scans
is not really of use, as there is no shorthand, and the text
produced has crossed all the columns, thus shredding all the
entries.
I use the 1974 New Era version
of this dictionary. All shorthand books from Ebay and second-hand
booksellers should be checked for version before purchase. If the
book does not actually say New Era on the title page, then you can
assume it is a pre-New Era version. And of course it also needs to
say "Pitman's" as well.
See my
Dictionaries
page for descriptions of various shorthand dictionaries and my
Search page which may enable you to
find the word and its outline that you are after, amongst the many
thousands in this website.
The American Libraries Internet
Archive has very many digitized old shorthand books that you can
read online and most can also be downloaded as PDFs, enabling you to
avoid paying antique prices and spend it instead on your New Era
books. Pre-New Era shorthand will confuse the beginner, but the
advice, discussion and shorthand learning tips are always
interesting to peruse, and are equally relevant today. You can
clipboard the interesting sections and build up your own "advice"
file, especially beneficial for those learning on their own.
They also provide OCR-generated
text versions, which often contain mistakes in recognition because
of the lack of crispness of the original letterpress pages. I do not
think that you will find New Era among them because those books are
still in copyright. It is not guaranteed that any of the digitized
books are actually out of copyright, and so you are not free to do
as you like with them. The archive is for scholarly and historical
study purposes only, and your use of their material is governed by
their Terms of Use
http://www.archive.org/about/terms.php.
Dates of Pitman's Shorthand
versions:
20th Century = 1900
Centenary = 1913
New Era = 1922
Top of page
WRITING EQUIPMENT
Pens &
Ink
Using a fountain pen with a generous ink flow
for your normal longhand writing will accustom you to writing fast
with a light touch, a good habit to have if you should later on
acquire a flexible-nibbed pen for shorthand writing. However, if you
try to write Pitman's Shorthand with a normal steel-nibbed pen, or a
cheap one with miserly ink flow, this will have the opposite effect
of causing you to dig the paper, in a fruitless effort to form the
thick strokes.
If buying from Ebay – undescribed
yellow-looking nibs are not always gold, they may be unyielding
gold-plated steel, or even plain steel with yellow reflections from
the surroundings. I prefer to see "14K" "18K" etc on the nib
neck.
www.gouletpens.com based in Virginia, USA - inks, pens and
sundries, from where you can obtain the excellent and inexpensive Noodler's Flex Pen for your
shorthand (my review)
and the Nib Creaper Piston-fill Rollerball (my
review) which can be filled from bottled fountain pen ink. Fast,
efficient and
friendly service, and further information and demos on their Ink Nouveau
website www.inknouveau.com
http://noodlersink.com Quality inks and makers of the Flex Pen
and other pens. Their pens are dedicated to being simple to adjust
and disassemble, so that you can fine-tune to your requirements or
reuse vintage and other nibs in them, and kept at low price.
Both Goulet and Noodlers have many informative
videos on YouTube.
www.cultpens.com
A huge range of pens, mechanical pencils and
refills, and Pencyclopedia section.
Their name might suggest vintage or
second-hand but these are all new pens.
Based in Tiverton, Devon, UK.
German
precision engineering in pens has never let me down yet:
www.fountainpennetwork.com "Categorized forum with discussion
topics such as repairs, history, news, penmanship and calligraphy."
Ideal place for detailed info and advice from pen enthusiasts. Site
also has calendar of Pen Club meetings and classified adverts of
pens for sale.
www.rickconner.net/penspotters Extensive
field guide to pens, their construction, care and history, inks.
Writer based in Washington DC, USA.
(Also extensive info on spammers' activities and how to deal with,
at
http://www.rickconner.net/spamweb/index.html )
www.richardspens.com
Pen repair and nib customisation by Richard Binder, with an
extensive reference section on pen care, construction and history.
Based in New Hampshire USA. Of especial interest is the article in
the reference section "Flex, a Disaster in the Making" which
describes the correct way to use flex nibs, and is an encouragement
not to lend your shorthand pen to a casual user even for a moment.
Many pen specialists offer nib customisation for flex, at a cost of
course, and the pen care sections of their websites are well worth
reading so that you can take the best care of your precious pens,
shorthand or otherwise.
www.thewritingdesk.co.uk
Inks, pens and sundries, including their TWD budget range. Based in Bury St
Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
http://noodlersink.com Wide range of inks,
and some pens
www.marcuslink.com/pens/ink/index.htm Ink & pen info
www.rickconner.net/penoply/ink.html
Ink info
www.covingtoninnovations.com/pens/#INK Ink info and many
links to other sites
Converters
A converter enables a cartridge pen to be
bottle filled and are generally available wherever fountain pens are
sold. It is essentially a cartridge with a twist plunger mechanism
to suck the ink in. This means you can start the day with a full ink
supply, as well as having endless choice of ink colour at a moment's
notice. The plunger also enables you to force some ink to the nib,
if necessary, much better than shaking the pen and possibly hitting
the nib against something and/or spraying ink about when it does
come through. (Dipping the nib in water can often bring the ink
through again.)You can fill a converter on its own before fitting it
to the pen. You need to get the correct converter for your
particular pen.
www.penbox.co.uk/fountain.pen.converters.htm have a wide
range for different makes of pens.
www.jetpens.com/articles/Article:_How_to_Use_a_Fountain_Pen_Converter
Photo tutorial.
Never, never, never use drawing ink in your
fountain pen, it is not designed to wash out when dried!
Pencils
http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com
Very informative
website with reviews, hints & tips, and problem solving from a true
pencil enthusiast. The site also describes traditional pencils.
Contributors' comments on his blogs offer polite and additional
information for problem solving. Based in New Zealand.
www.pencilsharpener.com
KUM specialists in pencil sharpeners and ergonomic writing aids
(grips and left handed items), described on
Pen &
Pencil Reviews page.
Lined paper
www.printablepaper.net
has hundreds of free PDFs of every possible version of paper –
lines, dots, graphs, music and much more. They do have a Pitman's
notepad page for those who wish to have central line down the page.
See also Print Your Own Shorthand Notepad PDF on my
Downloads
page for a version that I prefer to recommend for Pitman's
Shorthand.
Top of page
SHORTHAND WEBSITES
The
Joy of Pitman Shorthand
http://pitmanshorthand.homestead.com
Gives an overview of the system, with many items of general
shorthand interest and also sells “I Love Pitman Shorthand”
merchandise.
Facebook page "Shorthand Writing", Wall contributors
sensible and keeping to the subject (all shorthand systems). Writer
based in Toronto, Canada.
Shorthand World
www.shorthandworld.co.uk
Comprehensive site that describes itself as an Online Shorthand
Magazine with articles and a wide choice of discussion posts/blogs
to contribute to. They also sell dictation CDs and shorthand
instruction books.
http://community.businessballs.com Use the search box for several articles on shorthand and
exam technique.
Pitman for
Geeks
www.shorthand.mkz.com &
http://pitmania.com
General points on the system, a simplified and entertaining
introduction to the general principles before you start your
Pitman's Shorthand course in earnest. Writer based in Ontario,
Canada.
Shorthand Untangled
www.shorthand-untangled.co.uk
Web forum, articles and shop.
Shorthand Shorthand
Shorthand
http://shorthandshorthandshorthand.com
Devoted to
pen shorthand, mainly Gregg but everyone welcome. History, tips and
good advice from a shorthand enthusiast, and an especially
interesting page comparing shorthand writer versus tape recorder.
ShorthandTracey
http://shorthandtracey.co.uk
&
http://shorthandtranscription.co.uk
Offers Pitman's New Era Shorthand transcription service for those
intriguing undeciphered texts or old journals you may have lying
around. Tracey has also made a very welcome start on lessons to teach New
Era for complete beginners. Based
in UK.
Shorthand
Translation Services
http://shorthandtranslations.com Translations from Gregg by Ms
Letha Sanders and staff, based in Colorado USA. Their related
website
www.shorthandclasses.com is aimed at encouraging learners and
contributors, to promote interest in shorthand of all types.
Shorthand in Australia
www.eliteeas.com.au
Pitman's New Era Shorthand offered by email correspondence courses
and classes in Brisbane, Australia, as well as mentoring for
Executive Assistants and Office Professionals. 250wpm writer,
credentials at
http://au.linkedin.com/pub/tanya-battel/4/62b/645
Hindi Shorthand
http://shorthandhouse.com
Author has devised his own shorthand, based on Pitman's, both in
English and Hindi, and is active in promoting the learning of
shorthand and associated office skills, to create and increase
employment prospects. He aims to further develop Sanskrit shorthand.
Self-learning books offered for those who are unable to take
advantage of other forms of instruction. Writer based in New Delhi,
India.
http://www.archive.org/details/hindishorthandma005141mbp
Adaptation of Pitman's Shorthand to Hindi language, published in
1925, but bear in mind it may be based on pre-New Era Pitman's.
Introduction in English and remainder in Hindi characters. Read
on-screen or download as PDF or other formats. Archive Terms of Use
– generally scholarship and research purposes only
http://www.archive.org/about/terms.php
The are many varied shorthand site and articles to be
found but no website alone can replace professional tuition and
graded instruction books – the best route to gaining a
good working skill in shorthand. If you come across a
less-than-encouraging blog about the "difficulties" of shorthand,
please remember that such frustrations do pass as you work through
the lessons and build your skill, and they should not be allowed to
deflect you from your goal. Demolish the distractions and share the
victories, rather than the other way around!
SHORTHAND ARTICLES
Teeline Shorthand's Blog by
holdthefrontpage staff
www.ipernity.com/blog/38906/home
Many interesting shorthand articles with good advice on learning and
exam technique, useful for students of all systems.
Suite 101/Lee Stansfield
http://www.suite101.com/content/shorthand-tips-for-the-frustrated-journalist-a186110
Short article on learning shorthand, but also has other items of
interest to journalism students.
Hold The Front Page
www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk Everything of interest to the
would-be journalist, with an occasional shorthand article.
Up To Speed Journalism
http://uptospeedjournalism.co.uk/find-out-more/shorthand NCTJ
accredited journalism training and fast-track Teeline shorthand
courses, based in Bournemouth UK – students' accomplishments are
always an encouragement to learners of all shorthand systems, and a
reminder that the skill is still valued and necessary.
Wannabehacks
http://wannabehacks.co.uk/student/2011/04/11/the-unconfined-joy-of-passing-100wpm-shorthand-and-why-everyone-can-do-it
Encouraging short article by a Teeliner with tips for success.
DICTATION
See Dictation page for notes on how you can make use of
fast speaking
for practice.
Online Stopwatch
www.online-stopwatch.com
Stopwatch, countdown, metronome and various timers. If you count down
for one minute and repeat a line-length sentence of shorthand down
the page, you can find out your speed with minimal amount of
calculating - words in sentence times lines completed. Create a
sentence with all your favourite flowing outlines and phrases to get
maximum confidence-boosting wpm!
Incorporated Phonographic
Society
www.the-ips.org.uk
"The world's oldest society of shorthand
writers" This society has been going since 1898 and meets at
the Bishopsgate Institute in London. They offer live weekly
dictation, speed examinations for both typewriting and shorthand (any system, from
50 wpm to 280 wpm), and a quarterly IPS Journal.
Writers of all shorthand systems are welcome, and membership and
visitor's fees are minimal. When you visit their website, I am quite
sure you will like the (Pitman's) shorthand in their logo, as it
will help you add to your list of useful contractions!
Listen-To-English
www.listen-to-english.com
"The podcast website for people learning English"
Learning combined with enjoyment in a non-commercial Ipod-friendly
site dedicated to improving English comprehension. Points of
language are illustrated within interesting, informative and topical
articles, along with photograph, some of the words linked to a
dictionary, and some linked to other websites for further
exploration of the subject matter. You can also listen online (3 to
5 minutes each) or download MP3. There is an archive of past
articles and if you save both the text and the MP3s, you will have a
huge store of good quality dictation material and you can improve
speed and speech simultaneously. The conversational tone will
provide plenty of practice on the most common words, but not letting
you off some shorthand dictionary work. The voice is English male
and is clearly spoken. The average speed of the podcasts is
approximately 120 wpm. Author: Peter Carter of Birmingham, UK. See
the Help page for terms of use.
TED
www.ted.com
"TED is a non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth
Spreading"
This stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design. The website has
videos of on-stage one-person talks at their conferences, up to 18
minutes, on many subjects in depth. The contributors seem well-used
to public speaking, with clear enunciation. Some videos give the
choice to display subtitles, and some have an interactive transcript
which you can use to prepare and look up outlines. The videos can be
downloaded in a choice of formats. These talks are more suited to
the faster shorthand writer, but the occasional pause for audience
effect or when pointing to pictures is of course greatly
appreciated!
BBC World Service
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish Lots of varied
articles to read and listen to, as well as download, in crisp clear
BBC English. General interest articles as well as explanations on
points of language.
Stenospeed
www.stenospeed.com
Free dictation sounds
files to use online or download, speeds 40wpm to 230 wpm, plus word
lists, for
all keyboarders, typists and shorthand writers, to
help improve speed, skill and vocabulary. American voices.
Steno Stream
http://stenostream.blogspot.com
Lots of audio from 80 to 225 wpm. American female voice.
Stenocourtreporting
http://stenocourtreporting.blogspot.com
Steno (machine) shorthand site full of further links to dictation
material in a wide range of speeds, all with steno in mind but
useful to pen shorthand writers, as the speeds are stated, and
common words/word groups can be practised. Well worth following all
the links. American voices.
Internet Archive
www.archive.org/details/ActualBusinessLettersDictatedAtVariousSpeeds
Ten dictations from 1 to 4 mins, downloadable individually or
zipped. Very clear American male voice. The Archive Community Audio
section is worth investigating – radio talks, news items, speeches,
etc – but they are unlikely to be spoken slowly.
Teeline
Online
http://teelineshorthand.org/dictationpractice.aspx Six dictations from 50 to 100 wpm, to enable you to gauge
your existing speed capability, plus links to other dictation
possibilities. English female voice.
Pitman Training Audio Library
www.pitmantrainingaudio.com/movie.htm
Lots of dictations of isolated
words, short sentences/letters/passages at very slow speeds (30-50
wpm). Lessons 1 & 2 suitable for Teeliners only (they list the
Teeline characters), Lessons 3 to 14 useful for anyone. Each Lesson
consists of several dictations. You can pause/play The Pitman Audio
Player to help you produce a neat shorthand key, with outlines
looked up, corrected and all written out in a separate notebook.
When you have learned and practised the outlines, take the
dictations again without stopping the Player! English
male voice.
www.nctj.com/resources/shorthand.html
National Council for the Training of Journalists shorthand
resources section contains seven MP3 dictation downloads, one each
at 60 to 120 wpm, plus seven PDFs giving the text. More available
from their shop. English female voice.
www.dictationsonline.com
Very short passages from English literature, aimed at those learning
to write English correctly, but slow enough to practise your
shorthand on. The sentences are read at normal speed for
comprehension, again very slowly twice for students to write in
longhand, followed by a link to the text. Prepare the texts in
shorthand beforehand to get maximum benefit. English male voice.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/machine-speed-shorthand/id281584492
300 dictations of various lengths, from 100 to 180 wpm, aimed
primarily at machine stenographers. Australian female voice.
Resource is provided by TAFE NSW Sydney Australia.
www.learnamericanenglishonline.com Excellent free website to
help students learn English as a second language. The
straightforward explanations are each accompanied by YouTube videos,
spoken clearly and not too fast – practise your shorthand and
improve your English at the same time. Vocabulary lists with
pictures, to enable you to target the gaps in your knowledge of
everyday words. The advantage of this site is that the words and
phrases are the simplest and commonest ones, and sight and sound are
used together to teach. The Links page gives many further sites
where you can listen to spoken English. Author is an ESL (=EFL)
teacher based in Minnesota, USA.
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org
Has a variety of audio and video files scattered
through the sections that you can use for dictation. Even the
standard short introductions to the items need not be wasted, write
them down as well! Audio files can be downloaded, and some also have
a PDF of the text of the talk, ideal for preparing your shorthand
vocab beforehand.
http://www.eslfast.com
Aimed at those learning English as a second language. There are
audios throughout the site, from single sentences to whole passages,
at reasonable speeds. As the text is on screen, you can prepare your
outlines in advance. The single sentence audios could probably each
fit on one line of the shorthand pad, so are good for drills, if you
keep your non-writing hand on the mouse and click the play button
repeatedly. See their resources page for links to similar sites.
American male and female voices. Based in Pasadena USA.
www.spokenword.org
"Find and Share Spoken Word programs"
The site links to broadcasts/conversations on every topic, therefore
the voices are endlessly varied, as they can come from any country.
You search and play the items through their website, and save your
own playlists. Based in California, USA.
http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/support-us/ygtt-2010/
"You've Got The Time" The New Testament
(Contemporary English Version) can be downloaded free in 40
half-hour mp3 files. Multi-voice reading by 31 members of the Riding Lights Theatre
Company, York, UK. Listen to a taster in their 4-minute Christmas
Story video which I have embedded on the
Shorthand Reading Christmas Carols page. "The
Bible Society exists because millions lack the Bible in a language
they can understand,
in a form they can use or at a price they can afford."
www.audio-bible.com The
whole King James Bible in audio for you to listen to online. The
website is in large font to aid the visually impaired. Please note
that the sound files may not be copied or used commercially in any
way, but versions are available for purchase. The reading is by
Stephen Johnston, a professional American narrator. I have timed the
first chapter of Genesis at 170wpm, which is slow for listening but
fast for shorthand writing. At this speed, it may be more useful to
prepare the passage and write lightly in pencil over the top of your
ink outlines. You can halve the speed by writing every alternate
sentence. Proverbs is a good chapter to start with, as the sentences
are mostly quite short and do not contain unusual vocabulary or
names.
Top of page
TYPING / DICTATION SOFTWARE
"Express Dictate
& Express Scribe Transcription Playback"
www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html
The Dictate programme is designed to replace the dictaphone. The
Scribe programme is for typing back the resultant audio files or any
WAV or MP3. You can both make and take your own shorthand dictation.
At bottom right of the Scribe screen there is a slider that enables
you to vary the speed of speech, with pitch maintained, from
25% to 225%. You can easily halve the speed of a file but below 50%
hearing the words becomes a strain and the resultant drawl may send
you to sleep. The functions can also be operated via the keyboard.
The Express Dictate programme is offered as 14-day
trial download before purchase, but Express Scribe is completely
FREE and unrestricted, as
confirmed on their page
www.nch.com.au/scribe/kb/free.html.
Audacity
http://audacity.download-latest.com This simple
FREE sound editing program can
be used to dictate WAV or MP3 sound files, and edit or insert
silences to slow the speed.
Keyblaze Typing Tutor
www.nchsoftware.com/typingtutor/index.html A very simple
FREE
programme for learning to touch type*
which enables you see the keys layout and and be prompted for
correct fingers without ever looking away from the screen. If you
have to look at your fingers when typing, it is very easy to miss
out a line or whole chunk of your shorthand or text copy, reducing
accuracy as well as speed. It is well worth the effort learning to
touch type, especially the numbers row which is often not learned as
thoroughly as the others. I can assure you that, once learned, you
never have to think about where the keys are, it all happens
automatically at lightning speed, while you concern yourself with
the subject matter. When your eyes are tired from too much screen
work, you can dictate your notes to audio and then type them with
your eyes shut!
*Definition: using correct finger
for each key and not looking at the keyboard.
Typing to Music
http://chinstrapmusic.blogspot.com/2011/04/chin20-pitmans-gramophone-course-of.html
This may bring back memories for those who learned typing to music –
six recordings at approximately 3 minutes each, of music combined
with metronome at increasing speeds, taken from "Pitman's Gramophone
Course" 78 rpm vinyls from the beginning of the 20th century. The
sixth one is more conducive to Scottish dancing and you may find
your feet tapping as well as your fingers!
http://www.powertyping.com/qwerty/lessonsq.htm
"Online free typing lessons" This
website achieves the same as the above, as it has the option of
turning on metronome-type background music, at varying speeds, to
accompany the lessons. As with shorthand, even rhythm is extremely
helpful when learning to touch type, aiding accuracy and speed.
SHORTHAND INTEREST
Shorthand Dates This
link
www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Sir_Isaac_Pitman_and_Sons
gives a list of dates of various shorthand systems from 16th century
and Pitman historical dates up to present.
Google Books: Popular Mechanics November 1914, Shorthand
advertisement on page 17 A very effusive advertisement to
encourage the learning of shorthand and promising huge salaries for
little outlay, as do most of the advertisements in the magazine.
Experienced
Writers
http://steele.library.ualberta.ca/?p=247 Here is a historical
piece of Pitman's Shorthand that you might like to have a go at
deciphering, from the Sir Samuel Steele Collection at the University
of Alberta in Canada, found scribbled on the back of one of his
memoir sheets, with a request from the conservators for "any
ideas?". Steele was a North West Mounted Police officer in Canada in
the 19th century. I have posted my own effort at reading it, but you
may be able to see instantly what I have not.
A cartoon portrait drawn with
Pitman's Shorthand outlines from 1891 at the British Library:
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/evancoll/a/largeimage73120.html
Reminiscences
www.sagazone.co.uk/forums/thread/13419/?start=0 Older
shorthanders and typists reminiscing on experiences of learning
their skills, and the quirks of the office machinery of their time.
In pre-computer days, typing and paperwork had to be got right first
time, as the typewriter ribbon ink was going immediately onto the
paper, and so instant accuracy was the essential – no backspacing on
a screen or auto-correct, and no saving to disk of what you have
typed, but only the prospect of stopping to correct multiple carbon
copies for every typo. Younger learners today need to strive for
typing accuracy more by willpower than mechanical necessity, a
praiseworthy achievement as it develops the quality of
self-determination and "stickability", and I am sure we older
shorthanders are cheering them on every step of the way!
LANGUAGE
Deciphering
other writings
If you enjoy squiggles other than Pitman's, and languages other than
English, this site
www.omniglot.com/puzzles.htm has a page showing good definition
photos of puzzling inscriptions, marks, writings, various shorthands
and languages that the contributors would like deciphered and which
you may be able to help with. The site is about languages and
writing systems.
"More Words"
Word game word finder
www.morewords.com Word
searches for all or part of words, and much more, for word games,
puzzles, crosswords, anagrams etc. It is also very useful for
finding words containing the same groupings of letters, to help
practise points of shorthand theory and build up vocabulary.
Apostrophe
Protection Society
www.apostrophe.org.uk
"The little
apostrophe deserves our protection. It is indeed a threatened
species!" Run by John Richards, retired
reporter/sub-editor. Straightforward help to use the apostrophe
correctly.
Pronunciation
www.howjsay.com
Free online talking dictionary of English pronunciation with 130,000
entries.
www.soundcomparisons.com
This website from The University of Edinburgh
gives "Accents of English from Around the World – hear and compare
online". You choose a word from the list and a tabulation is
displayed where you can hover over each regional variation to hear
it spoken. This gives you some idea of the difficulties faced by any
creator of a phonetic shorthand, and why your particular accent may
not be faithfully recorded in Pitman's Shorthand. Fortunately our
brains recognise that they are all variations on the same word, and
we all end up writing Hay with Circle S for house, as below.
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MUSEUMS & PUB
Trowbridge
Museum
www.trowbridgemuseum.co.uk
According to
www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk/councils/trowbridge/museum.html
and
http://www.widecow.com/trowbridge-museum-troutbeck
the museum has a display and a book for sale about Sir Isaac
Pitman's years spent in Trowbridge. Should I ever travel that way, I
shall certainly go in and check it out.
Early Office
Museum
www.officemuseum.com
This is a website (not a physical museum) showing antique office
illustrations and photographs of American offices, equipment,
business training, typewriting and stenography from the 19th and
early 20th century. Fascinating to view our predecessors in the art
– our shorthand brothers and sisters, and fellow typists — and a
great encouragement to keep this valuable skill going in our own
time. Never again will you complain of having an ancient computer.
Sir Isaac
Pitman Pub
in Trowbridge Wiltshire, UK, the great man's birthplace. I have not
visited it, but you may wish to have your photograph taken there for
your Shorthand Brag Book.
www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/pubs/pub-details.php?PubNumber=706
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MISCELLANEOUS
Pay attention to ... what?
Throughout this website I encourage
thinking of shorthand while you are out and about, looking at
adverts, road and shop signs etc, and taking shorthand study material with you
on your Ipod or similar device. This 32-second YouTube from
www.stoptextsstopwrecks.org on the dangers of texting while
walking or driving is a reminder of what
can happen to the incautious:
Creative Writing
www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/writing-fast-how-to-write-10-times-faster-guaranteed-133442.html
Here is a very short article on how to focus your efforts for
creative writing and authoring, using the "F.A.S.T." method to break
up the process into manageable sections. Of course, all your
inspired output will be done in shorthand as well, so you can get
your thoughts and ideas on the page extra rapidly, and will be
streets ahead of anyone else using the method! Author Jeff Bollow.
Cloud Appreciation Society
http://cloudappreciationsociety.org
You used to see pictures in the clouds, and
now you see clouds that look like shorthand outlines. This website
has amazing and very beautiful photos of "Clouds that look like
things" from contributors worldwide, a good place to spend some of
your relaxing time between practice sessions.
The Hunger Site
http://www.thehungersite.com
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osE_0s5OjUA
"The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a
specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger."
Every time you click the button
on their site, their site sponsors pay for cups of food.
Smile International
www.smileinternational.org and
http://uk.youtube.com/smileinternational
Registered charity No. 1079730
Smile International is a humanitarian aid charity whose aims are
"to relieve suffering and poverty through the distribution of
humanitarian aid and long-term development projects."
They have volunteering opportunities in the UK and around the world
– a use for every skill you can name, from IT consultants and
builders, to blanket knitters, all equally valued and valuable.
Smile provides education, literacy and job skills programmes to
enable people in poor areas to join the working world and support
themselves. Imagine
that every piece of writing in the world was in a shorthand you
couldn't read,
you would need urgent help from those in a more privileged position.
Smile is doing this and much more.
Check them out at
www.charity-commission.gov.uk
Weathercharts
www.weathercharts.org
Comprehensive set of links to a huge number of
weathercharts, ideal for professionals, hobbyists, students and
travel arrangements.
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