MY TRYST WITH SHORTHAND

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

   

MY TRYST WITH SHORTHAND

 A great salute/tribute to Sir Issac Pitman

(4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897)

 

The necessity of writing words, phrases, sentences, and texts in shorthand was a long-felt one so that notes of speeches could be taken easily and presented quickly verbatim.

 

The history of shorthand or tachygraphy dates back to the ancient Greeks and perhaps even much earlier. The archaeological records show that stenographic symbols from Greece were discovered on the 'Acropolis Stone' (350 BCE). A marble slab found in Greece depicts a modified writing system that used not only vowels but also included certain modifications to denote consonants. Taking clues and cues from this ancient work, some authors tried and founded their own versions of shorthand writing.

Besides being known as stenography (close, little, or narrow writing in normal parlance), shorthand is sometimes called tachygraphy (swift writing) and brachygraphy (short writing). Because shorthand can be written rapidly, the writer can record the proceedings of legislative bodies, the testimony in law courts, and/or dictation in business correspondence. In addition, shorthand has been used through the centuries as a cultural tool. Some great people used shorthand. George Bernard Shaw wrote his plays in shorthand, and Samuel Pepys recorded his diary in shorthand. William Shakespeare’s plays have been preserved in shorthand. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman lawyer, writer, and orator. He was famous for his oration on politics and society besides his service as a high-ranking consul. His speeches still remain preserved in shorthand form.

Shorthand helps the writer to more quickly write than conventional and traditional writing in any language. In fact and effect, shorthand shrinks and truncates writing not only for easy transcription later but also helps note the salient points quickly or write a given text or speech verbatim.

 

Gregg shorthand and Pitman shorthand are the two major systems in practice while a majority prefers the latter.

 

Pitman’s is a British phonographic system. Phonography is writing based on how words sound, ignoring the orthographical rules. Gregg is an American phonographic system.

 

Shorthand writers owe their gratitude to Sir Issac Pitman, a teacher in the English language who developed the most widely used system called ‘Shorthand’ or ‘Soundhand’ in 1837 revolutionizing note-taking. Subsequently, when this art was learnt and practiced by aspirants, it gave employment to people such as Stenographers, Secretaries, column writers, journalists, etc. As a Stenographer and Secretary in the profession, I benefited very much from this art and could excel in my work as a Secretary.

 

Sir Issac Pitman’s birth anniversary falls on January 4. He was incidentally the Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society.

 

Shorthand helps the writer quickly record by appropriate symbols to note down/write verbatim interviews, conversations, speeches, or texts given by the boss for correspondence or other write-ups.

 

I always used to advise shorthand writers to write their strokes as small as possible for easy and comfortable transcription. I reaped enormous benefits by writing so which helped me save time and avoid confusion due to race against time and perfectly balance the hearing and stroke-writing processes. That would enable one to give full focus and concentration on writing in shorthand as he/she listens to the text/dictation/speech. Doing so offered me a comfort zone not to miss any words/phrases.

 

Advanced-level phraseography gives a lot of support to the writer as it further revolutionizes the writing. A simple example is the word ‘circumstance(s)’. Instead of writing the word in its original form as coined by Pitaman, you can write a small circle/big circle under the line. Some self-actualized improvisations following the symbols/clues of Pitman’s shorthand can further shorten the shorthand writing of many words/phrases using 'cutting', 'disjoining', etc., for example. Pitman himself had declared that he did his best to present a compendium on shorthand. He had said that while his work offered a strong foundation of shorthand, it is for the discerning minds to still improvise and improve one's shorthand by coining further shortened strokes for more speedy writing. 

 

What I always admired in shorthand have been features like halving, doubling, loops, hooks, thickened strokes, diphthongs, and small/big circles, among others.

 

Needless to say, a satisfactory vocabulary is a sine qua non for quick learning and mastering shorthand strokes. Word/memory power will come in handy in tricky situations where you face bout(s) of short-hearing or mishearing.  Having a shorthand dictionary and following the stroke-writing indicated therein would be of considerable help. One has to practice high-speed shorthand writing to handle any type of situation/exigencies. Constant practice is the key to success in this art/work.

 

Shorthand has lighted a bright future in the lives of many people who could have a bread-winning profession/career through it.

 

It is important to note that it will probably take a considerable time before you get the hang of it. If ever you hear of claims that you can learn shorthand in a few hours or within a short time, better not to believe. Shorthand learning has many sharp curves to grapple with and overcome. It’s like learning another written form of language, according to my understanding. No magic wand could help you master shorthand just like that and you need to work hard and sweat it out. We had seen people abandoning the exercise midstream. You need to have patience and perseverance to learn and write shorthand and do impeccable and immaculate transcription.

 

Nowadays, recording of texts, dictations, and speeches has revolutionized the entire scenario. Equally, the job of a Secretary also stands transformed and widened with somewhat lesser relevance to shorthand writing due to modern innovative gadgets, although it is well-nigh impossible to dispense with the great finding of Pitman.

 

 

(R.SAMPATH)

4/1/2024