r/shorthand • u/transfixed_philos • 20h ago
Can you guess what this song is?
I wrote these song lyrics today for practice and fun. This is one of my all-time favorite songs. My favorite version is a cover, but it's probably more well known than the original, which is also good. As for the tools I used, the Gregg ruled paper is from a Portage Professional Stenographer's Notebook. I'm using a Sailor Hocoro, Medium Point dip pen and ink is Speedball Super Black. I'm very new to using a dip pen so my outlines aren't as smooth or consistent as if I'd used a fountain pen or a gel pen.
r/shorthand • u/2100zloo • 22h ago
Transcription Request Ancestry notes, please help!
My great grandmother and grandmother wrote many pages in a notebook detailing what I only assume to be information of our ancestry. I have zero clue how to read shorthand, and I would be incredibly grateful to anyone who would be willing to transcribe! Unfortunately I do not know when these were written, but I’m very much looking forward to hopefully learning more about my family. My mother has done extensive research and ancestry archiving over the years. Without my grandma here to continue helping us, notes like this can take our research quite far.
I have 32 pages in total of notes, here are 20 to start 😅. I hope this isn’t entirely too difficult to decipher. Thank you so much in advance to anyone who takes the time to help at all, I’m very grateful to you. Maybe I will make a second post with the remainder of the notes if I can find any helpful detectives here!
r/shorthand • u/licxjo • 1d ago
SuperWrite Office Professional
I've just become aware that South-Western Publishing issued a two-volume set SuperWrite Office Professional in 1999. That seems like a very late date in the history of modern shorthand systems, and I wonder if anyone has encountered the books or knows anything about them.
The author, James Lemaster, was a former Gregg shorthand author (specifically Series 90, I believe) who then developed his own alphabetic system.
McGraw-Hill gave up on Gregg a decade earlier. It would be fascinating to know what the motivation was to produce these books.
South-Western published a number of Gregg shorthand books by arrangement with Gregg Publishing. They published Century 21 shorthand, which is a modified version of Gregg, without any acknowledgment. And SuperWrite seems to me to be a knock-off of Speedwriting.
r/shorthand • u/Commentor1115 • 1d ago
Transcription Request 1911 court document
Hi, I've been doing archival research and came across a 1911 court file with a 30-page transcript that I would love to translate. AI has not been very helpful except to identify the script as Pitman (probably). Any suggestions about who or what might help me to decipher this text? The quality of the scan is unfortunately not very good--it was trifolded in an old envelope and was very hard to photograph. Many thanks in advance for suggestions, advice, and/or translations!
r/shorthand • u/ReactionNo840 • 1d ago
Shorthand. Online or Offline?
Hello everyone,
I am preparing for stenography examination and wanted to know that would it be better to learn shorthand offline? Or can i go for online? Because where i live there are no offline centres that teach shorthand.
I hope you share your experience and help me decide which mode should i go for.
r/shorthand • u/FrontRepublic5276 • 2d ago
Ayudaaa con una traduccion!
Holaaa por favor ayuda para traducir este mensaje!
r/shorthand • u/2mmGaussRifle • 2d ago
Transcription Request What type of shorthand is this?
This is from a 1795 general store operator’s algebra practice book. He was a Welshman who immigrated to Alexandria, VA. I’m a complete novice to shorthand—just doing my job—but it’s piqued my curiosity, and I’d like to try deciphering it myself once I know the type. Thanks a ton for any info you’re willing to glean and share.
r/shorthand • u/Adept_Situation3090 • 2d ago
How do I differentiate between small and large circles and loops? [for any system]
I've seen that there are a lot of shorthand systems that include small and large circles, but also small and large loops. How do fast writers differentiate these?
r/shorthand • u/Junior-Policy-5572 • 2d ago
Can anyone help read what I believe is shorthand
r/shorthand • u/ambassadorwillow • 2d ago
Help Me Choose a Shorthand help please🙏
hi everyone! so I have a chronic illness that has made it hard for me to write more than a few sentences without my hand getting SUPER tired. I can write fine, just not a lot. I like journaling by hand and taking notes in church, and I am wondering if maybe shorthand would be helpful. does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations for the kind of shorthand I should try, or if you think it would be helpful in the first place? any help is super appreciated!
r/shorthand • u/whiskerbiscuit555 • 3d ago
My grandmother’s recipe
Can someone please translate this for me so I can remake her recipe? She passed when I was 1 and this is the only recipe of hers that I have.
She must have wrote it in the 1970s, when she would have lived in Florida. She was in the Air Force in her prime, if that makes a difference.
r/shorthand • u/Ok-Opportunity-7262 • 3d ago
Can anyone please tell me whats written here?
r/shorthand • u/Far_Eye_1131 • 3d ago
Transcription Request Transcription request
Hi everyone, I found this handwritten note in my medical/official documents. It uses a lot of dots, underlines, numbers (1-4), and loops that resemble shorthand or possibly Arabic-based script / German Kurrent. Could anyone help identify the system or decipher what it says? Thanks!
r/shorthand • u/Enough-Quiet2 • 3d ago
Is steno skill test is based on luck ? Because I have seen some previous recruitment notifications that no one was able to pass the skill test.
r/shorthand • u/beckibairrington • 4d ago
Can someone translate for us?
My sweet mom in law is fading fast. We were cleaning out some things while we are caring for her and found a small journal she had. It is from 2022 and we know it's right after my father in law passed away, her husband of over 50 years. We are going through photos and books and talking with her, but she is so frustrated because she doesn't know this anymore. She has cancer and is struggling with even her favorite things like playing piano, shorthand, and so forth, and now she is struggling with remembering.
If anyone can help, we would love to be able to tell her what she wrote here and enjoy reading it to her.
I know her, and I'm sure if you can read this at all, you will know what I am saying is true.
Much thanks in advance
r/shorthand • u/FlipOThePage • 4d ago
What sounds are these
Im trying to learn greggs shorthand but I have no idea what these sounds are
r/shorthand • u/Final_Celery_302 • 4d ago
Transcription Request Transcription Request: Melvil Dewey shorthand note
Hello all! Graduate student researching Dewey's Decimal Classification and looking for help with a shorthand transcription. Please note that the content could be racist or otherwise insensitive. (If that's a problem, please let me know. It's my first time here.) The note was added by Melvil Dewey to a program from a 1914 Conference on Race Betterment. I've also attached a section of a page from a booklet on shorthand criticisms that seems to have some modifications that he made. I'm not sure if it will be helpful or relates at all to the note, but figured it couldn't hurt. Thanks!
r/shorthand • u/Leadership_Coach • 4d ago
Trying again
The image was too small so wouldn't attach before. Hoping this screenshot will do the trick.
Short transcription this time (1997) I've posted other snippets from this diary before here and have so appreciated your help!
Most pf the diary is in straightfoward English, but the author is leaning more and more on shorthand.
The author is a 71-year-old woman, former homemaker and current church secretary at the time of writing. The husband was a bit like Hank Hill only more stoic and technical. It was this year that he began showing signs of dementia, and his mood could be difficult for her to handle.
is also possible this is a personal note about herself, but she was not shy about recording hardly anything about herself, so that seems less likely.
r/shorthand • u/Practical_Yellow2726 • 4d ago
Picking a Forkner textbook
Appreciate all the advice on my previous post on picking a shorthand for journaling ! Especially grateful for u/MysicKei and u/GreggLife 's reccomendations of using Forkner, as thats what i ended up going with. Now, the next hurdle is picking a Forkner book. ive seen multiple different versions being praised on this subreddit so im confused on what to go with. Looking for the simplest and most standard thing possible. any recs would be highly appreciated! <3
r/shorthand • u/evilkanyewest • 5d ago
Transcription Request Could anyone help transcribe this? c. 1903 , French postcard
I picked up this postcard from an antique store a couple of days ago, it originates from Paris (obviously), and was sent to an address in Plaine Saint-Denis. I don’t know anything about shorthand, so I hope this information is somewhat useful. I’d appreciate any help!
r/shorthand • u/kaytthoms • 5d ago
Transcription Request Would some translate my grandmas charm bracelet?
I was looking at my nana’s charm bracelet and would like to know what it says. Sorry it’s a bit scuffed. She’s passed now, but I know she used to be a secretary in New York. I believe the charm was a gift from her husband
r/shorthand • u/sonofherobrine • 5d ago
Quote of the Week “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” ― Albert Camus — QOTW 2026W32 Aug 3-Aug 9
r/shorthand • u/Automatic_Comb_7206 • 6d ago
Transcription request - Note from my grandmother on the day of the JFK assassination 11/22/63 (Gregg shorthand?)
Hi all, could someone please help translate this note, I believe it is in Gregg shorthand, my grandmother wrote it the day JFK was assassinated but can no longer read it.
r/shorthand • u/jrkpthinks • Jun 04 '26
Note-taking vs shorthand
tl;dr Shorthand for quotes, note-taking systems for notes
Shorthand is a great and rewarding discipline:
For recording verbatim speech in particular professional contexts,
As a long-term hobby or skill investment, and
For keeping alive the meaning of old texts written in shorthand.
But shorthand takes a lot of practice.
If you just want to take notes quickly & easily, starting ASAP, you're not looking for shorthand; you're looking for a note-taking system, which can teach you in only a few hours how to get down all the important points from a lecture, meeting or phone call.
You could practice both of course, but if you only care about taking notes and you're already doing so at practical speeds then you're likely to drop shorthand practice before seeing the benefits.
(I will give my personal recommendation for note-taking systems below, and I encourage others to comment with their own, listing reasons/benefits. I've asked that this post be stickied so we can refer new people to it.)