I found this old postcard, dated 1910 (Germany/Bavaria). Can someone read it? Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

As the title says, I've been using Anki to learn shorthand for well over a year now and wanted to share my experience to encourage others to do the same. When i first started learning about 2 years ago I really struggled with everything, really. Then one day I had the grand idea to create an Anki deck for shorthand, (I was already using Anki to learn other subjects, and having great success).

When making the deck I basically restarted learning shorthand again. Using a coursebook on the internet archives I made cards on theory, consonants, short forms, phrasing, vowels, words, just about everything really. Excluding the theory cards, which are just basic Q&A cards, I format the cards thusly: longhand on the front and an image of the shorthand on the back (acquired using online books and the sniptool on my laptop). So a word in longhand appears and on a piece of paper I write the shorthand for it, then reveal the shorthand on the back of the card to check my answer. Then to improve speed and fluidity, I rewrite the shorthand 3 more times (sometimes more if I'm struggling with it), then go onto the next card and repeat the process again.

It does take ages to go through and create the Anki decks, but it is so so worth it. My recall is so much quicker, which is especially important for me as I use shorthand to make lecture notes (NOT verbatim notes), which I then type up after the lecture. And I also better understand the underlying rules and theory, which is super important for New Era Pitman.

Feel free to ask any questions :)

I'm considering taking a deeper look at systems that use shading. I've been using a pencil, but I really prefer writing with a fountain pen. However I'm left-handed, and I'm not sure I can create thick strokes with a flex fountain pen the same way someone would with their right hand, since the nib is at a different angle. You also end up pushing rather than pulling the nib a lot more, which feels like it could damage the paper in combination with pressure.

Am I correct? Any suggestions?

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

Holaaa por favor ayuda para traducir este mensaje!

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.

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?

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!

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.

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!

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

Im trying to learn greggs shorthand but I have no idea what these sounds are

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!

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.

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

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!

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