Teeline Vs Pitmans....

[sobriquetnic]

I know that we're mostly told now that the art of shorthand is becoming obsolete.  I can tell that this view is becoming more general by the lack of courses available out there.  

However, I have been teaching myself Teeline on and off for some time now and am determined to master it!  It would be a big boost for me as my boss still likes the so called old fashioned route of me sitting with him and taking notes.  He also likes to dictate emails bless 'im!  I also like taking notes in this way as I feel more involved and he often asks for my input which greatly improves my sense of self-worth.

Anyway, back to my point!  Pitmans is supposed to be faster than Teeline but slightly more difficult to learn.  I just wondered if anyone had tried both and had any opinions on this?  I have a colleague who does Pitmans and she seems to take notes at the speed of light!  I'm assuming it's all down to practice again mainly.

[supergirl]

It's funny you should mention shorthand, because I was surprised recently to see a job advertised in our local paper for someone who can take dictation.  You hardly ever see that, although people are always impressed that I can do it.  (Well, "can" is a bit strong.  Perhaps I should say, "could," as it's been a number of years since I last exercised this skill!)  I suppose it would come back with some brushing up.  I learned "Gregg" in high school.  Not sure about the types you mentioned.

[sobriquetnic]

Hi there

I have heard of 'Gregg' though mainly you see Teeline and Pitmans mentioned in the UK.  It would be interesting to see which versions of shorthand are most popular around the World....

We have a girl on work experience in our office at the moment.  She comes in one day a week to get an idea of office life and is studying at our local college.  We asked if she was learning shorthand as part of her course and she kind of looked a bit blank!  She did mention that her tutor had said there really wasn't much call for it anymore.  I tend to disagree with that a little as I think it is down to who you are working for.  There is certainly a call for it in our office as our top people are quite old-fashioned and this is the way they prefer.

Thanks again for your response.

Nicola.

[lems]

I use Teeline but am nowhere near as fast as I used to be.  Teeline is certainly much easier to learn than Pitman and you can actually reach very high speeds if you work hard on learning all the short forms etc.  I left college with a speed of 140wpm.  One of my friends is a court reporter and uses it at speeds in excess of 180wpm.

Lems

[gee4]

Teeline is the easiest form of shorthand as the outlines take on the letters of the alphabet.  If you are teaching yourself, hopefully your books/teaching tools will show you that.

If you want any advice just ask.  I passed 80wpm at college (long time ago) and then went to nightclass a year later and passed 100wpm.  At least the outlines make sense and you can easily identify the words and short forms.

G

[essexbob]

A final contribution on this ...

Teeline is certainly the easiest shorthand to learn. But initially it was slower than the established Pitman New Era system. Pitman 2000 was introduced to try and shorten the learning curve, but as others have said Teeline speeds can be perfectly adequate. Certainly if you've already invested time in Teeline, you shouldn't even think of changing now!

Gregg was being used in the early 20th C and did rival Pitman. The story I heard was that during WW2 Allied forces agreed to standardise on Pitman shorthand, and thereafter the Gregg challenge died off nearly everywhere but mainland USA. Don't know for sure that this is true though.

Good luck with it all!

[peana]

Hmm..  Mum used to work at St. Dunstans just after the war (a charity for the war blinded), but she used Gregg not Pitmans.  Maybe it was just her??