Tuesday 7 May 2013

Teeline shorthand: learn the basics

If I could go back in time to when I was planning a career in journalism, I would try to learn shorthand before I went to journalism school.

No matter where you study to be a journalist, learning shorthand is going to be part of your course, so being familiar with the basics beforehand will come in very handy.

In the UK, and certainly on university or college courses which offer NCTJ examinations, the shorthand you will be expected to learn is Teeline.

It is a shorthand made for journalists and isn't that difficult to learn. I'm told it's also much easier than other systems, such as Pitman, although I've never put that theory to the test!

Teeline shorthand basically excludes all silent letters, double letters and vowels in the middle of words.

For example:
  • know = nw 
  • bubble = bl 
  • have = hv

However, it does retain vowels at the beginning of words and vowels at the end of words if they are sounded.

For example:
  • about = abt
  • coffee = cfe

Got it?.. Great!.. If not, don't panic! Learning shorthand for these words and more is easier than it looks!

Have a read of the following shorthand sentences and see if you can decipher what they mean. Again, don't panic if you get stuck, you'll get to grips with it soon enough.

  • Tln is vry esy to lrn and I wl mstr it  
  • We shl go to Lndn nxt wk to do sm shpng and vst Bknghm Plc 
  • It hs bn a brt and sny da tda bt rnd in th evng

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