6 handy tips to improve your shorthand speed

Is learning shorthand becoming a painful chore? Are you struggling to get the words written down in outlines that you can actually read back?

Oh I remember the days well!

Sitting at my dining room table, tape cassette player next to me – yeah, we practised shorthand using cassette tapes back then – switch it on and this time, I was determined to get every single word written down in perfect shorthand outlines that even a novice could read!

Sentence one – so far so good – sentence two – bit of a struggle, bit of a scrawl but hey, I managed it – end of the first paragraph and hell, too many words behind to catch up, outlines all over the place and…. rewind the tape and off we go again! And again, and again…

In the end I wasn’t sure if I was actually listening to the tapes or just remembering the words!

Now if this sounds familiar or you are struggling to get all the words down in shorthand at speed DON’T panic!

First off, I can guarantee you will not be on your own!

Loads of people who have studied shorthand for the first time will tell you that they struggled to build up speed and for me, getting from 80wpm to 100wpm seemed like an eternity.

But guess what? In the end I managed it, as you will too, so don’t get disheartened and heed the words of a seriously slow shorthand learner (me!) you will get there with these 3Ps: practise, patience and perseverance!

Do, however, make sure you are:

Practising at the correct speed for you – It’s very tempting to try and run before you can walk when learning shorthand and there’s no real harm in practising shorthand at a speed a little faster than your current one if you feel confident enough. But don’t get disheartened if you can’t get all the words down and always revert back to practise sessions geared to your own speed before you end your practise session for the day/night. That way you won’t be going away with thoughts of ‘I can’t do it’ in your mind.

Focused only on the task at hand – Shorthand is not one of those things you can practise when there’s noise around or knocks at the door or a ringing phone in your ears. So always make sure you practise somewhere nice and quiet where you are unlikely to be disturbed for the next half hour. And turn off your mobile/cell or stick it in a drawer or somewhere out of hearing distance until you’ve finished.

Using a good writing tool – Practise using a pen or pencil as instructed by your shorthand tutor but make sure the pencil nib is sharpened and there’s enough ink in your pen. It’s also good practise to have two or three pens or pencils on hand ready for use just in case one fails. Put them next to you rather than in a pencil case as fumbling around in a case or bag for a spare pen or pencil is time consuming. Carrying around two or three pens at a time is something I still do today and a tip I would advise that you to do too, especially when you are a journalist, as there is nothing worse than having a broken pencil or a dried-up pen when you’re out on the job!

In the mood for shorthand – As well as being focused on your shorthand practise session make sure that you are in the right mindset too. Shorthand practise requires a clear head, peace and quiet and focus; so if you’re not in the mood or your mind is elsewhere, leave the practise alone until you’re in a better frame of mind.

Not just remembering the words – However you are listening to practise shorthand passages don’t forget to switch them around a bit. To really practise shorthand it’s better not to become too familiar with the passages that you’re using otherwise you’ll end up knowing the words practically by heart and probably just be remembering the passages rather than hearing the words firsthand, as you would do in a shorthand exam.

Not over practising – Don’t be tempted to hammer the shorthand practise. Trying too hard to get it right can often result in shorthand burnout! Ten to 20 minute bursts are best rather than labouring over shorthand passages for hours and hours on end.

And remember, however frustrating and painful learning shorthand can be, you will not be the only person in this boat and definitely won’t be the last.

So don’t despair and remember my 3Ps: practise, patience and perseverance is key to shorthand success! 

Your job as a trainee reporter

When you land your first job in journalism your role is most likely to be a trainee journalist. 

Assuming you have passed all of your preliminary journalism exams (in the UK the NCTJ Diploma is the recognised prelim route into journalism) you will be hired as a general news reporter at trainee level on a salary of about £13K or £15K.

Being a trainee is the first rung of the ladder and a job usually offered to new reporters coming in at entry level on passing their NCTJ prelim exams. 

Occasionally new reporters are hired without completing all of their prelim exams but these are the rare exceptions rather than the norm and candidates usually have a lot of work experience under their belt or have passed equivalent qualifications from another country. 

But if you are fortunate enough to be hired without completing your NCTJ Diploma in full, you will most likely be expected to pass any outstanding exams as well as doing your day job. 

Likewise, if your qualifications are from another examining board or country, you may be required to study and pass any exams deemed non-NCTJ equivalent. 

Some large news organisations offer trainee journalist apprenticeship schemes but these they tend to be few and far between and very competitive. 

So what will you be doing as a trainee journalist? 

You can expect to be thrown in at the deep end to cover virtually anything from the local jumble sale to serious crime. 

You are likely to be one of several reporters on the reporting team, which is usually headed by a news editor and sometimes a deputy news editor, depending on the size of the news channel or newspaper. 

As a new reporter you will be given reporting tasks and guidance on how to do them. However, there is no reason why you can’t offer up your own ideas for stories or angles on a story. 

Showing initiative at this early stage and finding your own stories on a regular basis will certainly impress your boss and could set you apart from the competition if a promotion comes up.

But despite your career aspirations most everyone starts out in journalism as a general news reporter, answering phone calls that come into news desk, writing and/or following-up stories issued on press releases and covering news events such as press conferences, calls to the emergency services and police incidents, vox pops and other similar reporting tasks.

Unless you have passed your shorthand at 100wpm it is unlikely that you will be able to attend court hearings so it’s really important to pass your shorthand as soon as you can as this could put an editor off hiring you over another candidate who has passed shorthand.

Now although many journalists do eventually specialise in a certain type of journalism such as being a sports reporter, feature writer or even go on to be a news editor like I did, being a general news reporter will give you a solid grounding into the profession.

It is also your opportunity to practise and perfect many key journalism skills that will be required throughout your journalism career including story finding, interviewing, article writing and broadcasting if you work in radio or TV.

However, even newspapers do recordings for the Internet these days, so don’t be surprised if you are handed a video camera to record an interview.

Of course, you will receive training in recording and editing but the Internet and social media has drastically changed the role of the traditional newspaper journalist and these media platforms tend to be just as important as the core newspaper publications.

You are likely to remain as a trainee reporter for a good year-and-a-half before being put on a further course of study geared toward becoming a senior journalist.

Once you have passed your senior exams (which are normally paid for by the news organisation where you work) you can opt to remain as general news reporter, but on a higher salary, or specialise in a certain type of journalism that interests you.

But all the journalism experience you gain as a trainee reporter will remain with you for life and you’ll find yourself using tried and tested tactics for finding stories, interviewing and reporting when you are a senior or specialist journalist.

So my best advice would be to really get stuck in to your job as a trainee journalist and use your time to cover all types of stories and build up a good portfolio of work.
 
Learn from senior reporters that you work with and don’t be afraid to ask their advice on how to do a report or interview people. People generally feel flattered if asked for advice so take advantage of it to help you improve your reporting skills and be a good journalist.
 

Why do you want to be a journalist?

Before planning a career in journalism or spending heaps of money training to be a journalist you need to ask yourself, "why?" 

Journalism isn't a job that you do until something else comes along. It is a career, a job that people tend to want to do long-term if not for life.

However, just like nursing or being a teacher, journalism is very much a vocational career and more a labour of love than a labour to get rich in some glamorous environment akin to the fictional newspapers where super-hero film characters work.

This is why it is really important that you think about why you want to be a journalist before you start planning a career in the profession. 

If you want to be a journalist because you want to write ask yourself, “is this the only job I could do with great writing skills?” 

Have you got good reporting skills to match your good writing skills or are you more interested in just writing rather than finding news?

If you want to earn big bucks, forget journalism. Most journalists are paid peanuts and even at editor level the pay for many is not equivalent to that of the CEO of a private company.

Likewise, if you’re looking for an easy-going 9-5 job, you will be sadly mistaken if you think you’ll find this in journalism, even as a trainee on your local newspaper.

Being a journalist will often require you working in a pressure-cooker environment, juggling a zillion tasks at the same time and often working unsociable hours especially if a news story breaks.

The journalism industry itself can also be fairly hard and unforgiving place too as most news organisations are owned by multi-national conglomerates headed by shareholders who still want their ‘pound of flesh’ however bleak the economic climate might be outside.

Hence journalism has seen many staff layoffs since late 2008 when the global recession started and the journalists who remain have largely been landed with more work to do for very little reward, financially or otherwise. 

For these reasons and more you should be really clued up on all aspects of being a journalist before considering a career as a reporter.

I went into the profession because I was passionate about justice. Even now I hate to see the innocent wronged while the guilty get off scot-free. That is what led me to be a journalist and thankfully in my time as a reporter I have been able to expose some unscrupulous people and practises. 

It is also pleasing to know that many of my stories gave much needed exposure to charitable causes and helped raise vital funds.

What I didn’t anticipate however, was how financially strapped I would be and how many long hours I’d have to do for no extra pay, just time in lieu. Time that I often never found time to take. 

Being the single parent of a young daughter at the same time as being a journalist was often a nightmare too as it was generally really difficult to get that good work/life balance.

So if you have children, even if you have a partner, the demands of the profession are something you really need to think about before making a decision to become a journalist.

But if you do want to be a journalist, think you have what it takes and wouldn't mind putting in the hours for a salary that is not so great, then there are many upsides to being a journalist that go beyond the negatives.

Just enter the profession wisely, that's all, with your eyes wide open and clued up on the advantages and disadvantages of being a journalist. See this post for a quick run through of the pros and cons.

Is Teeline shorthand difficult to learn?

Before I started my journalism diploma I remember being terrified about learning shorthand after my older sister told me it was really hard to learn.

The thought of remembering all those lines and squiggles, dots and curves, then being able to write them in some coherent order at speed gave me nightmares, not to mention the thought that I'd be unable to read a word of what I'd written!

But at that time I didn't realise the type of shorthand I'd be learning was Teeline and not Pitman, which my sister had been taught at secretarial college back in the '50s.

Compared to other systems Teeline shorthand, which is widely used on UK journalism courses (in the US it tends to be the Gregg shorthand system), has got to be one of the easiest types of shorthand methods to learn once you have mastered the Teeline alphabet.

In fact, the chap who developed Teeline, James Hill, was himself a teacher of Pitman and devised this 'easier' type of shorthand system in the late ‘60s due to the fact that he knew just how difficult Pitman was to learn and write at speed.

However, just as some people learn to drive a car in no time at all and others take a bit longer to pick it up, learning shorthand is no different.

The main issue people face with shorthand though is not so much learning the Teeline alphabet or the outlines but getting their shorthand speed up to the standard 100wpm.

If this is you don’t get down about it. You will not be alone and I for one was perhaps the slowest shorthand learner the world has ever seen!

That is why I’ve written many posts on how to learn Teeline shorthand and tips on practising shorthand to help you write at speed so do have a read through them. You'll find them listed under the Teeline shorthand label on this blog or just key shorthand into my search bar to get them that way. 

But if you are struggling with your shorthand at the minute then you do have my sympathies.

It took me ages to get from 80wpm to 100wpm and it was a huge relief when I finally managed it and was actually able to start enjoying the job of being a reporter without having to practise my shorthand every night!

Perseverance and practise is the key to learning shorthand and improving your shorthand speed, so you just have to keep plugging away at it and hold firm to the belief that you will get there in the end.

I love writing and want to be a journalist

So you want to be a journalist because you’ve always loved writing? Great! But have you got reporter skills too? 

Many young people want to be journalists because they love writing, but journalism requires skills and abilities far, far beyond a love of writing.

In fact, I'd say that the writing part of journalism is just an incidental rather than the most important skill required to be a good reporter. 

I've known many journalists who were rubbish at writing but made great careers in journalism down to the fact that they were brilliant at finding stories and nailing juicy leads.

Likewise, I've seen many reporters come and go who could write an award winning novel but couldn't see a news story if it smacked them in the face! 

Journalism isn't about having the ability to write like Shakespeare, it's about finding good stories, having an inquisitive mind and not being afraid to question and probe even the most plausible. 

Yes, writing is an essential journalism skill, especially if you want to work in newspapers or magazines but certainly not the only or most important skill you need to be a journalist, especially at entry level.

So if you have always loved writing and want to be a journalist make sure you don't neglect to practise or learn other key journalism skills (read my posts under the "Journalism skills" label) as no editor will be impressed with a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who can't find a news story.

Likewise, if writing isn't your strongest point but you still want to be a journalist then put time aside to improve your writing skills.

Read books, newspapers and anything you can lay your hands on to help you widen your vocabulary, brush up on your sentence construction, grammar and story writing skills.

Either way you should read as many newspapers as you can every day and tune into a decent news channel such as the BBC where you’ll find in-depth news coverage.

Absorb the sort of stories that make the news and how journalists put them together. Read or listen to the type of words being used and if you don’t understand frequently used words such as ‘defendant’ ‘president’ or ‘inaugural’ (eg) look them up in a dictionary or go Google them!

But trust me, having a passion for writing is great if you want to have a career in journalism but it is by no means the be all and end all of being a reporter.

Few journalists are honoured, promoted or even headhunted for the wonderful way they write a story but by the type of stories they uncover through good investigative reporter skills and for always being on the ball.

Practical tips for improving your shorthand speed

So you've mastered the shorthand alphabet, know how to write the shorthand outlines for lots of words but are still struggling to get your speed up.

Sound familiar?

First off, don't panic! You will not be alone. Anyone who has studied shorthand will have been in this boat at some time or other and yes, it is hair-pullingly frustrating!

You spend hours learning the shorthand outlines, hours and hours practising writing the outlines and still you mess up. Urgh!! It's painful I know. I've been there and got the t-shirt!

But do not despair! Just like me and countless others who took ages to get to 100wpm, you will get there with perseverance and practise. 

If you’re seriously at this point though and getting really stressed out with learning to improve the speed of your shorthand, my best advice would be to put down your pen, put away all your shorthand notes and books and take timeout.
 
A change is as good as a rest, as they say, and sometimes doing something else other than slogging over your shorthand is often the key to improving your speed.

So okay, assuming you are ready to bite the bullet, here are a few of my personal tried and tested practical tips for learning to write shorthand faster:

• Use lined paper - if you understand how to write shorthand outlines this tip might seem fairly obvious but always use lined paper or write lines on blank paper before trying to write shorthand as the positioning of many outlines, on and between the lines, is key to understanding what you've written.

• Don't grip your pen or pencil tight - hold your writing tool with grace and elegance as if you were an artist, conductor or violinist. Don't grip it so tight that your fingers ache and your hands get sweaty! You are aiming to write shorthand at speed not hammering a nail in the wall!

• Get your posture right - don't slouch and pour your body over your shorthand notebook as if you're writing something that is top secret. Sit up straight in front of a non-wobbly table or desk, hold your writing tool lose and glide your hand over the page with elegance and grace as described above   

 
• Keep your outlines small and close together - it is quicker to write shorthand outlines small and near to each other rather than writing them large with wide gaps apart. You might only be saving seconds but knowing how to save crucial seconds really counts when you are trying to improve your shorthand speed

 

• Remove wrist bangles - I don't know if this is just me but I'd struggle to write shorthand if I was wearing jewellery that jingle jangled on the wrist of my writing hand. I've also caught my watchstrap on the edge of my notebook before now, so I tend to do naked hand shorthand these days!

• Divide your notebook into 2 columns - drawing a line down the centre of your reporter's notebook page and writing your outlines left to right in each column can save you time as you won't be making that sweep back and forward every time you get to the end of a line. To know more about this tip read this post

• Keep your writing tool close to the page - in a similar way to the above, keeping your pen or pencil near to the page will save you precious seconds

• Use the margin, but only if it works for you - using the margin for writing difficult words in full then leaving a gap for the outline to fill in later is something I have tried but found too time consuming, especially when the word is a long one. But it's worth giving it a go if you haven't done so already, as many people do this when they're learning shorthand

• Use shorthand shorts for words - there are several short outlines in Teeline to denote various popular words, so it is well worth learning a few. If you know them already, always try to use them, as they are a big time-saver!

• Sing after me, "silence is golden.." - you need a good dose of uninterrupted peace and quiet to practise shorthand so turn the music off, unplug the phone, switch off your cell and pray that no-one comes knocking at your front door!

• Practise, practise, practise! - I wouldn't recommend a heavy hour-long slog when it comes to practising shorthand but frequent short bursts are certainly the key to continued improvement. But, as I've said, if it's just not happening after a few tries, just put it away and try again tomorrow. Don't let shorthand get you down! You can beat it and you will.

What qualities make a good journalist?

You might have been told you would make a good reporter or always had a burning ambition to be a journalist, but do you really have what it takes to do the job? That is the question!

Being a good reporter takes more than just having fantastic exam results or knowing how to string a few words together to make a sentence. In fact, to do the job properly takes much more than either of those two qualities put together.

You can learn to write, how to spell and do grammar. You can be taught how to interview people, how to write news and a host of other useful journalism skills.

But to be a great journalist takes passion. A real passion for news and a real want to dig through dirt, come up with something meaty and tell everyone just what you've found.

Journalists are the world’s curiosity seekers - "nosey beggars" as my late dad used to say - they love the seek-and-find of storytelling and chase the tale with fire in their bellies.

Their ears prick up at the first sniff of a bit of newsy gossip and they're not afraid to go fishing until they get a bite!

Toss a bit of juicy news in the direction of a good reporter and he or she will be like a greyhound on a racetrack. Loving the chase with a vengeance. And when they finally get the story they’ll be like the cat that got the cream!

Now this doesn't mean that you have to be loud and brash to be a reporter or the nosiest person on the planet. But journalists generally aren't shy or reserved to the point that they'd be afraid to ask questions to find out what's going on.

When you're a journalist you can't be afraid to ask questions and you should relish the idea of probing news to see if you can open new doors and dig out a new twist to a tale.

Good journalists have great analytical minds. They're able to quickly weigh up all the 'ifs and buts' of a story that comes their way and have the good news sense to know when everything if not quite what it seems.

And rarely will they give up if they sense that there is more than meets the eye!

On saying that however, good journalists are confident and intelligent enough to know when to call it a day and draw a line on a story. Some things are just what they seem and as a journalist you often have to go with your gut instincts. 

Now if this sounds like you then you're likely to have the basic raw abilities to make a good journalist and trust me, qualities like these are not possessed by everyone.

Of course, there are a number of essential skills and abilities required too and if you read my posts under the ‘Journalism skills’ label you'll find lots of good advice and tips about the personal and practical skills required to be a journalist.

But if you believe you have an almost ‘instinctive’ nose and passion for news and the inner drive to chase it and grab it with both hands, then journalism just might be the right career choice for you.