Tutorial 101 Stenography

When tape recorders, cell phones, tablets, and other form of recording gadgets were not yet in the scene, a form of writing was developed to make jotting down dictations faster and lighter task. 

It was in AD 155 when Egypt received a message from Cicero’s secretary, Marcus Tullius Tiro.  The message was written in a system of writing which Tiro himself devised.  It was known as Tironian notes, a “widely practiced craft” in ancient Rome.  During the medieval era, this system of writing died out but was revived by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1837.  He based the shorthand writing on its phonetic classification.  In 1885, John Robert Gregg’s shorthand predominated United States and Canada for its simplicity and uniformity.  (Grolier Encyclopaedia of Knowledge, 1991).  Gregg shorthand is also known as stenography.

Stenography or shorthand writing is a system of writing based on sounds.  It uses lines, periods and curves to represent a letter or a set of words.  Years ago, shorthand writing had been widely used by stenographers in companies and courts.  Today, there are some colleges and universities offering this subject under Computer Secretarial and Business Education courses.

Many students view writing and reading stenography as a bloody process for the mind.  But it isn’t!  You know, it only becomes so difficult if you view it that way.  Even in the rise of technology, knowledge in stenography is still an advantage.  If you have studied it before and you’re currently disagreeing with what I’ve said, give yourself another chance to review it now.

Before we begin, close your eyes for a minute or two (be careful not to fall into sleep, huh?)  and imagine yourself like a  leaf swimming in a calm river.  The water brings you smoothly to and fro, up and down, embracing the rocks, and sliding from ducks.  It’s like dancing in the tune of a sweet melody, isn’t it?  That is how you will feel as you understand stenography.

Let us start reading the English vowels.  (See figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1

The medium sized circle is an A.  It has the sound of an a (fat), ӓ (car), ӑ (ape), and а (bare).

The smaller circle is an E.  It represents the sound of e (ten), ē (even), e (here), and ӗr (over).

A broken circle with a little curl inside is an I as in bite, I am, like. 

An oval shaped open half-circle which looks like a broken egg represents the sound of O as in lot, go, and horn.

The other oval shaped closed half-circle which looks like a cover of a broken egg represents the sound of U (up), oo (book), and oo (tool).

Give yourself some moments to memorize each symbol first.  Then we’ll get to our first two consonant sounds.

___ A longer line written at the bottom is an M.

__ The shorter line written at the bottom is an N.

Try to read the words in figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2

Then, copy it on a separate sheet of paper.   You may use an intermediate or a yellow paper if a steno notebook is not available.

So, how was it?