EPTClose enough to 1000, that’s what I get for getting into an abortion argument with a troll.
I’m a Jack of All Trades, and I like to frequently learn new things that are either fun, or increase my efficiency in daily tasks. In the spirit of sharing, I’ve decided I’m going to do a FLAVOUR OF THE WEEK (not every week, but as I come up with stuff) series of blogs in which I share a current skill I am learning, as well as instructions for learning the skill, and all of the internet resources I utilize.
WARNING: These skills may not necessarily be difficult to learn, but like anything in life, they require dedication, practice, and time to develop. Don’t expect to be rocking after a few days in every case. Hopefully the utility of the skills I’m practicing will motivate you to put in the work. And tough shit if this skill is boring to you, I’ll make the next one something fun.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
For the first skill, we are going to travel back in time......to 63 BC!!!
Marcus Tullius Tiro was history's first recorded shorthand reporter. Freed from slavery, he became Cicero's secretary, and in the year 63 BC, used a metal stylus to report a speech by Cato. Tiro's system was simple, consisting of abbreviations of well-known words. He omitted words that could easily be supplied from memory or by context. (what a BAMF)
So there we go. We’re going to be learning shorthand, the secret language of intellectuals who like to write fast. I was looking for abbreviations for words to speed up my writing as in the last week I’ve written between 60-80 pages of notes for exams, and a google search led me to a variety of full-out shorthand systems that use their own phonetically based alphabets to increase writing speed. These used to be taught in school and used for diction in court, until stenotypes were created. After this point, shorthand systems disappeared from the public eye, except for use in journalism.....until now?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Teeline-alphabet.jpg
I figured I would use my Christmas break to learn a shorthand style so I could: A) write faster (studying, taking notes in class, etc.) B) have sick writing that looks bad ass/foreign that no one can understand. The method I chose to learn is Teeline, a form popular for journalism in the UK, although in the US, the Gregg system is used more (faster). I chose Teeline over Gregg because with Teeline, you can reach good speeds of 80 to around 150 words per minute, the letter system is doesn’t use similar symbols for different sounds (teeline symbols are based mostly on the alphabet), and this method is the easiest to learn. I’m all about benefit using the path of least resistance.
Now shorthand notes are meant to be temporary notes, but I don’t see why I can’t use it to take study notes. It’s worth trying, and being able to take fast notes from what the teacher says is useful anyways. I’ve been doing it for two days and I’ve been learning the basics really fast. Now this is something I’ll be practicing for the next couple months to build speed, but I think the fundamentals can be learned really quickly and easily.
Resources
Conveniently, there’s a whole book accessible in pdf form for your use in learning Teeline. It’s what I’m using, and it’s really well made; easy to read and has useful exercises. My one complaint is that there are no answer keys to check your writing, so in select situations you have to guess whether you’re connecting the letters right. Tried to find practice sheets to no avail, so consider any ambiguities in your writing to be personal style.
http://dieselrun.com/ceaseless/Teeline Complete.pdf
Once you think you’ve got it somewhat down, you can use this website to see if you can write down what the person dictates. The sound files are labelled according to their words per minute. You can also just try to write down whatever you hear people say.
http://teelineshorthand.org/dictationpractice.aspx
So that’s about it. I think that’s everything need to get going. Be patient, this is basically learning to write again.
GOOD LUCK!
****I actually wrote this to be for Christmas break, but didn’t feel like posting, thought I’d save it till now. Learned how to do it, I’m building up speed now. Had to break for a bit during the year to study notes I could actually read, but I think I’m coming along nicely. I still think this is worth it. ****
EDIT: feel free to give me ideas for cool stuff to learn
