What is Shorthand

Shorthand system was invented by Sir Isaac Pitman and first published in 1837. Numerous improvements were made in different editions. It can be said with confidence that no other system can compare with the existing New Era Edition on basis of comprehensiveness. First of all, we have to know about shorthand. This is a system in which sound is considered. We can say: Shorthand is the system of sound.

The sound which strikes your ears is written in shorthand. For example, a word 'General' having the first sound of J will be signed as (stroke) in shorthand. Whereas, 'General' is written from G while transcribing. Likewise, there is another word 'Rough' which has the sound of F after R. So strokes will be indicated for R and F in shorthand. Whereas 'Rough' will be written with correct spelling instead of 'Rof' while transcribing in English. Similarly, there is another word 'Cut' which has the sound of T after K. So K and T will be indicated as strokes whereas 'Cut' will be written instead of 'Kut' while transcribing in English.

It is evident from these examples that sound is considered instead of spellings in shorthand. For more understanding, read the below mentioned examples carefully:

  Go, Elephant, Major, Psychology, Scale, Disposal, Cat, Birth, Debt, etc.

For more explanation, there is a word 'Debt' in the above mentioned examples. Here, 'B' is silent so it will be indicated with strokes of D and T in shorthand. Whereas, 'Debt' will be written with full spellings while writing in English. Just like that, the word 'Birth' in the above examples has similar sounding word 'Berth' in English, meaning 'vehicle seat'. While transcribing, the word 'birth' / 'berth' will be chosen according to the sentence but it will be written same in shorthand because of similar sound.

In short, after explaining these examples it can be assessed that the full system of shorthand depends upon sound. The type of sound that strikes our ears will be written in shorthand accordingly.

Shorthand system has strokes and vowels along with principles.