Is Shorthand Still Used Today?

This true taht short-hand is a good art. But day by day it's use is decreasing, so you can sy it is a dying art now. I can't do short-hand, but I wish I could.

Well lol I am just teaching myself to type I have no idea how to do shorthand , but then again with my typos people might think i am doing shorthand pmsl ,,xx

I once tried to learn it from a shorthand book .. but I was hopeless .. I am no good at other 'languages' of any description .. I can't remember hearing anyone say they use it for years .. isn't it all done by dictation now into little gadgets ?? You could always try this stenographers course online .. seems to be totally free .. http://www.stenold.org/onlineshand.html

No, I never learnt shorthand. I'm not sure if its a dying art, I do know a lot of people now use those little dictaphone recorders and then the typist will just type straight from that instead of taking notes. So maybe it is a dying art? Writing is an unbelievably useful tool to record and communicate ideas, so I don't think we will ever lose that in its self. I don't think I would have the patience to teach myself shorthand. With ordinary, handwriting the best speed of writing is about 35 words per minute (wpm). People, however, speak at about 150 - 180 wpm, Sir Isaac Pitman (1813-1897) of England developed a system of shorthand and first presented it in 1837, which was gradually perfected and later adapted for 15 languages. Pitman's system has a number of useful features some of which are - * It is phonetic. Using very simple strokes of the pen, sounds are written down and not the letters themselves. The sound of the letters f ("cliff"), ph ("graph") and gh ("rough") are written exactly the same way, even though they may be spelled differently in different longhand words. * Vowel sounds are optional and are written with small dots, dashes or other shapes next to the main strokes. This saves time in writing when the consonants alone make clear what the word is. In the majority of cases, the consonants alone can clearly identify an English word. Basics of Pitman Shorthand: http://pitmanshorthand.homestead.com/BasicsofPitman.html Pitman shorthand is not the only system of shorthand around. In the United States, Gregg shorthand had surpassed Pitman in popularity and I'm sure there must be others as well.

I took 2 full years of shorthand. I'm weird, because I could read it perfectly, but kept reversing the symbols when I tried to write it. I thought it was a lot of fun. Nowadays, I think it's a dying skill. It's just so much easier to record meetings and such and have the recording transcribed later. I think you could teach yourself quite easily either with an online tutorial (if there are any) or with a shorthand textbook.

The stenography machine and another I think it's called a dictophone? probably made it obsolete, though it requires more expensive equipment. Of course that shouldn't stop anyone else from using it. Heaven knows I use an obsolete computer, but it still allows me access and communication :) I remember trying to learn shorthand but for me, I think I need a few formal classes since some of the symbols are just a little off from others

i know short hand . i learn it by voccational college. in one year i complete my full course . i like short hand . its my favourite one.

I would take notes in class using my own form of short hand. But I never actually took the class for short hand. I think it is probably a dying art. Because of the electronics today, even doctors record their cases on tape and give them to medical transcribers to type it up. Or emails, a person would rather type up an email and send it off quickly to get it done faster. But also, the level of education that personal assistants or office assistants need today, most of the time the boss will tell the assistant to type of a letter about the policies...she or he will type it up and deliver to the boss for approval. No dictation there. And a even better one...the speak and type program. If you haven't heard of this program, you use a mic to speak and the program types it up in Word! Presto...no short hand, transcribing, recorders, emails, or assistants needed. Speak and print!

Hi i can't do short hand but know for sure it's not a dying art. In my college, we used to have special classes for short hand (i was in a vocational college - shorthand classes were part of the course on office management). my friend used to do it. she found it difficult but had to learn as she planned to be a receptionist.

actually, its not yet dying (at least in my country). and yes shorthand is taught in some college courses. as a matter of fact, some secondary schools here teaches it as part of the curriculum, especially the ones that specialize in business, like mine. it was taught to us when i was in sophomore high school. and in our school, its your choice if you want to continue learning it through your junior and senior years. i didn't chose it though. the other choices were entrepreneurship and bookkeeping, and i chose the former.

I went to a Journalists' College and shorthand and typing were taught there. I took exams in shorthand at 100wpm, but I have to say, I have never really used it since those days, apart from perhaos to make my own notes. I think most companies here now prefer to use audio, or the Managers simply type their own work directly onto their PCs.