Personal Shorthand for the Journalist

Double your longhand writing skill! The average person writes longhand at only 25 to 30 words per minute. In a single school term, or a few months of independent study and practice, you could learn to write Personal Shorthand at 50 to 60 words per minute.

Why? How?

You need such a skill because you might not always have a recorder handy . . . or yours could fail at the most inconvenient time. Not only that, but it's not convenient to review the tape in the middle of an interview.

You can do it with a minimum of time and effort because PS is the only all-alphabetic shorthand system in America -- using only the 26 letters of the longhand alphabet. Unlike other so-called alphabetic systems, it is not a "hybrid" system that employs both letters of the alphabet and nonalphabetic symbols. Therefore, Personal Shorthand can be written or printed with pen or pencil, (or even crayon!), or typed with typewriter or computer. It is the essence of all abbreviated longhand systems, refined into one.

Personal Shorthand for the Journalist also includes many special writing, interviewing, and notetaking pointers of specific value to writers and journalists. Did you know that one couldn't receive a degree in journalism in the British Commonwealth without learning shorthand? How . . . sensible.

As you will note in the sample below: PS uses absolutely no "symbols" foreign to the 26 letters of the alphabet; no shortbread curves, angles or unnatural joinings; no plus signs, minus signs, hyphens, quotation marks, parentheses (or any other abstract symbols or unnatural uses of punctuation) for the purpose of phonetic abbreviation. PS uses just the 26 letters of the longhand alphabet -- written in your natural longhand style. Punctuate just as you do in longhand.

Why is PS so simple?

1. Because it is the only completely alphabetic system (using absolutely nothing but the 26 letters with which all students are acquainted);
2. Because there is no costly "unlearning" of habit patterns each letter is written as it is commonly written by each student, not in some special or unnatural way. (Does a symbol curve clockwise or counter-clockwise? Is a symbol written above, on, or below a line. In some shorthands, even how thick the lines of a symbol might be can be important)
3. Because it can be learned in a fraction of the time required by other systems;
4. Because PS and only PS can be written with pen, pencil, typewriter, or computer;
5. Because any competent teacher of any subject can teach it without special training.

Because there is no difficult learning or unlearning of your natural writing style, PERSONAL SHORTHAND can be learned in a fraction of the time it takes to learn other shorthand systems . . . and is extremely effective both as a vocational and a personal-use shorthand skill. (This is not to suggest it is painless -- you still have to invest a reasonable amount of time practicing, but PS requires less time than other shorthand systems.)

PS Theory is presented in just 10 lessons, which you could complete in anywhere from two or three days to two or three weeks. From that point on, you will review those same theory principles and practice writing PS on real world vocabulary. In fact, the sooner you begin to apply PS to your work, the faster your skill will develop -- after the Theory presentation, skill improves purely on the basis of practice. The more you practice writing high-frequency words and applying Theory principles, the sooner they become instinctive. Continue to practice, and you could write at 80 to 90 words per minute, or even more!

PS has been used in almost every walk of life. It is ideal for personal-use notetaking by students (law students, medical students -- any students), or even in mangerial or administrative positions. But it can be including by the private secretary of a sitting justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. It might even be good enough for you, too!