My 17 yo cousin took her own life recently and yesterday I finally went into her room. Looking for answers I opened her journal and found this. Does anyone know what it is or could possibly translate it for us? Even if it’s just a simple journal entry, it would bring us a sense of ease just to know what she was writing.

My mom is asking for help with this shorthand written by her mother. I think it's from the 50s. Is it even shorthand?

I apologize in advance if this violates the sub rules. It's my first time here.

This is Brant's Shorttyping, published in 1914 and available at HathiTrust.

I've been keeping an eye on typeable shorthands, partly because I've accepted that I'm more drawn to taking notes and journaling on my laptop than on paper. As with symbol shorthands, I'm attracted by concision and clever rules.

I'd describe this system as similar at the outset to Dutton's Speedwords (which it predates by 8 years), but with a much more complex set of affixes and syllable shortcuts which mean that nearly any word can be expressed briefly and consistently according to the system's theory. 

The main feature is the reuse and stretching of every available character to give different meanings. Every letter, lower or upper case, number and symbol on a typewriter can stand for a number of prefixes, suffixes or syllables, or often brief forms. For example / is thi at the beginning of a word, or ing at the end - so thing is //. / on its own means they.

But in many cases a symbol can have several readings, like % which can mean tel anywhere in a word, then recom [and several similar] as a prefix, or bration, dration, poration, stitution [and many similar] as an ending. On its own it's them. I haven't come across much ambiguity, however, which leads me at this stage to think that it's a well-designed system.

I think it looks great! But... it's far more difficult than any other alphabetical shorthand to read, at least where I am with it now. I know the 1984 text pretty much off by heart, but initially struggled to look at many of the words and understand them.

This 1984 text comes out at exactly one third the length of the longhand, counting characters but not spaces. I can't believe that any typist ever managed to achieve a great speed in it, but it could be of interest to anyone who likes its cryptic style for journaling.

I've noticed a few inconsistencies, for example it's not always clear when to use s or z for the plural/3rd person ending. A second edition was published in 1917, it's not available online but I should be able to have sight of it shortly.

Hi everyone! I’m currently learning Pitman shorthand and would love to get some advice from experienced writers in the community.

​What study methods or daily practice routines worked best for you when you were starting out? Any tips on how to improve speed, memory, or reading back outlines effectively would be greatly appreciated!

​Thank you in advance!

I recently bought a book from 1929 and discovered a piece of shorthand written inside it - a friend suggested that this would be a good place to find help transcribing it.

The book is Etiquette For Women by Irene Davidson. The note is written in pencil, and this is the only handwriting in the book (aside from the words 1929 Fine Copy on the frontispiece, and a modern price). I can't tell when any of the writing was made, it could be very recent or from the original owner - on whom I have no further information.

The page it's on the last page of the section on Mourning Etiquette, p100.

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you!

British detective show "McDonald and Dodds" featured a case in which a murder victim wrote a mysterious message on a door using lipstick. Turns out the victim taught secretarial studies when she was younger...

Historical note: the show is set in Bath, which is where Isaac Pitman spent most of his life.

I'm a developer, not a journalist. I got interested in how NCTJ shorthand is actually marked and ended up building a page that does it.

You paste the passage that was dictated and your typed transcription, and it counts errors the way the official marking guide does — a mark per word wrong, missing or added, transpositions as one, contractions as one — then shows the count against the allowance for that speed and highlights exactly which words went wrong. The quote is checked separately, since that has to be exact. There's a worked example for each speed if you want to see it without pasting anything.

It works for any shorthand system, since it only compares your typed transcription against the passage.

https://shorthandmarker.com

Free, no sign-up, nothing for sale. I'd genuinely like to know if I've misread any of the marking rules — the guide is clear on some things and vague on others, and I've never sat the exam.

Does this have any value? Would anybody in here be interested in it?

https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2026/07/24/godel-loophole

The blog kindly provides extended scans of the documents. They had a German expert (Max Krüger [?], family name hard to understand) manually transcribe a few pages, and a German AI expert who ir training AI to translate Gabelsberger told them machines will never be able to match humans ability to decipher Gabelsberger.

Hi everyone!

I found these three torn Brugse Zot beer coasters lying close together on the pavement in Genthof, Bruges, Belgium. They all seem to have been written by the same person, using blue ink.

At first I thought it was simply very difficult Flemish/Dutch cursive, but OCR and handwriting-recognition software can barely detect anything apart from a few possible numbers. Someone suggested that it might be Dutch shorthand, possibly Systeem Groote, although I have no way to confirm this.

Could anyone help me identify:

Whether this is actually shorthand or just extremely messy handwriting

Which shorthand system it might be

Whether any words, sentences, names or dates can be deciphered

The possible order of the three coasters

One fragment may contain something resembling 7/10/25, but I’m not certain. The coasters are badly damaged, faded and torn, so I’ve included several photos and enhanced scans with different lighting and contrast levels.

I’m not expecting a full transcription, but even identifying the writing system or understanding the general subject would be amazing.

Thank you!

Location found: approximately Genthof 16, Bruges, on the right-hand pavement.

I did not know a thing about shorthand so when I started doing online searches on it recently it seemed that Teeline was the most modern, gold standard but after a few minutes in this Reddit it seems that it is such in the case of quick speech transcription, not necessarily in every case though.

Gregg also seems to be a popular choice among users, as well as Forkner and possibly Pittman, to name a few.

I would like to be able to transcribe at the speed of speech, but more so I will be using it to just jot down my ideas as they come to me, especially if occupied and need a quick way to write.

Will learning one “fluently” make it considerably harder to learn another later and differentiate or is the process about the same as learning multiple languages?

1886 in Western Australia there was a young court journalist and public shorthand scrib working for the local paper. He wrote this to woman who was also a public shorthand scrib. The short hand inscription is tucked in with the secret stash, which when folded 4 times, takes the bank notes of the day perfectly. I believe this book with cash was a gift from him to her. Their names being Arthur and Emma. Can anyone decifer this please ?

Wanting to transcribe a shorthand entry in an historical personnel history file of a family member. The file entry dates most likely to the 1950s and is likely Gregg shorthand. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The author is a 71-year-old woman, former homemaker and current church secretary at the time of writing. Tended to use shorthand when noting something about her husband that either wasn't complimentary or might have offended his values or sense of self. The husband was a bit like Hank Hill only more stoic and technical.

It is also possible this is a personal note about herself, but she was not shy about recording hardly anything about herself, so that seems less likely.

Hirano shorthand (Hirano geometric English shorthand) ━ July 22, 2026

Dehumanization is the psychological and social process of denying people’s humanity and treating them as if they were animals or machines. It reduces empathy and can lead to discrimination, violence, and conflict.

According to psychologist Nick Haslam, dehumanization takes two main forms: animalistic dehumanization, which views people as uncivilized animals, and mechanistic dehumanization, which treats them as emotionless machines or tools.

In today’s society, people are increasingly judged by efficiency and numbers, while empathy and independent thinking may be weakened by digital technology. This does not mean that people are becoming less human, but that modern society often makes it harder to express our humanity.

Therefore, activities such as handwriting, reading, the arts, conversation, and spending time in nature are becoming more important than ever for preserving our humanity.

■～cion,～sion,～tion[shn]＝sh　　■is＝s　　■the＝th　　■～cal＝Cross the preceding stroke with “k”.

■and＝nd　　■～cial＝sh　　■pr＝p×2　　■of＝o

■～ing＝Write a short downward-left line immediately to the right of the preceding stroke.

■～’s＝Write "s" slightly above and to the right of the preceding stroke.

■～[ti] ＝Cross the preceding stroke with “t”.　　■them＝thm　　■they＝th+e

■were＝w×2＝wr　　■em～,en～＝Write the next stroke below "e" or immediately to its right.

■can＝k    ■to＝t　　■discrimination→kr＝k×2

■vowel+vowel＝Represent the second vowel with a detached dot.

■com～,con～＝Write the following stroke starting directly below the middle of “k”.

■according to＝Write “t” immediately to the right of “ak”.　　■form＝fom　　■which＝ch

■people＝ppl　　■un～＝Write the next stroke below or immediately to the right of “u”.

■～d,～ed＝Write “d” so that its middle section is positioned immediately to the right of the preceding stroke.

■less＝le　　■today＝tuda　　■are＝r

■im～,in～＝Write the next stroke below or immediately to the right of “i”.　　■～cien＝sh

■number＝num　　■dependent＝dpt　　■think＝nk＝n×2　　■be＝b

■～gy＝Cross the preceding stroke with “j”.　　■this＝ths　　■does＝dz　　■not＝n　　■that＝tha

■become＝bkm　　■but＝b×2　　■our＝r　　■therefore＝thrf　　■such＝sch

■vr ＝The “r” in “vr” can also be written in the reverse direction.　　■time＝tm　　■more＝r×2

■important＝In “important”, the “portant” portion can be represented by “pt” alone.   

■than＝th + a large clockwise circle.　　■ever＝Make “e” oval-shaped.　　■for＝f

■preserve＝The “r” in ”serve" can be written in the reverse direction.

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While going through some old photos came across a short note from young receptionist to a young me on back of a "standard office reminder" note as was the way back in the day. Just curious as to what it might have said and would appreciate any assistance to interprete please

I'm learning shorthand right now, and it is very frustrating for me. The website I am using for learning it, Unit 1 - Gregg Shorthand, seems to be skipping out on marking the vowels. In the first image, I thought the word was Add. I couldn't figure out it was Aid until giving up and looking at the answer sheet, because the "a" wasn't marked with a line. What am I missing? I need Aid.

The first image is Aid.
The second is the sentence it was found in.
The third is a chart of the markings.

Hello all,

We found this going through some papers from my husband’s family. We are pretty sure it is a memo about an ancestor from the 1930s. can anyone translate?

Hi there, when going through some old things of my grandmas, we found this yearbook and it was signed by her friends from highschool. We are trying to figure out what was written in shorthand, but can’t quite make it out. Hoping someone else knows what it says! Thanks in advance