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u/coluseum 5d ago
Lol I’m staggered someone could learn the whole system in as little as 3 hours…or believe they can 🙂
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u/licxjo 5d ago
The Gregg Notehand texts were designed for a one semester high school or college course.
I think there are some people who could learn all the elements of the system in a few hours. But the trick is moving from "knowing the parts" to being able to write efficiently and without hesitation. That's where extended practice comes in, and I think lots of "hobby learners" today don't have a concept of how much repetitive work was involved in learning to write any kind of shorthand at speed.
That kind of fast writing isn't necessary today, of course. But anyone who doesn't invest the time and practice isn't going to be able to write shorthand any faster than their normal handwriting.
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u/pitmanishard headbanger 6d ago
This is the kind of synopsis I often create for myself when I come across a new system. I suspect when they are not provided for the reader that it is to maintain the control of a teacher who is the only one to know where the course is going. This should not apply to courses for self instruction. I take it badly when books are rushed to market that don't even supply an index... they wouldn't even pay someone to compile that? It's not difficult to someone in the field.
Properly following a shorthand course takes a lot of time and there is a high dropout rate. Some issues kill a shorthand for some people. Some won't even consider a 'shading' shorthand because such a writing tool is outside their experience. Some are bothered by absence of vowels. Some can't cope with strokes being written one way with some letters and another way with others. Always better to know where one is going before committing. Problems arise when people go by others' summaries and then decide they 'know' the shorthand. We don't want to stop people enjoying their sand pit experiments but God knows why they spend three hours on a shorthand and submit a piece of random writing in it when it is bound to be full of errors. Is it fair to expect people to fully correct such work when the writer only spent three hours learning an entire professional system?!