How to Use Pitman Shorthand

Pitman Shorthand is way of rapidly transcribing words by using phonetic symbols to facilitate the transcription. The style of shorthand was developed more than 100 years ago by Sir Isaac Pitman and it is still the most popular way to write shorthand in the UK and the second most popular way in the US.

Instructions

1. Learn the consonant sounds of the Pitman phonetic system which consists of sounds such as "bee," "dee," "chay," "kay," "en," "el," "ing" and a few others. Start to distinguish between voiced consonants and unvoiced consonants quickly so you know what to record as you write.

2. Become familiar with the long vowels and short vowels and know how to distinguish the two in Pitman Shorthand. Learn how dots and dashes represent vowels and practice placing the vowel symbols either at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a consonant symbol in order to differentiate between different vowels.

3. Distinguish between dark and light strokes to indicate different but similar letters in consonants such as "s," as in "sing," and "z," as in "zebra." Also study the different darkness of vowel symbols so you learn to properly write vowels as you see them or interpret them when you read them in Pitman Shorthand.

4. Understand the visual symbols that represent each of the phonetic sounds and consist of strokes such as small and large circles (for the "s" and "z" sounds), loops (for "st" as in "blast," and "s," as in "based") and small hooks at the beginning and end of the stroke. Also use the shun hook to write words like "fusion" and study the different kinds of modifications you can use for each stroke.