Personal Shorthand

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Personal Shorthand, originally known as Briefhand in the 1950s, is a completely alphabetic shorthand.

Unlike pure symbol shorthand systems (e.g., Gregg, Pitman) and some shorthand systems (e.g., Speedwriting, Stenoscript, Stenospeed & Forkner) once identified as "alphabetic" but more accurately described as hybrid systems (because they use both letters of the alphabet and symbols or artificially written or located alphabetic characters), Personal Shorthand uses only the 26 letters of the alphabet. It can therefore be written cursively, printed, typed, or even used on a computer.

In common with most hybrid shorthands, Personal Shorthand cannot be written as fast as symbol shorthands. However, learning time is drastically reduced. Students of Personal Shorthand can acquire a useful shorthand skill (50 to 60 wpm) in a single school term, compared to a year or more for symbol systems.

Personal Shorthand theory is presented in just 10 lessons, after which review and practice can lead to writing speeds of 60 to 100 words per minute.

Authors of the contemporary version of Personal Shorthand are Carl W. Salser, C. Theo Yerian, and Mark R. Salser.

[edit] External links

Publisher, ERA Learning/National Book Co
Free Shorthand warm up/dictation files