THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

BECOME AN EXPERT AT THE TEELINE SHORTHAND!

VENKATRAM HARISH BELVADIVENKATRAM HARISH BELVADIVENKATRAM HARISH BELVADIVENKATRAM HARISH BELVADI

AAAA (SHORT) PREFACE (SHORT) PREFACE (SHORT) PREFACE (SHORT) PREFACE

In today’s world, everything is fast. One needs to listen and cope and remember; but the last bit is as difficult as teaching an ostrich to fly. Someone talks a blue streak, and you’re on the wrong end of the line – you’re doing the listening. And you need to do the remembering; what the hell! You’ve got no time, you can’t write as fast as he’s speaking, but you’ve got no choice! Pardon me if I’m going too fast, but the only solution to this is (not slowing down, but) shortening. And if it’s related to shortening the notes of something spoken, something like your boss’ long list of instructions to you, or your teacher’s endless lecture which must be reviewed over and over again if you want a good future, you need a convenient method of shortening your notes. Shorthand. I, myself, was in such a situation and soon realised how many more are out there in this world facing the same problem. Then, I found a wonderful solution in shorthand, and after much struggle, I mastered it. However, it’s not my mastery I wish to convey here, but the numerous tips and tricks I literally discovered, to learn shorthand – as I was learning the art – and decided to spread the message to the thousands of others in this world who have understood

the limits of longhand in many instances and, in turn, understood how shorthand fills in. Therefore, I can safely say that this book aims at making its readers masters in shorthand in four days, helping them to be able to write over at least 125 words per minute! The course is aimed mainly at a slow but sure pace of teaching. My very first tip is that you, as a reader, must sincerely dedicate yourself to the elements in this book so as to be able to achieve what I want you to achieve by the end of the fifth day starting from today. And, by that fifth day, you would have understood the truth in my words. Yours truly, V.H.BelvadiV.H.BelvadiV.H.BelvadiV.H.Belvadi

[Venkatram Harish Belvadi]

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INTROINTROINTROINTRODUCTIONDUCTIONDUCTIONDUCTION

Before jumping most enthusiastically into the course, there are a few things, I believe, you, as the reader of this book, must know. Let us start of by understanding the aims of this book. 1. AIMS The following are the aims of the book, Master Shorthand in a Four Days:

i. To teach readers the Teeline shorthand ii. To help readers achieve a word speed of at least

125 words per minute. iii. To bring the reader to a position wherein he/she

will be able to modify or create completely new shorthand systems to suit his/her needs best.

2. ORGANISATION This book is organised in a unique manner with the following pictorial indications: Θ Start of a new lesson ► Aim of the lesson ☺ Expected time to be dedicated to the lesson

۞ Review of the lesson ₪ Exercise The book takes its readers through four lessons to be learnt leisurely, but surely, over four days. Each lesson states the aim of that particular lesson, and also the time which learning that lesson is expected to take. The reader can then organise his/her day with the given approximate time fit into the daily schedule. Once the lesson is completed, there is a review of everything taught to the reader in that lesson, so that the reader can review the lesson in his/her mind as a check. Finally, some lessons have an exercise(s) to help the reader apply the concepts he/she has learnt in that lesson. 3. WHY THE TEELINE SHORTHAND? This is the last, and, arguably the most important piece of information that a reader must, in my opinion, know, before taking the shorthand course given in this book. There are a number of shorthand techniques followed by various people and in various fields, and no technique is built for a given job-holder or field. One of the most well known shorthand styles is the Pitman shorthand developed by Sir Isaac Pitman in

1837. There is also John Robert Gregg’s Gregg shorthand, developed in 1888, and many such. The reason why I prefer the Teeline shorthand is because it helps professionally as well as personally, it does not require the use of thick and thin lines – which means shading, and, hence, time consumption – like the Pitman shorthand, and it does not require the use of dictionaries to tell the writer how to outline the word-sound, like the Gregg shorthand. The Teeline, much like the Pitman, is better known in Commonwealth nations, especially in the UK, and almost hardly known elsewhere. It is easier to learn, than the Pitman shorthand, and was, in fact, developed by James Hill, an instructor of the Pitman Shorthand, in 1970. All-in-all, the Teeline shorthand is the best, the most economical and the most convenient form of shorthand. And I will teach exactly that to you, today. 4. WHAT ARTICLES DO YOU NEED TO BE READY WITH FOR THE COURSE GIVEN IN THIS BOOK? Be armed with a medium sized (~7.5”X5”) ruled notepad, a sharp pencil, an eraser and a scale for the course. For taking shorthand notes, however, a pad and pencil (or pen) will suffice.

It is important that the pencil (or pen) is sharp, so as to prevent confusion during the notes-reviewing process, due to unwanted shaded lines (or blots). A thick-paper pad (~30gsm), which is ruled (you will later see why) and handy and tiny rather than big, is preferred. An eraser is a must at all times – whether it is during the course or at a later time, when you need to apply your expertise in a real-time situation. So, here’s the final list: FOR THE COURSE AFTER THE COURSE 1. A handy, ruled pad 1. A handy, ruled pad 2. A sharp pencil or pen 2. A sharp pencil or pen 3. An eraser 3. An eraser 4. A ruler 4. No ruler is necessary

Θ LEARNING THE LETTERS [DAY #1] ☺0.5 hours ► To teach the reader the various symbols of the

Teeline short hand.

The following are the various symbols used in the Teeline shorthand, with their corresponding alphabets of longhand. Some letters have two variants, and the reason for this will be explained later. Also, note how some symbols (such as for h and p) are the same, but one goes under the line (the one for p), while the other (the one for h) doesn’t – this is why a ruled notepad is necessary.

Figure 1: (courtesy alysion.org at http://www.alysion.org/handy/althandwriting.htm)

Practice the Teeline shorthand symbols by repeatedly writing them along with their corresponding longhand alphabets. For more ways to master today’s lesson, take a look at the exercise section. ۞ You learnt all the symbols in the Teeline shorthand system and all the variants of a given symbol, too.

₪ Exercise 1. Write the longhand letter-shorthand symbol table

from the picture given in the lesson, then, write the whole table at least five times without assistance from the picture.

2. Write the table (mentioned in point 1 above) every day for the next seven days, and write it at least twice before every exercise in any lesson.

3. Practice writing the table each morning and night so as to not forget it in case you don’t find it necessary to apply your shorthand knowledge for a couple of days or even weeks at a stretch.

Θ WRITING WORDS-I [DAY #2] ☺0.5 hours ► To teach the reader the first out of the three basic steps to writing a word/s in the Teeline shorthand.

The basic idea in the Teeline shorthand – as it is in any other form of shorthand – is to make writing faster, and easier, at the same time. However, it must also be kept in mind that the Teeline shorthand aims at being simple, and, ultimately, fluent. The first step in writing words in the Teeline shorthand is learn how to link symbols. In this aspect, the Teeline is very much like cursive writing, but simpler and … well, less cursive. But, before we learn linking symbols (which will, actually, be tomorrow’s lesson) we will learn how to write and how not to write symbols. Here is how it goes; (make sure you have a copy of the table that you prepared in the last lesson, with you) suppose we were writing the word the – as it is better, I believe, to start off with simple three letter words. Notice that the letter t is denoted simply with a

hyphen at the upper end of the space between two lines in a ruled-notepad, as shown below. Also, pay attention to what t is not written as.

Figure 2: Writing the letter t

Line 1 in Figure 2, above, shows the right method to write t in Teeline, followed by two examples of wrong representations of the same; apparently, the symbol at the left end of line 1 is the correct representation.

Now, we shall write the letter h, which, as you know by now, is a single vertical line not crossing on to a second line. Consult Figure 3 for better understanding of what I just said.

NOTE:

In this book, I shall not refer to the lines of a ruled notepad as

lines 1, 2, 3 etc. but the space between two lines, instead.

Again, the left end figure in line 2 shows the correct representation of h, while the other two are the incorrect ones. The second, third and fourth ones show how easily an h can become a p (if the vertical line crosses on to a second line) an a or an r or an i (if the line is not perfectly vertical/straight) respectively.

Figure 3: Writing the letter h

Lastly, we have to write the symbol for e. We shall follow the same procedure that we followed for t and h. Line 4 in Figure 4 shows the correct (to the left end, again) and incorrect methods to write the letter e.

Figure 4: Writing the letter e

With this, I shall end today’s lesson, telling you that you do not have any special exercises for what you learnt today, but that you must practice the exercises of day 1. ۞ You learnt how to write the symbols in the Teeline shorthand, and – more importantly – how not to write them.

Θ WRITING WORDS-II [DAY #3] ☺0.5 hours ► To teach the reader the second out of the three basic steps to writing a word/s in the Teeline shorthand.

Recall the following statement from yesterday’s class: The first step in writing words in the Teeline shorthand is learn how to link symbols. This will be the aim of tomorrow’s class: we shall write the word the from the correct forms of representation of the letters t, h, and e from yesterday’s class. But, before that, there is an extremely important fact about the Teeline shorthand that you must understand. In the Teeline shorthand, vowels are not represented. This means that a sentence like, the cat jumped across the bat on the mat, would be: th ct jmpd crss th bt n th mt. So, unless you know what you’ve written about (a cat jumping around, that is) you won’t be able to make sense of what you have written, yourself! This, of course, is like in any other shorthand. ۞ You learnt the vowel principle of the Teeline shorthand.

₪ Exercise 1. Write the second and third lessons of this books

applying the vowel principle i.e. omitting vowels. 2. Think of sentences in your mind and write them

down directly by applying the vowel principle in your mind and not by writing them once as they are and then applying the principle. Try to pick up speed in this process as it must be a basic ability in all shorthand writers to write down dictated sentences by omitting vowels.

Θ WRITING WORDS-III [DAY #4] ☺1 hour ► To teach the reader the third and final basic step to writing a word/s in the Teeline shorthand.

Forgive me if I’ve been tempting you by repeatedly saying I’ll teach you how to link letters in the Teeline shorthand. Today, we’ll learn that – really! Take a look at Figure 5 below which might help you to recall our class on day 3. Also, notice that I’ve added a set of symbols to lines 6, 7 and 8. It is these lines that we’ll be concentrating on, today.

Figure 5: Linking letters

Firstly, line 6 gives us the correct symbols for t, h, and e. But, from the vowel principle from yesterday’s class, we will not require the letter e, meaning that our word the will simply be th. Line 7, therefore, gives us the two correct symbols; one for t and one for h. Finally, line 8 links the letters t and h to give us a kind of upside-down L symbol, which actually represents the word the in Teeline shorthand. Now, I hope, you will be able to see that similarity between cursive writing and Teeline that I’d spoken about in the class of day 2. For better understanding, see Figure 6 below, and use the assistance of the explanation following it.

Figure 6: The cat jumped across the bat on the mat

In figure 6, lines 1 to 6 show the following:

I. On the left of the red line i. c,a,t ii. j,u,m,p,e,d iii. a,c,r,o,s,s iv. b,a,t v. on vi. mat II. On the left of the red line, the words cat, jumped, across, the, bat, on, and mat, taking the vowel principle into account. Line 8 shows the complete sentence, the cat jumped across the bat on the mat, written in Teeline shorthand. ۞ You learnt how to link letters in Teeline shorthand, and hence how to write in Teeline.

₪ Exercise 1. Pick up a book and write a few pages from it,

in Teeline. 2. Ask an acquaintance to read out a few pages

from a book, slowly at first, and write that down in Teeline shorthand.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, feel free to contact me.

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