h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am a journalist looking to become a proficient verbatim reporter and chose the above method of shorthand... Over the next few week's I will let you know how it is progressing, the problems I faced and how I overcame them!

So....... how's it going?

I am also a journalist, interested in learning shorthand. How did you get on with it? Were you successful, and are you now relying on shorthand when interviewing someone?

Pitman seems tricky because of its reliance on strokes of different thickness. I have been trying Gregg but many of the symbols are so similar I worry that transcribing would be v. challenging.

Take my advice: try Gregg.
It's much easier to read back because it includes the vowels and is just as fast as Pitman New Era.
If you go to http://gregg.angelfishy.net you get a rundown of the history of Gregg shorthand. I started off learning Gregg Simplified (the only current textbook published for the UK)
I since found out Gregg Anniversary is far better esp. if you're British.
As you may know Gregg shorthand is the system most used in America, so simplified assumes an American accent pronouncing your Rs in words like "farm": Gregg simplified doesn't, and it lacks various annoying features that simplified has.
I downloaded the entire Anniversary manual from the url I just gave you.
I started with Teeline but found it far too cumbersome. Pitmans I just couldn't get my head round having to use pencil. I write all my Gregg in biro and you do not need lined paper. This is such a bonus bc unless you specifically come out prepapred to write shorthand you will not be albe to write Pitman's properly ~ let's face it no-one uses pencil these days.
One warning you really do need to practise penmanship, make sure you get the strokes right as exactly like the manual as possible, with circles etc on the correct side of the consonant and don't try making up shortcuts until you really have mastered the system. I can do 70 words per minute already and I've never done a shorthand class in my life. I learned everything from the 2 manuals I mentioned.
Best of luck
hope this may be of some help

I learnt pitman shorthand over 30 years ago and now need to refresh. However I cannot now remember if the system i learned was 2000 or New Era? Does anyone know the difference so I can ensure I get the right books to practice?

Hi, Flamelily, If you learned Pitman shorthand over 30 years ago, it is most likely that it was Pitman New Era. Pitman 2000 was published about 1975, but it probably took a while for teachers to teach it.

Also, if you remember how you wrote the past tense of any verb with 'ed' on the end, did you write the strokes 't' and 'd', thin and thick vertical down strokes, disjoined in such words? For instance, did you write 'packed' as 'pk disjoined t' or as 'p halved k'? The former is Pitman 2000, the latter, Pitman New Era.

You might also like to look at the following website which deals with an alphabetical shorthand based on Pitman's

http://www.freewebs.com/cassyjanek