Teeline shorthand

Teeline is a shorthand system accepted by the NCTJ, an organisation for journalists in the United Kingdom. It is adaptable to a variety of languages but is mainly only used within the Commonwealth.

It was developed in 1970 by James Hill, a teacher of Pitman Shorthand, as a streamlined way to transcribe the spoken word quickly by removing unnecessary letters from words and making the letters themselves faster to write. Vowels are often removed when they are not the first or last letter of a word, and silent letters are also ignored. Common prefixes, suffixes, and word pairings (such as "sh" and "ing") are reduced to single symbol.

The symbols themselves are derived from the old cursive forms of the letter and the unneccesary parts are again stripped leaving only the core of the letter left.

It differs from many shorthand systems by basing itself on the alphabet as opposed to phonetics, making it more simple to learn but also carrying the speed limitations of the alphabet when compared to other systems. Still, speeds above 140 words-per-minute are not uncommon.

Journalism students initially find it difficult, but with practice can understand the system in a short space of time.

References

• Bowers, Meriel (1991). Teeline Gold (The Course Book) (1 ed.). Oxford: Heinemann Educational. ISBN 0-435-45353-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Learn Teeline with Pitman Training
• Teeline alphabet and examples
• Teeline audio dictation and shorthand samples