Writing shorthand means replacing standard letters and words with simplified symbols or strokes that let you write as fast as someone speaks. The core idea behind every shorthand system is the same: strip away redundant letters, record sounds instead of spellings, and keep your pen moving with minimal lifts. Which system you choose and how you practice determines whether you reach professional note-taking speeds of 100 words per minute or more.
Choose a System That Fits Your Goals
Three shorthand systems dominate, and each works differently. Your choice should depend on how fast you need to write, how much time you can invest in learning, and whether you need to read your notes back days or weeks later.
Teeline is the easiest entry point. It simplifies the standard English alphabet into streamlined strokes designed so you rarely lift your pen from the page. Because it’s based on letters you already recognize, your brain doesn’t have to learn an entirely new writing system. Teeline is the system most commonly taught in journalism programs, and many learners reach usable speeds within a few weeks of daily practice.
Gregg is a phonetic system, meaning you write what you hear rather than what you see spelled out. Vowels are represented as small hooks and circles attached directly to consonant strokes, creating fluid, cursive-like outlines. Gregg was the dominant system in American offices for most of the 20th century, and it rewards dedicated practice with very high speeds.
Pitman is also phonetic but uses a different mechanical approach. The thickness, length, and position of each stroke all carry meaning, and vowel sounds are recorded with small dots and dashes placed beside the main strokes. Because vowels are optional marks you can skip when writing fast and add back when reviewing, Pitman is powerful but has a steeper learning curve. It remains widely used in parts of the UK, India, and Australia.
If you just want faster meeting notes or lecture notes starting this week, Teeline is the practical choice. If you’re willing to invest months for higher potential speed, Gregg or Pitman will take you further.
The Phonetic Principle
Regardless of system, the most important rule in shorthand is: write sounds, not letters. English spelling is full of silent letters, doubled consonants, and multiple spellings for the same sound. Shorthand cuts through all of that. The word “psychology” starts with a silent P, but in shorthand you begin with the S sound because that’s what you actually hear. A K sound is always written the same way whether the word spells it as “c,” “k,” “ck,” or “ch.”
This means you need to train your ear, not your spelling memory. When you hear someone say “caught,” you write the consonant K, the vowel sound “aw,” and the consonant T. The spelling with its G-H-T cluster is irrelevant. Once this mental shift clicks, your writing speed jumps because you stop processing spelling entirely.
How Vowel Omission Works
The second speed trick shared across shorthand systems is dropping vowels. Your brain is remarkably good at filling in missing vowels from context. You can read “mtng tmrrw at 3” without much effort. Shorthand formalizes this instinct into a rule: omit vowels unless they begin a word or unless leaving them out would make the outline ambiguous.
In Teeline, this is straightforward. You write initial vowels and skip the rest. In phonetic systems like Gregg and Pitman, the rules are more precise. Certain unstressed vowel sounds, particularly the “uh” sound (the schwa), the unaccented “ih,” and the unaccented “eh,” are routinely omitted from middle and ending strokes. Stressed or distinctive vowels that change the meaning of a word are kept. The word “better,” for example, might lose its second unstressed vowel while “batter” keeps its distinct “a” sound so the two don’t look identical.
You don’t need to memorize every omission rule before you start writing. Begin by dropping obvious unstressed vowels and add more omissions as your confidence grows.
Learn the Alphabet First
Every shorthand system has its own set of basic strokes, one for each consonant sound and a smaller set for vowel sounds. This is your shorthand alphabet, and memorizing it is step one.
- Teeline: Each letter is a simplified version of its printed form. The letter “t” becomes a single short horizontal stroke. The letter “l” becomes a downward curve. Because the shapes echo letters you already know, most people can memorize the Teeline alphabet in a few practice sessions.
- Gregg: Consonants are smooth curves and straight lines of varying direction. Vowels are small circles and hooks. You’ll need to learn roughly 20 basic strokes, then practice joining them fluidly.
- Pitman: Consonants come in pairs, thin and thick versions of the same stroke, where thickness distinguishes voiced sounds (like B) from unvoiced ones (like P). You’ll also learn a set of dot and dash marks for vowels.
Spend your first week writing and rewriting the alphabet until you can produce each stroke without looking at a reference chart. Flash cards work well here. Write a sound on one side and the shorthand stroke on the other, then drill until recall is instant.
Build Speed With Common Words
After the alphabet, learn “brief forms” or “short forms.” These are pre-set abbreviations for the most frequently used words in English. Words like “the,” “and,” “is,” “have,” “with,” and “would” appear so often that writing them in full shorthand, even simplified shorthand, wastes time. Every system assigns these words a single quick stroke or a two-stroke combination.
Teeline, for instance, reduces “the” to a single curved stroke and “and” to a quick joined shape. Gregg does something similar with its own set of brief forms. Learning 50 to 100 of these common-word shortcuts will do more for your practical speed than memorizing obscure rules, because those 100 words make up a huge percentage of everyday speech.
Practice With Real Speech
Reading about shorthand doesn’t build speed. Writing does. Once you know the alphabet and a few dozen brief forms, start practicing with actual spoken material. Here’s a progression that works for most learners:
- Week 1 to 2: Copy printed sentences into shorthand slowly, focusing on correct stroke formation. Speed doesn’t matter yet.
- Week 3 to 4: Dictate to yourself at a slow, deliberate pace. Read a sentence aloud, then write it in shorthand. Check your accuracy.
- Month 2: Use podcasts, news broadcasts, or YouTube videos played at 0.75x speed as dictation sources. Pause frequently at first, then reduce pausing as you improve.
- Month 3 and beyond: Write along with real-time speech. Start with slow speakers and work toward normal conversational pace, which runs about 120 to 150 words per minute.
Set a timer and measure your speed regularly. Count the words in a passage, time how long it takes you to write it, and calculate words per minute. Tracking progress keeps you motivated and shows you which strokes or words are slowing you down.
How Long It Takes to Get Proficient
Teeline learners who practice 15 to 30 minutes daily often reach 60 to 80 words per minute within a few weeks to a couple of months. That’s fast enough to capture the gist of a lecture, interview, or meeting. Gregg and Pitman take longer because the symbol systems are more complex, but they reward that investment with higher potential ceilings. Reaching 100 words per minute in either system typically requires a few months of consistent daily practice.
The biggest factor isn’t the system you pick. It’s whether you practice daily. Short daily sessions beat occasional long ones because shorthand is a motor skill. Your hand needs repetition to build muscle memory, the same way learning a musical instrument works.
Tips for Faster Progress
Read your shorthand back every time you finish a practice session. If you can’t decipher your own notes an hour after writing them, your strokes are sloppy or inconsistent. Tighten up the shapes that give you trouble before moving on to new material.
Use a smooth-writing pen. Ballpoint pens that skip or require pressure slow you down. Gel pens or felt tips glide more easily and let you focus on speed rather than fighting the ink. Write on lined paper so your strokes stay consistent in size and position, which matters especially in Pitman where stroke placement carries meaning.
Keep a shorthand journal. Write a few sentences about your day in shorthand each evening. This forces you to apply what you’ve learned to unscripted content and builds the habit of thinking in shorthand rather than translating from longhand.
Digital Alternatives to Pen Shorthand
If your goal is raw speed on a computer rather than handwritten notes, stenography software offers another path. Plover is a free, open-source stenography engine that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It translates steno-style keyboard input into regular text in any application, letting trained users write at speeds exceeding 200 words per minute. You can use Plover with a regular keyboard to start learning, then upgrade to a dedicated steno machine if you get serious. The software includes built-in training tools to help you learn the steno key layout and chord combinations from scratch.
Digital steno and handwritten shorthand serve different situations. If you’re in meetings with a laptop open, steno software makes sense. If you’re in interviews, classrooms, or anywhere a notebook is more practical, pen shorthand remains the better tool.