Speedwriting is a technique for fast note-taking developed by Emma Dearborn in the 1920s. It uses standard letters and symbols to represent words and has rules for indicating word endings. Spelling is phonetic, and it’s easy to learn. Speeds of up to 100 wpm are possible.
Speedwriting is a technique for writing very quickly and is considered particularly useful for taking notes. A woman named Emma Dearborn developed speedwriting in the early 1920s. Lei’s method uses a combination of letters, punctuation marks, and special techniques to quickly capture words on paper. It’s not as fast as shorthand, but it’s generally considered easier to learn and use.
One benefit of speedwriting is that it uses standard characters from the alphabet along with common symbols like commas, periods, and dashes. It was developed with the idea that it could be used with handwritten notes or typed into a typewriter. Using familiar letters and symbols makes it relatively easy for people to read and understand quickly, especially when compared to other methods. Gregg shorthand, for example, uses many different unique symbols, and each must be learned before a student can benefit from the system.
In addition to using various symbols and signs for abbreviations, speedwriting has a number of different rules that allow a person to indicate various word endings without having to write them down. The letters “-ing” are represented by underlining the last letter of a word and the suffix “-ed” is indicated by placing a dash over the last letter of a word. Other word endings are represented in similar ways.
Spelling is handled phonetically, so silent letters are dropped and words are written using only long vowels. The “e” at the end of a word is dropped, for example, and a word like “compose” would be written as “dil.” Common words like and, and all have a single letter or symbols for abbreviations. Specific sounds and short words are also represented by single letters. In total, there are about 100 symbols used in speedwriting in addition to spelling simplification rules.
An individual learning to use speedwriting can usually write 60 to 80 wpm in the beginning and should be able to progress to over 100 wpm after using the system over time. This is relatively slow compared to various shorthand systems. These can be up to 10x faster than traditional longhand ones, but for many people, speedwriting is fast enough. The ease of learning of the system also makes it very attractive. Speedwriting is not limited to English and is adapted for use in other languages such as German and Italian.
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