ISAAC PITMAN
- SHORTHAND INVENTOR -
G'day folks,
Today, many young people would have no idea what shorthand is.
January 22, 1897 — Isaac Pitman died on
this day, leaving behind the shorthand note-taking system named after him,
which became the most widely used in the English-speaking world. It continues
to flourish despite astonishing advances in technology which would have been
expected to render Pitman Shorthand obsolete.
Pitman was born in 1813, the third of his parents’ 11 children. His father,
Samuel, was the manager of a weaving mill. Isaac went to a grammar school but
left at the age of 13 because of health problems. He suffered with speech
difficulties and the crowded classrooms frequently caused him to have fainting
fits.
He took a job as a clerk at a textile mill but refused to give up his education
and studied at home. It wasn’t long before he enrolled at a teacher’s training
college, paving the way for an 11-year stint as a teacher at local schools.
While teaching English, he became fascinated by spelling and felt it needed
reform. This led to his creation of Pitman Shorthand, a system of rapid writing
based on the sounds of words – the phonetic principle – rather than on
conventional spelling. It was all explained in a book, Stenographic Sound Hand,
published in 1837.
Until his death at the age of 84, he continued to improve the system through
twelve editions. He also established a phonetic institute and a phonetic
journal to publicise it.
Not content with all that, Pitman also printed standard works in shorthand, and
his book Phonography (1840) was published in many editions. The system quickly
became widely popular and commercially successful.
Pitman shorthand was introduced into the United States in 1852. Among the many
languages to which it has been adapted are Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian,
German, French, Spanish, and Dutch.
In 1886 – eight years before he was knighted by Queen Victoria for his
shorthand work – Pitman went into formal partnership with his sons Alfred and
Ernest. Isaac Pitman
and Sons was to become one of the world's leading educational publishers and
training businesses.
Now trading as Pitman Training, it continues to thrive from its base at
Wetherby in Yorkshire. In 2013 it was recognised as a Superbrand in the
prestigious league table that charts the UK’s strongest brands. Surprisingly
perhaps, this put Pitman alongside such giants as Apple, Google and British
Airways.
The company offers 250 courses and qualifications across a range of sectors
including office, secretarial, book-keeping, web design and marketing. Teaching
methods include audio, books and software.
As well as training centres in London, New York, Melbourne, Johannesburg,
Toronto and Tokyo, it has 57 of them in the UK, 14 in Ireland, and others in
Spain, Palestine, Romania, Kuwait, Ireland, Nigeria, Cayman Island, Zimbabwe
and India.
But in this age of rapidly developing technology is there a future for
shorthand? One blogger recently wrote: “As recording technology and voice
recognition become more reliable, shorthand will be needed less and less. Laws
will be changed to recognise recordings.
“Some reporters still find it useful, but most now use a recorder. In the UK,
reporters still need shorthand at 100 words a minute, but there is increasing
pressure to drop the requirement.”
However, former London newspaper executive Graham Dudman wrote in 2015: “The
armoury of tools used by reporters to create journalism is changing as never
before. Periscope, Instagram, Twitter … the list goes on.
“But among the all-singing, all-dancing hi-tech digital tricks and toys there
is one old-fashioned tool still standing head and shoulders above the rest:
shorthand. It has been top dog for decades and should remain so for decades to
come.
“In my book, a reporter isn’t the finished article until they’ve passed their
NCTJ [National Council for the Training of Journalists] shorthand at 100 words
a minute.
“Why? Because the ability to write down what somebody says at the same time
they’re saying it, then read your note back instantly is essential to do the
job properly. Shorthand is a brilliant skill no digital trickery can match.”
You can almost hear applause from the ghost of Isaac Pitman.
Clancy's comment: I admire anyone who uses, or did use, shorthand.
I'm ...
