I had just gotten back from a short adventure in China, and was sick. I had jet lag and the stomach flu, and was spending hours and hours awake in the dead of night because I couldn’t sleep. Why couldn’t I sleep? It was partially because of my jet lag, but the main reason was Teeline. I was obsessed with learning it, and couldn’t sleep because I had a singular determination to master it.
After being introduced to shorthand in Dickens’s David Copperfield, I became fascinated with the somewhat lost art of shorthand, a style of writing which allows one to write at much faster speeds than usual. At the time, I was attending classes at the Colorado School of Mines trying to simultaneously keep focused on the professor and voraciously take notes at the same time. Doing both concurrently isn’t always easy, especially when your professor talks like a thermodynamics auctioneer on speed. Shorthand can be very beneficial to me in school, and also in the office. It’s especially important that your boss, coworkers, or employees have your full attention (i.e. eye contact) when they’re talking to you. You can’t do that effectively if your attention is forever fixed on a notebook or sticky note in front of you.
What I’ve attempted to do is compile a short list of essential Teeline words that I think students and people in a business setting can use to write less and focus more. Teeline is supposed to be an easy-to-learn style of shorthand (as opposed to Gregg or Pitman), as almost all of the “letters” are based on their English equivalents (whereas Gregg and Pitman are phonetic). My goal here is not to turn you into a stenographer, but rather to improve your speed significantly with very little effort. Fluent shorthand is not a necessity for the average note-taker, and most don’t have the time to learn it.
So here you go: a compiled list of all the Teeline outlines I think are important. Have fun!
What I often do is combine shorthand with longhand, using common words and prefixes/suffixes from shorthand while writing out other words in longhand. Something along these lines:
- “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.”
I only write the shorthand if it comes to me instantly. If it takes even a moment to think about it, then it’s not worth it to try and figure out the shorthand. Of course you have to practice the shorthand outside real-life situations if you ever want to make it useful, otherwise you’ll just be writing longhand for everything. Duh! Teeline is pretty standardized if you want to go deep, but the awesome thing is that you can customize it to fit your needs. When you’ve got a huge word that you just keep spelling out over and over, shrink it and make a Teeline outline out of it. I used to write Heat Transfer as ht. That’s two strokes in Teeline as opposed to twenty two longhand.
But wait! I’ve got a bonus for you too! Yes, just because you’re so handsome/beautiful, here’s an Anki zip file containing a deck with all the outlines from above. It’s more than 300 cards! Click here to download: Teeline Basics, or search for it in the shared decks in Anki (File>Download>Shared Decks).
Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Teeline, I’d encourage you to check out this free online book. Or buy the book Teeline Revised Edition by I.C. Hill & Meriel Bowers. I’ve got the book at home, and it’s very useful. The material often seems forced and manipulated to match what they’re teaching at the moment, nothing like natural speech, but all the same I found it quite instructive.
Hey, I was thinking of learning shorthand and this was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Glad I could be of assistance.
Thanks heaps!
hello sir,, i m anju i also learn shorthand but my speed is not increasing pls help me….
sir you r great
Thank you! I had been looking for outline lists such as these for some time. This makes it much easier!
Thank you. I was considering relearning teeline using Anki (as I’m using it to study Japanese).
You’ve just saved me a hell of a lot of time – you’re a total legend.
[…] Teeline Shorthand for Students, the Workplace, and the … – Improve your writing speed significantly by learning Teeline, an easy to learn style of shorthand. I’ve compiled a list of the most common Teeline outlines. […]
Gregg shorthand has a faster speed rate, thus holds all shorthand records and the “complete” system including dictionaries and phrase books is available online FREE. Teeline will never get up to Gregg speeds and is being promoted due to huge course prices once you’ve been given enough to not want to waste your effort. Learn Gregg for nothing rather than get suckered into the 490 pounds sterling Teeline courses the journalism schools are scamming and you’ll never get quite fast enough; but by all means don’t believe me. My 50 years experience might not count for you generation z wise guys.It matters little and you’ll find out the truth soon enough. Dont waste your time with Pitmann either.It’s symbols are counter to a Hindu Arabic flow from left to right but might work better for the Alefbett right to left. The best way to learn too, is to get Journalist’s stenographer Spirax 563 pads to scratch out repetitive exercises, and start a journal come planner diary type book to be filled out very perfectly every night whilst also organising and planning your life more efficiently. Get a good quality Moleskine Planner diary in the same size as a Stenographer’s/Journalist’s 563 Spirax note pad 5″x8″.Again, do not fill out the Journal fast, use your Journo’s pads for bashing it out and making errors, and as James said, there is nothing wrong with making things personal and combining ideas and concepts once you get a handle on things. Good luck.
I was making my own list, then I encountered yours. Thank you for your he1p!
[…] Teeline Shorthand for Students, the Workplace, and the Lazy […]
Thanks for the gospel truth in Teeline! I learned it donkey’s years ago and recently picked up Teeline Made Simple – you don’t forget it – just forget to use it!
Hello,
Can you please seethe link that you have given for the book on Scribd, its not working anyomre.
what is the suffix -ence in teeline
Here is an updated link for the book. https://www.academia.edu/8601245/57088689-Teeline-Complete-PDF-Library
thanks alot.
Is there a text-to-Teeline translator on line anywhere?
I was wondering if you have a Theological based Teeline reference you have built for yourself? Bible book names, shorthand for words like “Prayer” “Gospel”, etc. Any suggestions? I have started learning Teeline and your references along with the wonderful You Tube channel has been quite helpful.
Hey John, not sure how much traffic this website gets, but I’ve tried to install your Anki deck, but it’s not working, and I can’t seem to find yours on the Anki website. Would you mind reuploading it? Thanks heaps!