In April this year, a well-known Brazilian journalist, man of letters, from TV and music, wrote that shorthand is synonymous with setback. Venomous, he suggested that all shorthand writers from the Brazilian Senate retire and the resulting extinction of their public posts. An injustice caused by complete ignorance about the subject. Shorthand writers exist because there aren't any substitutes for them whatsoever. In the case of legislative shorthand writers, which were the target of the columnist, they play key-roles both to inform the legislative works inside the democratic policy of transparency of public work and to ensure the authenticity of the written reports of parliamentary actions which will become a part of the history of each legislative body. Yet, shorthand is much more.
In order to clarify a little bit more the subject and do justice to such an old activity as writing itself, here is a sincere contribution.
What shorthand writers do
Shorthand writers record the human speech in a fast and efficient way, in real time. First they do the shorthand gathering, which uses varied graphic signs, like symbols and/or abbreviations that vary according to the system used (Gregg, Leite Alves, Maron, etc.). After that they make the transcription of these codes into conventional writing or read the recorded text in another language, different from the one in which the speech was given. They can also request, catalogue, file and reproduce original documents and records both sound and visual, whenever necessary.
Among other institutions, public bodies, public companies, societies of mixed economies, foundations, federations and confederations appeal – quite a lot – to shorthand services. Inside many products of several big brands such services are embedded, since companies which perform market researches hire shorthand writers to record chats and brainstorming sessions with consumers, trying to find opinions about their products and services as well as consumer needs and desires.
The shorthand services of Brazilian legislative bodies record everything which is said – reported, debated and voted – immediately after it is over – in ordinary and extraordinary sessions, solemnities, permanent committee meetings, parliamentary or extraordinary inquiry sessions, public hearings, conferences, office takings, and other parliamentary activities. Generally, everything that is performed in these places, either on the floor or in auditoriums must be published in the official journal. Many times, seminars, round-table discussions, votes, campaigns, interviews, homage, debates and meetings held in other places in the same body or outside, as in unions, communities, schools and other public bodies are also recorded. It is also intense the shorthand production of judiciary bodies, in Brazil.
Shorthand writers who were approved in contests have public faith. That is, even if all the electronic or outdated magnetic records are either destroyed or altered, the shorthand records will work as evidence when needed. That’s why it’s important and much safer that the shorthand services are not outsourced. It is imperative to keep in mind that shorthand writers are extremely serious, dedicated and discreet professionals, and they take it very seriously, no matter where they are working.
The attempt to record the human speech in real time and remain accurate to what was said is an ancient activity. Along with drawings, graphics and abbreviations, shorthand has always been a form of conciseness and speed in storing and spreading information. In the movie Alexander, there is an elegant scribe and his assistants. How did the scribes take note of their masters’ daydreams? Well, solely by shorthanding.
Resolving the environment and the antioratory
Shorthand writers work under any circumstance like during a power failure, recording failures, lack of batteries for tape-recorders or battery discharge for small digital recorders. And they do so, not only under excellent work conditions, sound and visibility, but also in places where the acoustic is poor or where there is so much noise that the sound record is jeopardized as well as in overcrowded places, from meetings around huge tables, where the coffee cups, assistants and technicians compete with the voice of the speakers to places where social comfort is utopia.
Speeches and words are hardly ever perfect. As examples, there are people who slip in basic structures of their mother tongue due to sheer ignorance, lack of education, difficulty in learning, or simply disinterest in improving. Speakers may be foreigners who lack full skills in the language they are using. They can also be people with serious respiratory or speaking problems, such as those with genetic syndromes, sequelae from cerebral vascular or mechanical accidents, cerebrodegenerative diseases, deformations in the articulatory organs, among so many examples which can make an individual have dyslalia.
Some people without any physical problem can have impaired diction, such as stammering or lisps, also people who speak inward, with noises, or simply people who can be using braces, or have just got some anaesthetics at the dentist. It is also possible to mention various emotional problems which can lead to more or less accentuated dyslogiae like non-linear train of thoughts, backward reasoning, and verborragy. There are people who almost speak in dialect (originated from regionalism, fashion or the need to call others attention), other ones speak so fast that it sound like another language. There are also the people who clutter, leaving no clue of punctuation or sequence of ideas, people who whisper and those who scream.
Many other ‘styles’ of antioratory can be remembered. For instance, a speech may get confusing when a person uses all the artifices to value, demoralize, intimidate, denounce or accuse someone. An individual may rearrange his own thought according to the reaction of disaffection, the victim and/or the people present. On the contrary, he might look for alibis, stand up for himself. Influenced by strong emotions or by a sheer feeling of revenge or self-pity, he might deliver a speech full of lapses, incoherence, mixed thoughts, pauses, unstructured sentences and/or grammatical inconsistencies.
A person may look for words, trying to articulate a thought at the moment of speaking and therefore lose the structure of the speech. Heated or full of emotion discussions might even result in memory lapses or faint. In such situations, many words are mispronounced, become unintelligible, inaudible or are extremely inadequate.
At another extreme, there are individuals who speak in a very erudite form, with speeches full of unused words, expressions from dead or unknown languages to the shorthand writer; these individuals can also mention parts of very complex poems or excerpts from authors in other languages, use acronyms or technical and scientific jargons which are sometimes extremely hard to understand. Although erudition is something welcome, shorthand these speeches can become a highly complex task, especially if the speaker doesn’t provide a copy of the speech for checking. In practice, despite the erudition, it ends up being another example of antioratory.
Imagination isn’t the limit for so many stories the shorthand writers have to share.
Humans and tape recorders
Shorthand and recording are two inseparable tools nowadays. This partnership can be the only way to recover an ethereal moment, as any other, which couldn’t be left aside.
Before the spread of recording devices, the shorthand services which aimed truly reliable and authentic transcriptions counted on three or more shorthand writers, taking notes at the same time of an event, simultaneously. More shorthand writers would be assigned according to the speakers and work conditions presented. After all, it is impossible for instance, one single person take notes of simultaneous speeches and register parallel movements, such as presidency change, audience manifestations and unexpected comments. Without a recorder, the number of professional shorthand writers in the National Congress of Brazil, for instance, would be impracticable.
Nowadays, at least two shorthand writers usually work together, taking turns in short time intervals previously agreed. During the record of a congress or seminar, a team of shorthand writers is hired, and two shorthand writers are assigned responsible for each speech, round-table, etc., for specific periods of time, being replaced by others after a certain number of hours. It is very productive when these teams are accompanied by a supervisor or anyone of logistic support. When the event is over, the pairs turn everything into one single text.
In legislative bodies, a team of shorthand writers takes turns in short periods of time, aiming to speed up the transcription of the material, which will be published as soon as possible. Generally a shorthand writer takes notes (gatherings) every five, ten minutes, seldom fifteen minutes. Five minutes of speeches are recorded, in words, in a computer, after one hour of the gathering on average. It ensures that, in case of a five-minute speech, in a table plan of five-minute gathering for each shorthand writer, around one hour later the speaker has on hand or via internet/intranet, the reliable copy of what he said; for twenty minute speeches, a little bit more than that, about one hour and twenty minutes, since each shorthand writer who made the notes starts his task five minutes after the previous one.
In the pursue for excellence, the shorthand writer may ask the speaker either to clarify a sentence or a word that remained incomprehensible or determine the right spelling of acronyms, foreign or proper names. Several times the speaker is deeply thankful for such attention. Generally, shorthand writers are seen as competent, serious and ethical professionals. Nevertheless, many staffs in the Brazilian legislative bodies aren’t enough in number for their needs.
Reviews. Ethics.
The reliable and legitimate shorthand record must try to reproduce what was said, and not re-write it. Even being almost impossible to any written record reproduce the human speech in an absolutely reliable way of what was said by the speaker, it is up to the shorthand writer use skilfully the punctuation marks – and this is the secret of shorthand.
Even the best punctuation will never give the exact tone of the human voice, which reveals or conceals the real emotions or intentions. In theatre plays, it is possible to give a lot of different intonations and meanings to a short sentence without changing its punctuation. The difference between a restrictive or explanatory subordinate clause is a classical example. If the speaker provides the correct pause, he leaves no doubt about the punctuation. However, it is common to hear sentences with no distinct pause or punctuation. Take such sentences into a board meeting, a committee hearing or a government audience and we will see the nuisance that might be caused by a simple omission or addition of a comma.
When there is a shorthand editor, he may at his discretion and not compromising the veracity of the shorthand record give some nexus between some parts of the speech which remained unclear, with some unfinished thoughts, with the use of wrong words, citation of wrong names or documents by listening to the recording and analyzing all the transcripted speech of the speaker during the event. There aren’t shorthand editors in all legislative bodies, though.
In market surveys or in the offices where shorthand secretaries work, there is not the presence of a shorthand editor whereas in big corporations, confederations and public institutions, there are the editors who aren’t shorthand writers and adapt the texts into a less colloquial language, less repetitive or redundant, more concise or simply more in accord with guidelines set by higher levels or with the speaker’s desire. Quite often entire parts are omitted or replaced by others. In such cases aiming the honesty and veracity of the document, there is an indication like "Reviewed by the author”. Other times, however, the text prepared by the shorthand writer is used to prepare dockets or bulletins, never being published in full. Not all parliaments in the world publish in full what is said on their floors.
For the shorthand writer, ethics is essential. Even when tempted to give some emphasis or some impact reduction to some specific speech, which is absolutely possible either with minor or major modifications to the text, it is up to this professional keep himself faithful to what is said by the speaker. Sympathies, likings and disliking, ideologies, beliefs and personal interests are not supposed to interfere in the faithful aim of shorthand. Consciousness of his historical and social importance must be part of his professional development, and above all part of his heart.
Haste, accuracy and stress
In general, the reports and minutes need to be read and published in a short time. Depositions, interviews, debates, pronouncements need to be available as fast as possible. The official journals of the Brazilian legislative bodies are distributed in the morning of the day following the recorded event, even when a parliamentary session ends very late at night. In big companies or big events, it is also usually urgent the analysis of the material by the interested authorities or its publication, therefore requiring fast transcription and faultless work. Nowadays, with the internet, everything has just speeded up. Many people want to put their speeches on line as fast as possible, ignoring official journals and reports. Hence the shorthand writer’s untouched text is published, exposing over the net his talent along with the speaker´s.
The longer the experience of the shorthand writer with the speaker(s), the better is the understanding of his speech, as for instance in legislative bodies, where many members are re-elected for consecutive terms, or in the boards of companies that keep most of their staff for long periods of time. The shorthand writer is able to grasp a gesture, look, inflection, intention. It is also essential not to hesitate for a single second, lose the elegance and discretion and or miss a significant gesture while recording everything that is said by the speakers, during hours of work. Such stress can make him or her feel dizzy, with unsteady legs, heavy and sore shoulders, sore eyes, ‘deafish’ ears, throbbing hands and back, stirred emotions.
There are also some specific stressful situations such as shorthanding highly classified meetings, which cannot be taped, or read aloud among authorities or large audiences what they have just shorthanded. There are moments where shorthand writers might be exposed to risky situations such as fights between speakers or a break into the premises by rioters or security forces. Because of all these things, it is advisable to provide special working hours and workload to shorthand writers.
Shorthand writers act in unison, in a truly continuous motto, at enviable levels of concentration and surpass to any executive or public manager. The profound sense of dedication and promptness of these professionals and their ability of working – and overcoming problems – in a team or individually assure them efficiency, economy of resources and praise. Simple design
Despite the computer industry and the artificial intelligence researches look for it, there is simply nothing like a miraculous software, which can transcribe in a brilliant way the human speech, much less in real time. Only very simple texts, read by people with what can be called perfect speech, with a paused voice and dictated punctuation and no homophones or cacophony. But speakers are not usually voice over artists or singers; nor do they dictate punctuation marks while speaking. What is produced is usually a collection of non sense pearls. In order to make better texts it is necessary to have someone repeating to the computer what was said by the speaker and that the text gets reviewed by somebody who was present at the speech, and therefore took brief and fast notes… just like shorthand writers.
The digital modernization of shorthand could be made by the adoption of touch screens and some kind of software which can read and interpret shorthand symbols or with substitutive typing systems. Every shorthand writer, during their lives develop their own method of condensed writing, the same way every human being has their own way to reach some thoughts inside their brains, which are essentially alike but deeply individual. This way, not only it would be necessary to develop individual software for each shorthand writer but also provide several significant updates. It would probably be even more difficult to foresee the evolution of each individual shorthand method than the evolution of viruses aiming the development of vaccines. In the end every shorthand writer himself would need to develop his own software. New technologies are expected and they will be welcome if they can evolve shorthand, for the human intelligence is eager for novelties.
Shorthand has the ability to reinvent and multiply itself as a mutant DNA. Like the oldest living beings on Earth, it survives exactly because it has a simple concept and design: a writing device over a prop and a shorthand writer.
Young shorthand
No matter how comprehensive this essay might be, it doesn’t mention everything about shorthand, nor does it do justice to its importance thus far all over the world.
I watched a couple of years ago a short movie which shows Kofi Annan giving a speech and a shorthand writer by his side. The woman was there standing next to him, with a purse hanging from her shoulder, a notepad and a pencil in her hand, writing everything the famous name from the United Nations was saying. As soon as he finished, she read, in German, everything he had just said in English. It was her choice instead of interpreting.
The reason for doing so was probably not to interfere in the speaker’s speech. Eventually, this movie became a tribute to all shorthand writers all over the world.
The young who get in touch with shorthand have increasingly looked for this type of writing, since it has everything to do with the new Internet age. Moreover, there is a phonetic method that is based on word reduction and is similar to the language the young use in emails, SMS and virtual social networks in general: in the Sound Script system, the vowels are dropped, letters replace prefixes and suffixes, many abbreviations are used and some other clear symbols. It was considered only a secretarial technique at first, but became a method that helps many candidates applying for public contests in shorthand – and they continue using it after that. In times of speed and concise texts, unbeknown to the young, they reached the built-in concept of shorthand in this method and gave it some fresh air along with new symbols, facing the globalized world in broadband speed, Web 3.0 and whatever is ahead.
Taking into consideration the expertise and the technique of millennia of shorthand, noting down classes, exercising school subjects at home for instance, could be a little bit more aligned with the intelligence speed of today’s young. The difference is that the shorthand record doesn’t make the terrible grammar mistakes of the so-called ‘Internetish’. Therefore, if the schools adopted shorthand as a regular subject, the students’ intelligence and other skills would be even more stimulated and the grammar would no longer be ‘murdered’.
It is worth researching the difference between shorthand, stenocaption, stenography and mechanography. It is possible to look up a variety of time-honoured shorthand methods and new proposals on the Web, as well as devices and specific software. Every year, more and more sites, blogs, on line magazines and communities come up on the Web, all of them dedicated to shorthand, having plenty of visitors and members. There is an interesting exchange among shorthand writers from all over the world, with congresses, speed competitions, information exchange, virtual communities and study groups. On the internet, shorthand classes and dictations for speed practice are offered, links to specialized institutions and groups too, besides a wide range of excellent texts which enlighten what shorthand is and recover the history of such special activity.
But the shorthand world is not only about virtual activities. There are on site courses for all methods, and it is important to keep in mind that a solid preparation is essential to all – but not only – the people interested in taking part in public contests. After all, the education of a professional shorthand writer requires time and dedication. Continuous progression
Besides the professional experience, good shorthand writers need to have a compatible cultural level, keep themselves up-to-date with the changes in the language and with the most important news broadcasted in different means of communication. They need to read in other languages, know different places, visit museums, read good books and magazines, take part in debates, seminars and round-tables about several subjects, be close and up-to-date with new technologies too. It is also of great importance that they exchange ideas with peers, since shorthand writers are professional like any other, having the same working and professional necessities.
It leads to two other important factors. The first one is the diversity of graduation backgrounds among shorthand writers. It is not enough to know how to write well to become a good shorthand writer. It is also necessary both to master other subjects and have access to information, whether it is through good grammar books, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, technical-scientific material, common reading, newspapers and magazines, journals or electronic means. The policy of hiring people graduated in many different courses is more than welcome to shorthand environments, since it makes possible a great exchange of knowledge among the members of the teams, considerably upgrading the work.
The second factor concerning the quality of the professional shorthand writer is his valuation and recognition. In order to have it, it is necessary that their work is discussed and published, besides being respected in the work market. National and international class associations, gather shorthand writers all over the world, seeking their valuation, improvement and common interests.
Considering the shorthand service something unnecessary is a great mistake. One can always hire trainees or outsourced companies, or even open public contests for high-school graduates, to transcript recorded speeches – reducing costs. The hard thing to do will be to explain for instance to companies’ shareholders, results not compatible with minutes and notifications; or to judges, journalists and the population in general, why the TV programs showed something and the official journals showed something else. Or explain to researchers and to the future generations why there was no reliable historic record of prominent facts to humankind.
In Brazil, today – mainly – the official journals and other official documents of information work as a thermometer and guide so that the population follow the parliamentarians activities, demand actions – successes, failures, omissions – and have parameter to re-elect them or not in future elections.
Shorthand is an activity present in every country, from the smallest and forgotten one in a countryside to the developed and decision-making bodies of the world. It is not restrict to the professionals of the area, because anyone can learn to shorthand and use this skill to ease their everyday lives, as journalists, teachers, assistants or anyone who needs to write something fast – and/or discreetly. After all, shorthand writers aren’t only old ladies about to retire.
Shorthand is showing to have a long life next to humankind. Its usefulness can be extended to the lives of many people of several different professional backgrounds, ages, languages, areas of the world. The intensive use of the brain which it stimulates can also work as an assistant to the psychophysical development of the young and the elderly, the sick and the gifted ones. Its complexity and rationality have been held responsible for the use of shorthand resources in cryptographic systems, which are so important in the protection of computer nets and individual accounts.
Lastly, I can only add how fascinating it is to watch a shorthand writer perform this truly art of human intelligence. Every method is an enchantment, with its lines, circles, symbols, letters, varied and beautiful codes, the beautiful hand creating a ballet performance right in front of our eyes. It is like each shorthand writer kept to themselves the secrets and the powers of the individuals who created the writing and of the following scribes, who were the mythical masters of knowledge for centuries in our history. Every new shorthand writer that appears renews part of the hope in perpetuating the human culture. With the computer science and telecommunications, mainly the Internet, past and present meet again to format a new future. The young seek, spontaneously, a technique which many of their grannies had learnt pleasantly decades ago. And as Marina Hernandes states, shorthand and its work of text, sound and image indexation – activity already developed in the Brazilian Depute Chamber – are a premise to the Web semantics, which will have even more complex search engines. 1
More than a millennial technique, shorthand is an art which aggregates the past and the present of the human culture and will surely be a part of its future.
The author: Since 2007, the author Nathercia Martinelle is a columnist and reporter of Tem Notícia – o jornal do pensamento brasileiro, developed by journalist Oséas de Carvalho in 1988. The link to this essay is http://www.temnoticia.com.br/noticia.asp?cod=7647. It was published with a preamble that explains its development from the story found at http://www.temnoticia.com.br/noticia.asp?cod=7417.
The traductor: Paulo André Vieira is an English teacher and translator, Portuguese teacher for foreigners
3 ‘Marina’ has commented Web semantics at ttp://avaranda.blogspot.com/2009/04/nelson-motta.html; this identification was possible with the aid of professor Paulo Xavier
Other links related to this article
www.taquibras.com.br (Taquibrás – Registros Taquigráficos – an institute from Brasília, capital of Brazil, run by the well-known professor PAULO XAVIER, professional shorthand for 56 years, former Director of the Department of Shorthanding, Review and Wording at the Federal Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, who invited me to publicize this text at the IV Congresso Eleitoral, X Encontro Nacional da Unataq-Brasil e II Fórum Taquigrafia Parlamentar e Judiciária and at the Intersteno Congress 2009 in Pekin).
www.taquigrafiaemfoco.com.br (the video with the bilingual shorthand writer and Kofi Annan can be seen on the site Taquigrafia em Foco, run by professor WALDIR CURY, author of many shorthand books. He is a retired shorthand writer from the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro and a well-known shorthand writer.
www.adelinataquigrafia.com (site of the Sound Script System, created and developed 20 years ago in Rio de Janeiro by MARIA ADELINA AZEVEDO)
http://org.intersteno.it/page.php/id_primario-52/language-inglese (site of the International Federation for Information Processing, this page contains further information about the Intersteno Congress 2009 in Pekin, which will take place in August).
http://www.taquigrafia.com (site of Revista Taquigráfica, developed by DIOGO DE ALCÂNTARA PEREIRA, the Orkut generation).
A Brazilian contribution to the Intersteno Congress 2009 in Pekin.
