For some strange reason, even in this highly technical age where you can get dictaphones as small as a USB-stick, shorthand – which should be renamed ‘journalistsbain’ – is still an important addition to an unemployed journalists arsenal, and the only one I have not managed to get so far.
A hundred words a minute is apparently the industry standard, a speed I can do, and arguably have been able to do since about April, but have failed all SIX exams I have taken in it.
It’s a strange skill. Some liken it to learning a new language, but its not really its more teaching yourself to triple think, to take in the words, convert them into shorthand, remember the mistakes you made but not think about them as this will totally knock you off your rhythm and therefore lose words.
CRAZY: This is just SOME of my shorthand practise
I do understand why many publications ask for it, in certain cases it is not practical or even legal to use a recording device, however, learning it, or rather maintaining my 100wpm standard so that I have at least some chance of passing the next re-sit I take, is definitely beginning to grate.
I have resorted to taking down reams and reams of shorthand from all of the TV I have been watching over the last few weeks.
Gray’s Anatomy was definitely a favourite for a while, but frankly after you have successfully converted ‘coronary by-pass’ into shorthand without blinking I think the NCTJ (journalism exam body) lot should pass you on the spot.
I have moved onto Falling Skies, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, which has a ridiculous vocabulary and now I’ve moved onto Grimm, a fantasy drama.
On top of this come the monotonous Marie Cartwright 100wpm passages about ‘young people’ causing criminal damage, or a woman being killed in a park (yes all shorthand practise MP3s ARE that depressing) to make sure I can actually do the speed I’m supposed to be able to.
It’s definitely the kind of thing that can drive you crazy, and the stupid thing is after I get a job I probably don’t even need that speed anyway, at least not to the accuracy the NCTJ want.
One word ‘insanity’
Owen Jack Williams 