Learning shorthand is not easy even if its purpose is to make jotting notes easier, and that’s normal because we have been used to writing our usual way so, if you want to learn shorthand, the requirements you need are determination, willingness to learn, a good shorthand teacher as well as a good deal of time and patience especially when trying to understand the method.

But even if there is grave difficulty in learning shorthand, learning is not impossible if you are interested and in fact, you can truly benefit from your knowledge about shorthand because learning shorthand has several advantages such as:

• Quick notes. When you know shorthand writing, you have the ability to write quick notes, meaning even if the speaker speaks fast and impossible for you to catch up when writing the usual way, with shorthand, you will never miss a thing the speaker says because you can write fast just as you are listening.
• All information jotted down. Some bits of information can be missed when we listen to seminars and lectures just because we are slow in writing, but if you know of the quickest way to write using shorthand, you can jot down all information you want to jot down.

When it comes to shorthand benefits, if your job requires you to listen to lectures and reports and requires you to write fast, then you might require learning shorthand, which is why the most common beneficiaries of learning shorthand are journalists, law officials who attend hearings more often, government employees, as well as students.

But there are also disadvantages of shorthand writing especially if you are using this style without proper knowledge and mastery of the course and these disadvantages are:

• Hard to learn. Shorthand writing is not only very hard to learn but it is also time consuming to learn and you might lose your patience even before you start mastering it.
• Confusing. Sometimes, you will experience confusion with regards to the symbols or characters used so this requires you to familiarize and master the characters so that when the time comes you really need to write fast or translate a shorthand document to English, it would be easier.
• Slower note-writing. Yes, it is true that you can write notes quickly when you use shorthand writing, but if you have not yet mastered or improved your shorthand writing skills, this advantage may not be applicable for you and you may find shorthand writing to be slower than when you write your usual way.

With these disadvantages, you really need a good teacher in shorthand writing as a good shorthand teacher can:

• Help you learn shorthand. Learning and familiarizing shorthand writing can be done on your own but I tell you, it is not easy and it is not quick, compared to learning shorthand with a good teacher.
• Help you master/improve your skills. It is not enough to just learn shorthand writing, the symbols and characters, etc., and you must understand that learning the characters alone does not make you good in shorthand writing and what makes you good at it is your mastery of the characters and the techniques in writing shorthand, which you can only acquire when you have a good teacher tutoring you and motivating you as well.

So, if you think shorthand writing is necessary for your career or whatever venture you are undertaking, and if you need help to learn shorthand, it pays when you hire a good shorthand teacher who is not only experienced in teaching but also highly skilled and trained when it comes to shorthand writing.