Thread: why

It is very difficult to learn from. Since I was already familiar with Simplified, learning the extra stuff wasn't too bad.

Whoa, I really hijacked this thread. Apologies all around.

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Whoa, I really hijacked this thread. Apologies all around.

Josh

Yes you did. Shame on you

Steven

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Love your signature file--I write shorthand, too.

What does it say?

As for funny grammar, I love what I often read on Chinese packages. No, I don't read the Chinese, but the english translations are sometimes crazier than this Monsieur Elios supporter. I know it's just because English isn't their first langusge, but man can it be funny sometimes.

X

You can get the same effect by taking Shakespeare and running it into chinese then back again with babelfish or google translate.

His sig says "straight razor place .com."

Shorthand is phonetic. Each sound is represented by a single stroke that's quick to execute.

To write "straight," you sound it out--"strayt." You start with the short curved line on the left--that's S. The quick upstroke is T. The R is the downward curve, then the big loop is the long A sound. Then another upstroke for the final T.

It takes a lot of time and practice to learn, but it's amazingly fast when you're good. Good courtroom stenographers could take 200 words per minute. Average conversation in the U.S. is about 150. The top shorthand writers could write 300 to 350 wpm. Insane stuff, really.

Josh