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Teeline System
Teeline is a shorthand system accepted by the NCTJ, an organisation for journalists in the United Kingdom; however it is also easily adaptable to a variety of languages. This is why we are proud to accept learners from all parts of the world.
Teeline was developed in the twentieth century by James Hill, a teacher of Pitman Shorthand. Briefly, it was originally developed to assist those struggling to write phonographic types of shorthand, such as Pitman. Teeline was therefore created by eliminating the unnecessary letters from words and also by the omission of unnecessary movements in forming handwritten characters. Teeline blends characters and systematically uses common contractions and due to these characteristics of the language, Teeline is the most simple and easiest form of shorthand to learn to date. As a result, modern shorthand learning is quicker than ever before. Typically, it is thought that Teeline takes just one quarter of the time it takes to learn conventional shorthand methods.
History of James Hill:
Born near Bradford, England on the 19th May 1908, he qualified as a teacher of Pitman’s Shorthand by the age of 21.
During the course of his career, James realised that, for the student of average ability, or those without a special flair for shorthand, there was too much to learn before the Pitman Shorthand system could be put into use and, therefore, interest often dwindled.
Possessing a naturally inventive mind, James set about applying work-study principles to ordinary longhand. The result was a system called Boscript in 1952, taught to trainee nurses and in 1966 Teeline Shorthand was born when James was asked to take over the journalists’ shorthand class at Clarendon College of FE in Nottingham.
The results achieved during those early pioneering days were impressive and the system was recommended to the NCTJ in 1968. In November 1968, Harry Butler, reporting on the inaugural course, wrote: “We have on our hands a shorthand breakthrough which should solve longstanding shorthand problems … I have never known a shorthand system which can produce such good results in so short a time.”
Soon after, James retired to devote his time to Teeline, and both he and his wife Constance, spent the next few years tirelessly together giving presentations to promote Teeline Shorthand. Unfortunately James died on the 2nd June 1971. His wife Constance, a well qualified and certificated teacher of Pitman’s Shorthand herself since 1949, continued to promote Teeline Shorthand at home and abroad until her retirement. Still living in England, Mrs Hill has a keen interest in her husband’s unique system.
James maintained that: "If you can write, you can write Teeline." Streamlined longhand, which is the basis of the Teeline system, shares similar principles to texting, so, our belief is: If you can text, you can learn Teeline! Click here for an example of basic Teeline.
Why Teeline Shorthand and not Pitman or Gregg?
Having the skill of writing shorthand has always been useful, particularly within the journalism sector. It is now also becoming widely adopted by anyone who is willing to improve their skills and note-taking abilities in order to cope with minute taking. Of the three recognised types of shorthand, Teeline is the easiest to grasp. With the benefits of interactive online learning, and dedication to practise, OnlineShorthand.com allows you to develop your shorthand speed, to 100, 110 or 120 words per minute..
