CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This study on problems of shorthand to secretarial students as an essential tool in achieving secretarial efficiency is directed towards bringing together the major factors that help any shorthand students to achieve his/her goal when effectively followed.
Any shorthand student that does not follow the fundamentals system of shorthand could not achieve much, so the instructor or lecturers in this subject have to give incentives to drive students in this subjects to work hard so that the aim or objective of the secretarial profession and the individuals could be achieved.
For many years, people have been failing this course up till the present time. My question now is can we hen agree that shorthand is the most problematic subject in secretarial administration? But why this frequent and mass failure everywhere? It is not unusual to hear that this problem drove many people out of the secretarial profession. But in actual fact, how many people after interested in this profession before they entered it or do you enter into it as the last resort because you cannot fit into any other field of study? The students whop enter into this profession as last resort are the set of students that mostly find unintelligent students and cannot be chosen as the last resort. The interest must be there. It id for those who are extra intelligent and have a good retentive memory and can be fast in learning.
Many students register for the course simple because they love how the secretaries dress, work and behave, without knowing what us involved. To these set of students, shorthand will not only be ‘head-ache’ to them but will also cause them ‘stomach – ulcer’. I am happy that people are now realizing that secretarial administration is not a dumping ground or a push over profession. Secretarial students should know that extra effort, energy and discipline are required to cope with the course. Running away from shorthand classes will not solve the problems.
Shorthand is a stubborn subject and should be handled with all seriousness and consistent practice. In the words of my shorthand lecturer “It is not a last minute subject” you are not to wait till the examination is too close before you start making effort, you cannot make it as that time.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The system of shorthand writing presented in this study was invented by Sir Isaac Pitman who invented his first treatise on the art in 1837 and the second edition of his work appeared in 1840 under the title “phonograph or writing by sound” which was the name originally given to Pitman shorthand (a term derived from two Greek words meaning “Sound writing”) shorthand therefore, is designed by Pitman (1840:4) as “ the art of representing spoken sound by characters” since shorthand is an art work it is then a skilled subject which needs every effort to do it well. It is desirable that students should have at the beginning of the study an intelligent grasp of all that is conveyed by the term.
However, it is obvious that the value of shorthand whether as a vehicle for private communication or for use in various ways in business or professional life would be largely diminished if the students does not adopt the same system of writing. Students should then note that the difference between the shorthand characters and the letters in ordinary writing and printing. “It is obvious that the usual or Romanic alphabets of twenty – six letters in Pitman shorthand cannot be represented by distinct characters of the thirty-six typical sounds of the English language. (pitman 1970:vii) as a consequences, many of the letters of that alphabet are, of necessity, wed to represent different sounds. It can be seen, therefore that any system of shorthand founded on the common alphabet would prove a very imperfect and cumbrous instrument for recoding spoken utterances with certainty and speed which is the chief objectives of shorthand.
In the study and use of Pitman shorthand it should be borne in mind that although the system is phonetic it is not designed to represent or record minute shades of pronunciation. The Pitman alphabet in the words of max-muller “Comprehends the thirty six broad typical sound of the English language and assign to each a definite sign”