Learning shorthand is not very easy just as you expect it to be and this is because it is different than the usually style of writing you were used to, so, you may be required to have determination, willingness to learn, a good shorthand teacher as well as a good deal of time and patience if you want to learn shorthand writing and understand this kind of writing method.

But still, it is not impossible to learn shorthand even if it is difficult to do so, and as a matter of fact, shorthand can be a very useful tool for your life and your career as it has several advantages too, like:

• 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 shorthand writing also has disadvantages and these advantages are common to people who do not really have proper knowledge and mastery of the course:

• Hard to learn. Shorthand writing is indeed very hard to learn and for a first timer, it would really take your time before you can master writing in shorthand and you might even lose your patience.
• Confusing. Sometimes, the symbols or characters are confusing so you’ll have to familiarize and master the characters so that you won’t be confused writing using shorthand or even reading and translating a document written in shorthand.
• Slower note-writing. One of the advantages of shorthand writing is the fact that you can quickly jot down your notes, but that is only if you have managed to master or improve your shorthand writing skills already, because of you have not, then you will find that using shorthand writing makes you write a lot slowly than when you write your usual way.

Because of the disadvantages of shorthand writing, the need for a good shorthand teacher is evident as only a good teacher can truly:

• 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.

Therefore, if you want to learn shorthand easily because it is necessary for your career or whatever venture you are undertaking, then it is a must to hire a good shorthand teacher with the necessary experience and skills to train you into becoming good in shorthand writing.