French Gregg Shorthand

Greetings everybody!

 Does anyone know where I can find a book on Gregg shorthand adapted to French ?
 I’ve tried myself to adapt most of the English strokes, loops and circles to the French language; unfortunately, the result is far from being satisfactory.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks.
Mark

(by mark for everyone)


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19 comments Add yours
  1. Thank you, Chuck. I appreciate your help. As far as I know, Sister Ernestine's adaptation is out of print but I haven't tried e-bay yet. It's the first time I've read about S챕n챕cal's book: it sounds great, especially if the nasal sounds are dealt with elegantly, which seemed to me quite unfeasible when I tried to devise my own adaptation.

    Mille fois merci.

  2. As far as I know, there are three editions (I own the first two, I would like to see the third!).

    1. St챕nographie Gregg, adaptation by Ernest Farmer, 1924: I found it extremely clumsy, especially in denoting the nasal vowels and the dipthongs.

    2. St챕nographie Gregg, adaptation by R. J. S챕n챕cal, with two printings, 1931 and 1939. This one is much better, it is Anniversary Gregg, and it follows the Anniversary Manual in the paragraph sequence. It is readable and usable!

    3. St챕nographie Gregg en 32 le챌ons, by Sister Marie-Ernestine, 1975. This one, published by Mc-Graw Hill Montr챕al, NY. I haven't examined this one.

    There are the also the companion books, like Études Graduées de Vitesse en Sténographie Gregg (Gregg Speed Studies, 1938), and Vitesse Progressive en Sténographie Gregg (by sister Marie-Ernestine, 1968, Mc-Graw Hill). I don't own these.

    Your best bet would be eBay or any online used book dealer (like abebooks.com). I'm not sure if Mc-Graw Hill still has the more recent books in print.

    Bonne chance!

  3. I have the "Dictionnaire Stenographique Gregg" by Soeur Marie-Ernestine, part of the "Collection du 75e anniversaire"–the French equivalent of Diamond Jubilee.  This dictionary is pocket format, but slightly larger than the English pocket dictionaries that were issued for simplified, Diamond Jubilee, and Series 90.    Published by McGraw-Hill in Montreal.  Long out of print, I'm sure.   Alex

  4. Thank you, EdJahn.

    Why, that's really nice of you. Which system of shorthand do they belong to ?
    I'm actually using Duploy챕 shorthand for French and English and I find it fast and accurate. I prefer Gregg though, because it's more cursive and less straining. My dream is to use Gregg for both languages.
    Shorthand is still taught over here on the European continent. In France, the Pr챕vost-Delaunay and Aim챕-Paris systems are taught in the North, whereas the Duploy챕 system is taught in the South. It used to be taught also in Quebec.
    Dr. Gregg learnt and mastered the Sloan and Pernin adaptation of Duploy챕 shorthand before he devised his own system. Some of the rules of the Pre-Anniversary editions are derived from Sloan-Duploy챕 (e.g. the reversed vowels to express R) but I suppose he objected to the strict geometrical principles of that system.

  5. Of course I am!

    Well, if it isn't too much trouble, that is. I would very much appreciate it.

    I'll put my e-mail address in the penpal section.

    Je serai ravi de vous rendre la pareille, bien entendu.

  6. Mark   My public library has Gregg Shorthand books in French, and I know French Gregg was taught in Qu챕bec in the 60's and 70's, I have a friend who took a secretarial program and she had to have 130 wpm in both French and English. Imagine! I never got past 60 wpm in English then.   Here is the listing:  Stenographie Gregg. Collection du 75e anniversaire.
    by Marie Ernestine, Sister.
    Montreal, Division Gregg, McGraw-Hill, [1966] 
    Call #: 653.4 G8MmaF
    Subjects Shorthand, French — Gregg.
    Description:  341 p.    I think I saw one on http://www.abebooks.com, but I may have been hallucinating.   Billy (sidhetaba)
     
     
     

  7. Thanks a lot, Billy.

    I finally got S챕n챕cal's book (thanks to Chuck's patient care) and I'm discovering his adaptation of Gregg shorthand to the French language. He's done a fabulous job with the short-forms, the verb endings, the diphtongs, the abbreviating rules, and many ingenuities of the like. Although I find the representation of the nasal sounds a bit awkward, I think he had little choice to match the English strokes. As far I as know, he writes the adjective "bon" the same way as its feminine form "bonne". One little mistake, though. The "h" sound doesn't exist in French. I don't see the point of representing it with the English dot!

  8. I'm glad you like the book (and that you finally got it!).

    S챕n챕cal uses the h dot for the "h aspir챕". I agree with you though: I don't see the point in using it, since the h is silent, regardless.

  9. I know it's a little late to comment here now, but I have a question for mcbud: Do you still have the PDF you created for Mark? I would really like to use Gregg in French (my school is taught in French), and my adaptaton is quite bulky, so it would be nice if I could learn a version that has had some research put into it. I don't know where I'd be able to show you my email address (I'm new here) so I'd appreciate some help with that too.

    Thanks in advance,
    anonymousmuggle

  10. Thanks mcbud, it's a cool book. Although I don't like the fact that there are no nasal vowels (they just use n), I'll follow all the rules, starting back from square one, and see where it gets me, and hopefully I'll be ready to take notes in high school next year!

  11. Also, not wanting to confuse edtions, but the Farmer adaptation (first edition) uses the th- stroke to represent nasal vowels. He uses these 6 rules:

    1. Use th- to represent all nasals.
    2. Use a dot after the th- to represent -in- if necessary.
    3. If the nasal comes after m, use the men- blend.
    4. If the nasal is preceded by an s sound (such as the word "cingler"), use the ses- stroke.
    5. The prefix con- is a joined k, gon- is a joined g, ron- only after descending strokes is a joined r, and tron- is a disjoined t.
    6. The ending -gne is just an joined n.

    So you have six rules that you need to memorize vs one rule in Senecal's adaptation.

  12. Lastly, I recommend not to mix versions, as both adaptations are very different and they will confuse anyone. Reading shorthand from the two French adaptations is like reading two different languages.

  13. Hi Carlos, could you send me the RJ Senecal Stenografie pdf(s) if you have them handy? I'm pushing 30 wpm in Anni, but I'd like to grab a copy while I can of what seems to be the more popular Gregg adaptation on this site! 🙂

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