Dutton World Speedwords

Reginald Dutton created World Speedwords as an international auxiliary language, but realized that it would be difficult to convince people to study such a language, so he created a shorthand system based upon the same material. The beauty of this idea is that while enjoying the benefits of the shorthand system, the student also gains skills in the auxiliary language. A wonderful idea, but Dutton had neither the time nor the money to realize his dream.

It's certainly not at-sight-readable, an important criterion for some language designers. Some have called it line noise (shades of TECO madness!), but I have found it easier to learn, both for reading and for writing, than some other languages that I have studied. Odd, perhaps, but I can think of several reasons for this...

• The words are short and easier to recognize.
• The most commonly used words are represented by a single letter; very easy to learn and to recognize!
• The vocabulary is based upon internationally recognizable words. The brevity of the Speedword might obscure the relationship at first sight, but once you discover that relationship, it is not difficult to remember.
• You can learn the language by learning the shorthand. You don't have to learn all of the language in order to use it. You can begin once you've learned a single word. Using the shorthand you mingle your native words with Speedwords, and gradually, as you learn more shorthand, you learn the language!

Texts

• L Zofida

Translator

I wrote a simpleminded little Speedwords/English translator.