Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift

Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift
Type	heavy-line script mixed-Abugida Stenography
Languages	German
Creator	expert committee
Time period	1924-present
Parent systems	Gabelsberger shorthand Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift (″DEK″, German Unified Shorthand) is a German stenography system. DEK is the official shorthand system in Germany and Austria today. The original version of DEK was created by an expert committee in 1924, based on the ideas of earlier systems like those of Gabelsberger, Faulmann and Stolze-Schrey. Revised versions were introduced in 1936 and 1968. Since the 1968 reform, DEK is written at three levels: Verkehrsschrift, Eilschrift and Redeschrift (correspondence style, quick style and reporters' style), terms that had, however, already been in use years earlier. Verkehrsschrift can be produced at a rate of 100 to 120 syllables per minute. Eilschrift and particularly Redeschrift employ contractions and other simplifications to a far greater extent, making rates of up to 475 syllables per minute possible. The current speed record using DEK is 520 syllables per minute and was achieved by Josef Hrycyk in 1974. There are also adaptations available for other languages such as English, French, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and even Latin. The English adaptation created by Lege and Bäse (see links), which is the most popular English adaptation of DEK, allows speeds up to 300 syllables per minute and more.

The latest reform of the Einheitskurzschrift was concluded in Vienna in 1962 after many years of work and officially introduced into the German educational system in Mainz in 1968 by the German Kultusministerkonferenz (State Conference on Education and Media) as the Wiener Urkunde ('Vienna Document') titled Systemurkunde der Deutschen Einheitskurzschrift – Wiener Urkunde – vom 1. August 1968. This may be considered largely the brainchild of Georg Paucker, who (as representative of the German Confederation of Trade Unions) applied himself particularly to the reform negotiations regarding the Verkehrsschrift.

There have been efforts to create simpler shorthand systems, which can be learned more quickly. One of these alternative systems is Stiefografie.

External links

• Systemurkunde der Deutschen Einheitskurzschrift - Wiener Urkunde
• Deutscher Stenografenbund e. V. (German shorthand association)
• Bundesjugend für Computer, Kurzschrift und Medien (vormals Deutsche Stenografenjugend) (Youth league of the German shorthand association)
• Forschungs- und Ausbildungsstätte für Kurzschrift und Textverarbeitung in Bayreuth E. V. (Research and educational institution for shorthand and text processing in Bayreuth)
• Stenoweb Resources for learning the original DEK and an english adaption of it ("German-English Shorthand" by Lege and Bäse)
• Online converter