Romansh spellchecker for Office 2007 now out

Software Rumantscha blog announced that a Romansh spellchecker for Office 2007 has now been released (using the same dictionary as the one for Office 2003).

("Romansh" in this context meaning the standardised variant "Rumantsch Grischun", i.e. rm-rumgr, rather than one or more of the five traditional written standards.)

Shorthand speed

I just listened to some dictation passages I had made for myself at rising speeds and tried to take them down in shorthand, to see what my speed is like.

I think 60 syllables per minute (about 45 wpm at 1 word = 1.4 syllables) is the limit of what I can do more or less comfortably. I was able to get down much of the 70, 80, 90 spm (50–65 wpm) passages, but there were always bits in between where I had to leave out words, and it felt a lot more rushed. (And I noticed that I still don’t have many abbreviations internalised.)

So. Better than the 40 spm I’ve seen quoted for longhand, but there’s still room for improvement. (And I wouldn’t pass a final exam of a shorthand course that requires 100 spm/70 wpm—and I think the UK, 80 wpm/110 spm is the requirement.)