I found this really cool link while digging around for alternate English orthographies. Now English orthography is a real horrible thorny mess because the dialects have diverged so much that we really have the same number or kind of vowels anymore, there are overlapping sound changes, mergers, and some vowels have moved and taken over the space of others, etc...But which dialect would be easiest for English Second Language speakers? This guy thinks he found the answer in the sound changes that have made modern British English have a significantly smaller inventory than Americans'. There are only six basic vowels, and the long versions up can be represented with a trailing linking-R. Just like the linking-R, the w-diphthongs can be represented by a trailing L since this gets off too in British English after a vowel. So there's a little more to think about, like initial w and y and the i-ending diphthongs but basically this is the kind of thing the Handywrite guy would have loved. I use Gregg, but well food for thought. I know some people used Handywrite, it's got videos on.
http://englishspeechservices.com/blog/?p=1795
(by Gregg for group greggshorthand)