Method 1 of 4 :New language
- Create a new language. If the secret note is meant for one person (or a small group), you can create a "language" where each letter is replaced by a symbol. Make sure the person knows the code, or include a list of each symbol and what it stands for. It should be easy enough to remember, but mysterious enough that it can't be easily translated. (For example, A=1, B=2, C=3 is too easy a code. A better code would be a swirl for A, a triangle for B, a star for C, etc.)
Method 2 of 4 : Hiding the message
- Make a hidden message. Dip a paintbrush in milk/lemon juice and write your message on a white piece of paper with the brush. Let dry. To decode, heat the paper with a hair dryer.
- Coat it with cellotape Cover a plain piece of paper with cellotape, and write your message on in felt tip. If your teacher spots your friend reading the note, your friend can rub it off before they get there.
Method 3 of 4 : Codes
- Substitute one letter for another. Substitution codes are when each letter stands for a different letter. A = Z is too easy, so try random combinations like M = B. It's a lot harder to decode when all the letters are put together in one long string.
- Use transposition. For example: "That is a large amount of corn, John" becomes "A secret language, h-gu--aaencjt--too-la-rhiamonn". For those wondering how this works, try writing the original sentence into a 6x6 table like this. Now read it vertically.
- Follow the snake method. Similar to the transposition method, the snake method requires you to just arrange the letters upwards and downwards, like a snake. After completing it, just sign a small snake signature to indicate that you have used the snake method.
- Use an unbreakable method.
- Choose a text with a few hundred words.
- Assign each letter the numeric values of the words starting with it. Most letters should have many numbers which they can be substituted for. As long as the coded message doesn't contain too many repeats of the same number, it is impossible to decipher without knowing the text the code is based on. For example "you can't read this" becomes "32 19 1 5 2 30 7 48 14 9 D 20 11 24 18" when coded using this very step as the base text. However, if the text hasn't got a word starting with a certain letter you may need to use the letter itself, such as "D" in the example. This isn't very harmful though, because even with D plainly visible the only clue one will have to the text is that none of its words begin with D.
Method 4 of 4 : Bilingual
- Swap the letters in your letter with those of another language. For example, swap A with (α) Alpha, B with (β) Beta, C with (Χ) Chi, etc.
- Include a hint at the beginning (optional) to tell your friend which language you are using. The receiver needs to know the language you are using, so you can include some tips at the beginning.For example, you can begin your letter like this: "Hey, wasn't today's Greek class awesome?" This tells your recipient that you are substituting Greek letters for English letters
- .In order to avoid confusion, keep your letter short. Do not use the same word from your preferred language multiple times for different words. Foreign alphabets may not contain all the letters in your language, so use the words carefully. Greek doesn't have Y, but there's a visually similar Upsilon(Y in capitals). Make sure whether you know want to substitute it for U or Y in your letter.
- Do not, in any circumstances, mention any time/date openly. Use some coding method which will hide the numbers. If you write "8%^ !00 @10pm", this tells any inspector aware that it's a code and not just random scribblings, and that something will happen at 10 p.m
- Test some examples:
- An example: "See you tonight, 8 o'clock" becomes "Wasn't today's Greek class fun? ςεε υ ατ √(128/2) ατ νɩτε". The 8 is replaced by a simple math, square root of (128/2=64)=8, and p.m. by "at nite" in Greek letters.
- Another example: you want to write "See you tonight". To encode it with Greek alphabets, do this "Hey, today's Greek class was good. ΣΕΕ ΤΗΟΥ ΤΟΝΙΓΗΤ." This is just the Greek words sigma, epsilon, tau, omicron, upsilon, nu, iota and eta being used to write "see you tonight". Greek doesn't have letters for some English letter, so visually similar words are chosen. "Thou" is written instead of "you" because Greek alphabet doesn't have Y, but the visually similar word Upsilon (Y) is not used to avoid confusions in long letters.
TIPS
- Try to think of a secret code that would be hard for interceptors to figure out, but easy for you and your receivers to decode.
- When sending a note, try to avoid contact with people you don't want to read the contents.
- You can always write the note in a different language.
- Don't do it too often otherwise your teacher will get suspicious.
- remember the spaces next add a random letter between the real ones and the message turns into: "hji hnoaw akrme ygobu" now tell your friend about this method and to skip a letter and it turns into hi how are you study this method and it will be easy for you to read
- Try not using spaces in your codes.
- Using spaces tells the intruder that the word contains a specific amount of letters. Eg:__________________8%^ !%% has a space between the words, so it tells the intruder that both the words have three letters and the second letter of the first word (%) is the same as the last two letters in the second word. Thus, he/she can guess that the code is "You too". This is a huge problem, as it also tells the intruder some amount of the symbols used for certain letters, making it easier for him/her to break the code.
- Instead, try to use symbols for spaces too. 8%^?!%% makes the code a lot harder to crack. Hyphens and underscores are too easy to find, so try to use actual symbols that look like they represent letters. The group who know to decode it alone can know of the symbol representing a space.
- If you write a note, do not under any circumstances write anything inappropriate and pass it on. This might get you into big trouble.
- Write a word you want and then just add 3 or 2 numbers before and after it without leaving any space for example if the word is 'you' you should write it like 'ertyoutyu' so that no one could understand it.
- Make sure the person your sending it to can understand the message.
