Is it true that you can re-create the phrase that way?
I'd say that the wording "re-create" is not that much accurate and can be misleading. You seem to not be aware that the BIP39 seed is based on a fixed word list, not the full English dictionary.
And as said, the first 4 letters of each word are enough for saving the seed.
Even in electrum, first four letters to each word will give you each full word.
Indeed. And hardware wallets too. When I had to recover my seed on my Nano S this came pretty much handy.