Terminology

Term Definition
Batch A batch of transcription work is a single, continuous audio file consisting of many
utterances.

Page Batches are usually presented in pages of 20 utterances each. One batch may consist of
several pages of utterances.

Utterance A full recording of speech audio (batch) is segmented into multiple short utterances.
An utterance is a single unit of transcription. Each utterance has its own text input box
and waveform. Each utterance needs to be saved before you can move on to the next
utterance.
Also called an utt.

Tag Tags are an easy, standardised way to insert additional information about the audio
into transcription.

Writing
Transcription should follow the standard conventions of the target language.

To reference the names of song titles, movies, TV shows, brands etc. you could do a quick Google search.

 
Punctuation
Use of punctuation will vary depend on the specific project. You should always refer to the project specific
Transcription guidelines to see how punctuation should be used.

Special Characters
Do not use special characters or symbols such as quotation marks, dollar signs, etc.

Please transcribe all full words spoken.

Example

$ → dollar

% → percent
 Example - speaker pronounces the word "slash"

You hear: it was great slash weird

You transcribe: it was great slash weird

INCORRECT: it was great/weird

Capital letters
Name Entities (e.g. person names, place names, some time words) should be spelled with a capital letter as per
usual writing conventions for the target language.

Example

George

Monday

If a business name is spelled with a capital letter in the middle of the word, this is okay.

Example

eBay

iPhone

YouTube

Do not use a capital letter if the only reason is that the word is at the start of a sentence.

Example - the first word is only capitalised if it is a proper name

 

they think Sydney is a beautiful city

Sydney is a beautiful city

what are you doing on Tuesday night

 
Numbers
Do not use any digits (e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 ...). All numbers must be spelled out as full words in the way they were
pronounced.

Example - the number '2012' may be pronounced in many different ways:

 

2012 ==> two zero one two

2012 ==> two oh one two

2012 ==> two thousand and twelve

2012 ==> twenty twelve

Abbreviations
Do not use any abbreviations. Words must be spelled out in full.

Example

Mr Johnson ==> Mister Johnson

Dr Smith ==> Doctor Smith

Elizabeth St ==> Elizabeth Street

The only exception is if someone pronounces the word as an abbreviation.

Example

Appen Butler Hill Inc ==> Appen Butler Hill Inc (if the person pronounced 'Inc' as 'Inc', not 'Incorporated')

 
Acronyms
An acronym is a word made up of the first letters of other words that is spoken as a word (e.g. NASA, FIFA).
Acronyms are spelled using capital letters joined with no space.

Example
 NASA

FIFA

 
Initialisms
An initialism is an abbreviation made up of the first letters of other words where each letter is pronounced
separately (e.g. IBM, CPU, ADHD). Initialisms are spelled using capital letters joined by underscores.

Example

I_B_M

C_P_U

A_D_H_D

 
Spelled Letters
Spelled letters are where a word is pronounced letter by letter (e.g. L I A I S E). Spelled letters are transcribed
using capital letters joined by underscores.

Example

my name is Jayme and it's spelled J_A_Y_M_E

For single stand-alone spelled letters, transcribe them with an underscore after the letter. Ensure that there is a
space after the underscore so that it is not linked to the following word.

Example for single stand-alone spelled letters

my blood type is B_ positive

 
Mixed Initialisms
Mixed initialisms involve combinations of words, letters, and numbers. When a single concept is expressed, all
parts are written together with an underscore. Models like 4S (below) are written separately from the brand
name. Numbers in a proper name are capitalised when written out.

Example
 iPhone four_S
Seven_Eleven
A_B_forty-eight
M_P_three

 
Email and website addresses
Transcibe emails and websites following the conventions above.

Example

www.amazon.com ==> W_W_W dot Amazon dot com

jsmith@gmail.com ==> J_ Smith at Gmail dot com

 
Fragments
When a speaker pronounces only part of a word, write that part of the word and attach a hyphen to it. Make sure
there is a space after the hyphen.

Example - someone begins to say 'motorcycle' but stops after 'moto'

she came to work today by moto- I mean car

Example: someone begins to say 'onions' but stops after 'on-' and then repeats the word in full

my eyes hurt when I cut on- onions

If it is not clear what the full word was going to be, do not transcribe the word and instead use the unintelligible
tag (see the section on using tags).

 
Tags
Tags are used to add additional information to transcriptions of speech. Tags can be used to add information
about the audio. These may include noise events, sections of silence, fillers, foreign speech, and more. As each
project may be different, it is important that you follow the project specific guidelines, as tag usage may differ
from what is detailed below.
 
Standalone tags are inserted independently into the text box. In Ampersand, these tags appear as images. In the
examples below, these tags are represented in text format using < > brackets.
 
Span tags can are used to highlight transcription in the text box.
Interjections
Interjections are very common in spoken language, but strictly speaking they are not 'words' and would be
unlikely to show up in a dictionary or a newspaper article.

Interjections should be transcribed according to the project specific guidelines. In most transcription projects,
interjections should be highlighted with a highlighting span tag.

 
Fillers
Fillers are the sounds people make while they are thinking of what to say next, for example "um", "ah", "er".

Whenever you hear a filler, insert the filler tag that best represents the sound made.

Example: speaker says "um" after "was"

 
I was <um> just wondering
 
Foreign words
You may hear someone speaking in a foreign language. If you cannot understand the foreign speech, just place a
<foreign> tag in place of the words you cannot understand.

Example

no she said <foreign> which means goodbye in Croatian

If someone uses just the occasional foreign word and you know how to spell it, write out the word and then
highlight it using the "foreign word" highlighting tag.

Example: the word in bold is highlighted because it is not English

 

no she said arrivederci which means goodbye in Italian

Note, foreign names (people's names, place names, festival names, etc.) do NOT constitute foreign words and
should be spelled. If you are unsure of the spelling, you can make your best guess and highlight it. If a word is
particularly difficult to spell, you could search for it in Google to find the most common variant of spelling.

Similarly, you must consider whether the 'foreign' word is in fact a 'loanword', meaning that it could be
considered part of the language now. This often happens when another language is widely spoken in a
community (e.g. English words in the Netherlands), when a word is needed for a modern concept such as a
computer mouse, or when a language does not have a word of its own to describe a concept. In English the word
'schadenfreude' may be considered a loanword from German, i.e. it is NOT foreign and can appear unmarked in
an English transcript.
If a word of foreign origin is commonly used and/or understood by speakers (or a community of speakers) in the
language you are transcribing, it should be transcribed.

It is very important that we are consistent in the treatment of loanwords, so when in doubt, choose to spell the
word and highlight it rather than inserting the 'foreign' tag in place of the word.
 
Mispronounced words
When it is obvious a speaker has mispronounced a word, use the mispronounced tag to highlight the word.
When you type the mispronounced word, use the normal correct spelling.

Example - you hear the speaker say "expresso" instead of "espresso"

YOU TRANSCRIBE: espresso

 
Words pronounced with a regional accent are NOT considered mispronounced. If you are unsure, imagine
asking the person after they spoke if they made a mistake. If that person would admit they made a mistake, then
the word was mispronounced.
 
Unintelligible Speech
If you come across a word or several words that are not clear because there is interference, audio problems, or
because the person is not talking clearly, enter the <unintelligible> tag in place of the unintelligible speech.

Of course you should try your best to listen and determine what was said, but in natural speech there will be
unintelligible words often. As a guide you should try at least three times to understand what was being said. If it
is not clear, insert the tag and move on.

Example - speaker mumbles something after "her"

well I already told her <unintelligible> you know I told her

 
No Speech
If an entire utterance contains no speech (e.g. there is only silence or noises) insert the <no-speech> tag only
and move on. The noises in such utterances should not be tagged.

Unintelligible speech, fillers and interjections ARE considered speech. All other noises (human and non-human)
are NOT considered speech.
 
Pause
Whenever there is a pause in speech, insert the <pause> tag. In most transcription projects, pauses of 1 second
or more should be tagged. However, you should always refer to the project specific guidelines for guidance on
when to tag pauses.

Example - speaker takes a two second pause between "just" and "feels"
 I don't know why it just <pause> feels different now

Use the tag for pauses within speech (between words) and for silence before the person commences speaking
or after they finish.

If noises occur in the foreground during pauses of 1 second or more within speech, do not tag these noises -
simply put only a pause tag.

If there is no speech at all within an utterance, use the 'no speech' tag (see above).

Speaker noises
All noises made by the main speaker should be tagged with the appropriate noise tag. Common speaker noise
tags that you may see in a transcription project are shown in the table below. You should always refer to the
project specific guidelines for information on the noise tags used for the project and when to use them.

 Insert the tag exactly where the noise first occurs.

 If it occurs at the same time as a word, put the tag BEFORE the word.
 If the noise occurs more than once in sequence, you only need a single tag.

Tag When to use it

<lipsmack>  lip smacks

 tongue clicks

<breath>  loud inhalation and exhalation

between words
 yawning

<cough>  coughing
 throat clearing
 sneezing

<laugh>  laughing
 chuckling

 
Other noises
Insert the relevant tag when you hear a noise that is not made by the speaker, and which is at a comparable
volume to the speech. Common noise tags that you may see in a transcription project are shown in the table
below. You should always refer to the project specific guidelines for information on the noise tags used for the
project and when to use them.

 Insert the tag exactly where the noise first occurs.

 If it occurs at the same time as a word, put the tag BEFORE the word.
 If the noise occurs more than once in sequence, you only need a single tag.
Tag When to use it

<short_noise> Any other short noises that do not continue over several words (generally
lasting less than one second), for example: door slams, a loud cough by a person
in the background, car horns.

<long_noise> Any other long noises that continue over longer periods of time and perhaps
multiple words (generally lasting more than one second), for example: wind,
rain, background speech or music. This tag is used when the noise begins. The
point at which the stationary noise ends is not marked. Low level background
sounds are expected and do not need to be tagged.