GOTRANSCRIPT TRANSCRIPTION GUIDELINES

If you have any questions about the rules please write to: [email protected]

You can find the test job at the bottom.

THE FILES YOU'LL HAVE ACCESS TO ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND THEY'RE

NOT TO BE SHARED! BREAKING THIS RULE WILL LEAD TO THE WORKER'S
REMOVAL FROM THE GT TEAM.

Update 2019-11-18: Do not use [sic] tag

Update 2019-11-25: Simplify number rules

Type your message here

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 WHAT DO WE DO?
We provide audio transcription services, which means that we convert audio
and video les into text.

In our system, you can pick the files you prefer to work on. You must have a PayPal or
Payoneer account as we do payments only with PayPal or Payoneer. Payments are done
every weekend, on Friday. Also we cover PayPal fee so you will receive exactly amount
which you earned and there will be no fee to receive payment. To request payment go to
WORK area to STATS page. There you can request for payment.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Every time a client uploads a file, you will receive an e-mail. After that, you need to go to

the transcription jobs page and choose the files you want to transcribe.
2) There you will also see the information about the turnaround time, text format (clean or full

verbatim) and timestamping type, if one is required.

3) After your transcription is uploaded, you will see your current earnings on the stats page.

4) Payments are done every weekend, on Friday. There will also be a statistics page where
you will see how much you have earned for each file.

5) All of your transcriptions are going to be checked by editors. You will receive a rating and
comments to help you improve your work.

6) If your average rating is better than 4.5, you can try to become an editor.

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 7) Sometimes, the quality of audio or video files is horrible, so please let us know about that.

We will contact the client and provide a refund for that file.

8) Use US (American) spelling. Only use different spelling if a client asks that in the
comments (use Grammarly).

TEXT FORMAT DESCRIPTIONS

FULL VERBATIM

The text is transcribed exactly as it sounds and includes all the utterances of the speakers.

Those are:

Speech errors: "I went to the bank on Thursday-- no, Friday."

False starts: I, um, wanted-- I have dreamed of becoming a musician.

Filler words: um, uh, kind of, sort of, I mean, you know…

Slang words Kinda, gotta, gotcha, betcha, wanna, dunno…

Stutters: I-I went to the bank last Tu-Thursday.

Repetitions: I went- I went to the bank last Friday.

Only use these forms for the affirmative/negative:

Mm-hmm, Mm (affirmative) or Mm-mm (negative)

Uh-huh (affirmative) or Uh-uh (negative)

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 Example: DOCX or PDF

CLEAN VERBATIM

The transcribed text does not include:

Speech errors
False starts (unless they add information)

Stutters

Repetitions. Note: Keep repetitions of words that express emphasis: No, no, no. I am

very, very happy.

Filler words: Words often excessively used by the speaker but when you take them

out, you’re left with perfectly understandable sentences. uh, um, *you know, *like, *I

think, *I mean, *so, *kind of, well, sort of… Be mindful of the context. Some of these

filler words do not always function as filler words.

Expressions should be kept regardless of verbatim type: Oh my God, Oh dear, Oh my,

Oh boy, et cetera.

Slang words must be written as "got you" instead of "gotcha", "going to" instead of

"gonna", "want to" instead of "wanna", “because” instead of “’cause” et cetera.

"Yeah", "yep", "yap", "yup", "mm-hmm" must be written as "yes"; "alright" must be

written as "all right.”

Never spell "Ok" or "OK.” It must always be spelled as "Okay.”

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 Avoid starting phrases with conjunctions in clean verbatim. If you really need to add the

conjunction, just expand the phrase. For example: I went outside, but forgot to bring my

umbrella.

Note: For CV: Omit all the "yeah", "yes" reactions to retain a fluent text, unless they
are answers to given questions.
DO NOT remove filler words if they change the meaning of the phrase.

FV EXAMPLE: CV EXAMPLE:

Speaker 1: Hey, Maya, I'd like to Speaker 1: Hey, Maya, I'd like to
ask you something. ask you something.
Maya: Okay. Maya: Okay.
Speaker 1: Someone told me, Speaker 1: Someone told me,
applicants must now present an ID applicants must now present an ID
before they can sign up. before they can sign up. I'm not
Maya: Yeah. sure if that is true. Is it true?
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure if that Maya: Yes.
is true.
Maya: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, uh, is it true?
Maya: Yep.

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 Example: DOCX or PDF

TIMESTAMPING TYPES:
Timestamping time format must be: [00:00:00] (always in bold)

ALWAYS CONSIDER THE WHOLE FILE WHEN YOU'RE TIME STAMPING.

For example, if you do the 20-30 minutes part, your time stamping should start at 20, not 00

Every 2 minutes:

Example: DOCX or PDF

Every time the speaker changes:

Example: DOCX or PDF

NOTE: If there's a comment next to the audio file saying, "Please use the embedded time" or
"burned-in time", you will need to download the file in order to watch the video and use the
correct time.

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 MAJOR RULES:
1) If you cannot hear what word is being said, mark that as inaudible or unintelligible and

specify the time. Do NOT make up your own markings. Only use [inaudible 00:00:00]

and [unintelligible 00:00:00]

Use [inaudible 00:00:00] when speech cannot be heard due to poor recording or

noise (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + K).

Use [unintelligible 00:00:00] when speech can be heard but it cannot be understood

due to the speaker's manner of speech, accent, et cetera (Ctrl + I).

2) When a speaker is using conjunctions like 'and', 'so', or 'but' to connect longer stretches of

thought, it's often a good idea to create sentence divisions in those places. Also, don't

forget to cut out the conjunctions in those places when they're not necessary.

3) Longer speeches should be separated into smaller paragraphs. Paragraphs shouldn't be

longer than 500 symbols (about 100 words or 3-4 lines in the transcription tool).

Exception: transcribe lyrics like a poem.

4) Never paraphrase or reconstruct the speech in the audio you are transcribing.

5) Do not correct grammatical errors made by the speakers.

NOTE: Do not use [sic] tag

6) Always use the correct spelling for misspoken words.

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 Example: If a speaker pronounces "niche" [neesh] as nitche.

7) Everything with a time-stamp (e.g. [pause 00:04:24] [unintelligible 00:04:24] [00:04:24]

[inaudible 00:02:24]) should be bolded. Nothing else besides the speaker labels and marks

with time-stamps should be bolded.

8) Never use () instead of []

9) Every sentence should end with a punctuation mark. Except when the sentence ends with

a double dash which means the sentence was incomplete, an unintelligible or inaudible mark

when you cannot be sure whether the sentence is a question or not.

10) The beginning of every sentence should be capitalized.

11) Never change spoken contractions (e.g. y’all, ain’t, don’t, can’t, it’s, et cetera.)

Example: If the speaker says "it's", it should be kept as "it's" regardless of the verbatim
12) Never use exclamation marks.

13) Speaker labels

If there is more than one speaker, their names (if they are known) must be used. If not -

mark them as "Speaker 1", "Speaker 2" and so on.

Always use a speaker label, even if there's only one speaker. Speaker:

Make each speaker's role in the audio as descriptive as possible. For example,

"Interviewer", "Interviewee", "Participant 1", "Host", "Facilitator", "Caller",

"Receiver", et cetera.

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 If the speaker's full name is used at some point (for example, David Butterfield:), later

in the transcription, the last name can be dropped (for example, David Butterfield:

becomes just David:). The same goes for the titles (Doctor, Pastor, et cetera). This is

optional and is not considered to be an error.

If you cannot identify who exactly is speaking, add a question mark before the speaker

label. For example, ?Speaker 2, ?Interviewee 3. But if you cannot identify who is

speaking throughout most of the transcript, it's better to then mark the speakers with a

generic label like Interviewee or Participant. Still, it's important that you are able to at

least identify the person asking questions or leading the discussion.

Speaker labels must be written in bold, followed by a colon and a space. NEVER use

the Tab button, only one click of the Space button.

Mark: Hello.

Speaker 1: Some text.

Speaker 2: Some more text.

14) Occasionally customers dictate instructions to format the transcription while they are

speaking. These instructions should be followed when possible, but never transcribed. Follow

customer requests for spoken directions such as new paragraph, comma, period or bullet

point (use a dash). Do not type out the instruction.

If a speaker spells a word or a name, Example: My name is Anna. A-N-N-A.

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 15) Italicize film, book, magazine, song titles, as well as artworks, plays, TV and radio

programs, foreign expressions et cetera. Example: I watched an episode of Friends the other

day.

NOTE: There is no need to italicize social media sites, company names, the

Bible, books within the Bible, versions of it or other sacred writings (Koran, New
Testament, Genesis, et cetera). John 1:2–3. If multiple citations: John 1:3; 3:16;

6:14, 44.

16) Abbreviations and acronyms should not contain dashes or periods.

Right: USA, PhD

Wrong: U.S.A., Ph.D.

Right American English: Dr., Mrs.

Right British English: Dr, Mrs (without the period)

17) Always research the proper capitalization e.g. iPhone, UCLA, SaaS

18) Always write links like this: www.facebook.com/groups/gotranscript. Never write them like

this: w w w dot facebook dot com slash groups slash gotranscript

19) Sound events

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 Sound events that are significant to the audio should also be noted. Use brackets [ ] for

notes. The notes are always written in lower case regardless of the position in a

sentence.

Sounds that the speaker makes is always in the same line and always in present tense.

[snaps fingers] [phone rings] [laughs] [chuckles] [giggles] [scoffs] et cetera. Laugh is

normal laugh; chuckles is soft laugh.

Sounds not made by the person speaking are always on separate line [present and

gerund]: [applause] [cheering] [chuckling] [laughter] [phone ringing] et cetera.

Use [background noise] on separate line for ambiance noise. Use [background noise]

on same line if a significant unidentified sound occurs while the speaker is talking.

[crosstalk], [silence]- can be placed in separate line or same line.

[pause 00:00:00] bolded and time stamped is used to demonstrate a pause significant

in a speech. It must be longer than 10 seconds for it to be marked. [silence] is used to

demonstrate a short pause in speech; not less than 4 seconds but not longer than 10

seconds.
When the audio is cut or edited, use [sound cut] on a separate line or the same line;

wherever the sound cut was done.

If a foreign language or a word (in this case, a language that is not English) is spoken,

mark it as [foreign language] or [French language], [German language], et cetera if it

can be identified.

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 Note: Authors/titles/personalities/common sense things are an exception from

this rule and must always be researched. For example: carpe diem, Jacques

Chirac, Frédéric Chopin, alea jacta est et cetera.

20) Numbers

Spell out single-digit numbers, use numerals for all other numbers: zero, nine, 10,

1492.

Exceptions can be applied for readability (incomplete list):

Money: $1, $1.5 million, $1,000 (1 grand is 1,000, 5 bucks is $5, 8 quid is £8.

Half a million dollars is $500,000).

Years and eras: '90s, 1990s

Age: 70s, 30s

Percentages: 0.2%, 100%

Measurements: 3 degrees, 12 feet, 8 centimeters, 7 pounds, 1.5 kilos, 28

square meters

Mathematical equations and formulas: x = x + 2 or x ^ 3 = 8

Bible citation: John 1:2–3

Fractions: 1/3

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 Combination: If a sentence combines small and large numbers: transcribe all

numbers in numerals.

21) Times of the day and dates: always capitalize AM and PM. Do this: 2:45 PM, 5:00 AM.

When using o'clock, spell out the numbers: eleven o'clock.

22) Double dashes or a single dash

Use double dashes -- when there is a change of thought (false start) or a speech

error, or to mark an incomplete sentence. Do this:

FV Speech error: I went to the bank on Tu-Thursday-- no, Friday.

FV False start: I, um, wanted-- I have dreamed of becoming a musician and--

CV False start that adds to information: Sage is-- You’re right, that boy is my

son.

INCOMPLETE SENTENCE regardless of verbatim type:

I wanted to say something but--

Are you done with that or--

Use single dash -

When the speech is interrupted in a conversation, but the speaker continues his

thought. Do this:

Speaker 1: I thought he was-

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: -gone.

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 FV Stutter: Why is this m-m-moist?

FV Repetition: Why is this- why is this moist?

23) Quotation marks

Double quotation marks "" are used whenever there is a direct quotation. Example: She

said, "Don't bother telling me.” Quotations are introduced by a comma, not a colon.

Internal dialogues are seen as direct quotations as well. Example: And then I thought to

myself, "What if I can't make it?" (Notice how the question mark is inside of the

quotation. This is because the quotation itself is a question. However, if the rest of the

sentence is a question containing a quotation, then the question mark would be outside

of the quotation marks).

When quoting, the first word of a complete sentence should be capitalized.

Do not use quotation marks in indirect quotations (when the speaker paraphrases what

has been said). Example: The man said that he was in a hurry.

Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks.

24) If there are curse words in the audio, transcribe them word for word.
25) Capitalize logical divisions and nouns followed by numbers of letters that are part of a

series (E.g. Grade 8, Section B, Chapter 1, Article VI, et cetera). However, do not capitalize

smaller divisions: page 1, paragraph 7, et cetera.

26) If the conjunction [and, for, or, nor, so, yet] precedes an independent (main) clause, use a

comma before the conjunction.

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 Correct: Jack tried a new diet, but he still gained weight.

Correct: Jack tried a new diet but still gained weight.

Incorrect: Jack tried a new diet, but still gained weight.

27) Do not remove the word et cetera unless the client asks otherwise in the comment
section.

28) If you do not prepare the transcriptions according to these requirements, you

might be removed from the team of transcribers.

Ratings which are given by editors:

1 - from 0% to 83% accuracy

2 - from 83% to 88% accuracy

3 - from 88% to 92% accuracy

4 - from 92% to 96% accuracy

5 - from 96% to 100% accuracy

Transcribers should know that mistakes like the following will be harshly penalized by

editors. Along with accuracy, editors will be rating your files based on your grammar

mistakes and/or lack of research.

If a new transcriber finishes 3 transcriptions and has 3.6 or a lower average rating,

he/she will be removed from the team.

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 Useful links:

https://gotranscript.com/transcribing-software - GoTranscript online tool for

transcribers
http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/ - Software for transcribers
http://grammar.about.com/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

INTERESTED?
If you are interested in working with us, you need to read the provided instructions again and
then finish our test job (clean verbatim; no timestamping needed), which you can find here:

The test job link: https://gotranscript.com/transcription-

jobs/apply

Let us know if you have any questions.

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