How do we do this?
	How long will it take?
	What would you like your transcript to look like?
	Do you want your transcript edited or verbatim?
	What about other symbols?

How do we do this?

Time permitting, we listen to your tape(s) not once but twice — once for the basic keyboarding/keying, and then a second time to pick up any words or phrases we may have omitted or failed to understand the first time through. We charge only for the first pass, so to speak.

 

How long will it take?

Rule-of-thumb, please allow at least a 24-hour turnaround per half hour of recording. This gives us time to do the initial keyboarding, listen again to your material, and then review/proof the final transcript before we give it to you.

 

Of course the work can take longer if the recording is substandard, if there are multiple speakers, and if the speakers (1) speak very rapidly, (2) do not enunciate clearly, (3) use poor grammar, (4) have foreign accents, and/or (5) tend to talk at the same time (interrupt one another), which means the transcriber must try to interpret serially, if you will, words that are actually being spoken in parallel.

 

What would you like your transcript to look like?

For ease in reading and comprehension, we generally show speaker names, when they are known, flush with the left margin, and indent what they are saying. What we often do in the case of interviews and panel-discussion type situations is show questions/discussion topics in capital letters. We will format the material any way you wish, of course. Simply give us a sample printout as a guideline.

 

Do you want your transcript edited or verbatim?

We can do it either way. If you prefer that the material flow in a fairly grammatical way, we will show edited passages in brackets ([ ]).

 

What about other symbols?

-- Dashes

1. “em-dash” (takes up the width of the letter “m”)
   
   • I type this as two hyphens preceded and followed by a space at the beginning or end of a phrase to denote a break in thought or an incomplete sentence/thought, as when one speaker is interrupted by another.
     
   • We type this as two hyphens with no space before or after to denote restatement of a phrase with the same elements. Example:
     
     “I had–I didn’t have–transportation or anything.”
     
     This sentence could also have been typed, “I ... didn’t have transportation or anything.” The transcriptionist makes this type of punctuation decision on the fly. Either choice means backtracking somewhat to type in the dashes
     .
2. “en-dash” (takes up the width of the letter “n”)
   We use this sometimes in place of the word “to,” as in “10-20 percent.”

 

... Ellipses (three periods preceded and followed by a space)
denote deliberate omission of such elements as stammering, “filler” words, sentence fragments, etc. Example:

 

Verbatim: “What is your alignment with the vision that becomes your benchmarks against which every bloody little detail is measured against?"

 

Edited: “What is your alignment with the vision that becomes your benchmarks against which every bloody little detail is measured ... ?"

 

( ) Parenthetical expressions denote editorial interjections, if you will. Examples: (unintelligible), (talking at the same time), and (audio cuts out). Most of these phrases are created with a macro to save time and minimize keystrokes.

 

? ? Question marks as a brace, with one preceding and one following a word or phrase denote phonetic spelling. Example:

 

“I would become patent ?passing? of the company, assuming – assuming they ?didn’t float? ...”

You may find some of our audio interpretations quite amusing.

Please feel free to call any time with questions,
comments and suggestions.