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Transcription Guidelines For GoTranscript and Rev
Transcription Guidelines For GoTranscript and Rev
GUIDELINES
English
WHAT DO WE DO?
We provide audio transcription services, which means that we convert audio
and video files 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 make payments only with PayPal or Payoneer. Payments are made
every weekend, on Friday. Also, we cover the PayPal fee so you will receive the exact
amount which you earned and there will be no fee to receive payment. To send a request for
payment, go to the WORK section (STATS page). There you can send a 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
3) After your transcription is uploaded, you will see your current earnings on the stats page.
4) Payments are made 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
6) If your average rating is better than 4.5, you can try to become an editor.
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
FULL VERBATIM
The text is transcribed exactly as it sounds and includes all the utterances of the speakers.
Those are:
Filler words: um, uh, kind of, sort of, I mean, you know…
CLEAN VERBATIM
The transcribed text does not include:
Speech errors
Stutters
Repetitions. Note: Keep repetitions of words that express emphasis: No, no, no. I am
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
mean, *so, *kind of, well, sort of… Be mindful of the context. Some of these filler words
Slang words must be written as "got you" instead of "gotcha", "going to" instead of
"Yeah", "yep", "yap", "yup", "mm-hmm" must be written as "yes"; "alright" must be
Avoid starting phrases with conjunctions in clean verbatim. If you really need to add the
conjunction, just expand the sentence. 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.
TIMESTAMPING TYPES:
Timestamping time format must be: [00:00:00] (always in bold)
Every 2 minutes:
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.
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]
Use [inaudible 00:00:00] when speech cannot be heard due to poor recording or
Use [unintelligible 00:00:00] when speech can be heard but it cannot be understood
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. Divide
longer than 500 symbols (about 100 words or 3-4 lines in the transcription tool).
4) Never paraphrase or reconstruct the speech in the audio you are transcribing.
[inaudible 00:02:24]) should be bolded. Nothing else besides the speaker labels and marks
9) Every sentence should end with a punctuation mark. Except when the sentence ends with
a double dash which means the sentence was incomplete, or an unintelligible or inaudible
mark when you cannot be sure whether the sentence is a question or not.
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
If the speaker's name is mentioned at some point or indicated in the title of the file, use
Make each speaker's role in the audio as descriptive as possible. For example,
"Receiver", et cetera.
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
[new] Always do your best to separate the different speakers. If you cannot identify
who exactly is speaking, add a question mark before the speaker label. (for example, ?
Speaker labels must be written in bold, followed by a colon and space. NEVER use
Mark: Hello.
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 a new paragraph, comma, period, or a
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.
17) Always research the proper capitalization e.g., iPhone, UCLA, SaaS
18) Always write links like this: www.facebook.com/groups/gotranscript. Never write it like
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 are always on the same line and always in the present
tense. [snaps fingers] [phone rings] [laughs] [chuckles] [giggles] [scoffs] et cetera.
Chorus, like [laughter] [applause] [cheering] and sounds not from the speaker like
Use [background noise] on a separate line for ambiance noise. Use [background noise]
on the same line if a significant unidentified sound occurs while the speaker is talking.
[crosstalk], [silence] - can be placed on a separate line or same line wherever they
occur. [silence] is used to demonstrate a short pause in speech; not less than 4
separate line.
When the audio is cut or edited, use [sound cut] on a separate line or the same line;
If a foreign language or a word (in this case, a language that is not English) is spoken,
can be identified.
this rule and must always be researched. For example: carpe diem, Jacques
20) Numbers
Spell out single-digit numbers, use numerals for all other numbers: zero, nine, 10, and
so on.
Money: $1, $1.5 million, $1,000 (1 grand is 1,000, 5 bucks is $5, 8 quid is £8.
square meters
Fractions: 1/3
Combination: If a sentence combines small [0-9] and large numbers [10 and
21) Times of the day and dates: always capitalize AM and PM. Do this: 2:45 PM, 5:00 AM.
Use double dashes -- when there is a change of thought (false start) or a speech
CV False start that adds to information: Sage is-- You’re right, that boy is my
son.
When the speech is interrupted in a conversation, but the speaker continues his
thought. Do this:
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: -gone.
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
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.
24) If there are curse words in the audio, transcribe them word for word.
25) Capitalize nouns followed by numbers or 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
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
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
If a new transcriber finishes 3 transcriptions and has 3.6 or a lower average rating,
Useful links:
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:
+1 (831) 222-8398
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