What types of transcription do you know

Types of Transcription

TRANSCRIPTION is a special system of symbols used to denote speech sounds.

Transcription falls into four types:

1) Phonetic transcription (allophonic / narrow transcription) is based on the principle one symbol per allophone (narrow transcription).

2) Phonematic transcription (broad transcription) based on the principle one symbol per phoneme.

3)International transcription,which is used in documents.

e.g. Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich.

4) Tonetic transcription,which is used while presenting intonation graphically.

Articulation Basis of English

Articulation is position of speech organs while producing a speech sound.

The summary of all main principles of articulation in a certain language is called the articulation basis.

The main points of difference between the articulation basis of English and Ukrainian are as follows:

1. The tongue in English is more tense and bulky and has a retracted position for most of the phonemes.

2. The lips are also more tense and less movable then in Ukrainian. They are mostly spread (with the lower teeth relaxed) or they can occupy neutral position (flat articulation).

3.Forelingual English consonants, which are 12 in number, have an apical articulation: they are articulated with the tongue-tip against the alveoli, as /t-d, s-z, l- n/ or against the teeth /θ,ð/. The corresponding Ukrainian ones are articulated with the blade of the tongue (the tip is lowered) against the teeth (dorsal articulation), except (ш, ж).

4. All English consonants are hard (except for /ʃ, ʒ/) and have no palatalized oppositions while the Ukrainian ones have. Palatalization in English is a phonetic mistake.

5. The English word-final position voiced consonants must not be vocalized (which is the norm for Ukrainian language), yet they are weak (e.g. bag, sad). The English word-final voiceless consonants are strong (night, week, tape).

6. The English plosive voiceless / p, t, k / are pronounced with aspiration which is foreign to Ukrainian.

7. The English sonorants / m, n, l / are tenser and longer than Ukrainian ones and are syllabic when preceded by a consonant.

TYPES OF TRANSCRIPTION

Besides the problems of phonological analysis of speech sounds discussed above, phonology deals with the problem of representing speech visually. This problem is closely connected with the problems of phonological analysis already discussed, because any system of writing is not a simple record of speech utterances, it is always a generalization about them. Be it ideographic writing (with a different symbol for each word, as in Chinese writing>, or syllabic writing (with a symbol for each syllable, as in Japanese writing), or alphabetic writing (with a symbol for each phoneme or combination of phonemes, as in English), writing systematizes and provides a distinctive symbol for each class of sounds it represents.

A transcription, which is a visual system of notation of the sound structure of speech, is also a generalization of a great variety of sounds that are uttered by speakers of a given language.

The extent of the generalization may vary. One can classify the sounds into phonemes disregarding the different degrees of aspiration, labialization, length, palatalization and other phonologically irrelevant features of the sounds. On the other hand, one can differentiatebetween all those features and classify them as well. Consequently, there may be different types of transcriptions depending upon the degree of exactness required.

If it is accuracy only in the representation of the phonemes of the language that is required, the transcription should provide each phoneme with a distinctive symbol to avoid ambiguity. Such a transcription is generally called phonemic, or broad, transcription. It contains as many symbols as there are phonemes in the language. The phonemic data is usually enclosed between virgules (also called diagonals, slant brackets): / /.

If it is exactness in the differentiation of the allophones of each phoneme that is required, the transcription should provide either different symbols for each allophone, or introduce special marks to represent the different features of the allophones. The former would increase the number of symbols considerably, and that would course great difficulties for those who use it. The latter is more economical, although it makes the notation rather complicated. Scholars usually make use of both ways: they provide some of the typical allophones with distinctive symbols and introduce special marks (called «diacritic marks») to denote the different features the allophones are characterized by. Such a transcription is called a phonetic, or narrow transcription. The phonetic data is customarily enclosed in square brackets: [ ].

It has always been one of the main concerns of the phonetic science to work out a transcription. A phonetic transcription is essential for scientific and practical use. One can hardly do without it in foreign language teaching, in studying spoken languages, dialects, accents. The first attempts to represent speech sounds visually by means of special symbols were made as far back as the 16 th century.

The modern phonetic transcription that is most widely used now is the International Phonetic Transcription devised by the International Phonetic Association in 1904. This transcription is a phonetic alphabet which may be applied to most of the languages. That is why it contains symbols that stand for phonemes in different languages. E.g. / / (as in «bag»), /y/ (close lip rounded /i/ in German «u»), /o/ (close lip rounded/e/in French «peu»), etc. For this reason the transcription is often referred to as the «u n I v e r s a I transcription» of the IPA (International Phonetic Association).

One of the principles of this transcription is to use the fewest possible symbols of the simplest possible shape. Most of the symbols it uses are letters of the Latin alphabet. Besides, it contains a series of diacritic marks.

The broad type of the International Phonetic Transcript ion was first used by D. Jones in his «English Pronouncing Dictionary», published in 1917.

The «linguistic alphabet» is widely used by those who study American English pronunciation.

Phonology has developed rapidly and made a profound study of the functions of sounds in most of the living languages. But so far it has not as yet fully examined the functions of most of the prosodic features, such as speech melody, tempo of speech, rhythm and others. Scholars are beginning to tackle these and similar problems of intonology.

Transcription and transliteration. Types of transcription.

Sounds are indicated in writing by means of transcription

Transcription- script used for representing phonetic forms of the word. Transcription is used for correct pronunciation.

Transliteration- writing a word of one language in the letters of some other language. Transliteration differs from transcription: it is simpler and may use additional symbols (bath – бат).

There 2 types of transcription.

/ / Phonemic (broad) – is intended to contain as many symbols as are necessary to represent a particular language system without ambiguity. It represents the distinctive sounds of the lang. It doesn’t show the final points of pronunciation, so certain convention have to be learned.

[ ] Phonetic (narrow) – uses diacritical marks, symbols, which help to understand how to pronounce the word. P(h)in. h- shows aspiration, i. – the vowel is slightly lengthed, n.- any final voiced cons is devoicened in word final position, e –indicates diphtongisation.

Phonostylistics: The components of extralinguistic situation; The factors which result in phonostylistic varieties.

Styles of pronunciation have much in common with territorial varieties, but they are connected with phonostylistics.

A person doesn’t always pronounce the same words in the same way. The pronunciation of the same person may be different on different occasions. The ways of pronouncing words are called the styles of pronunciation. D. Jones classified pronouncing styles Iin the following manner: 1) rapid familiar style 2) slower colloquial style 3) natural style used in addressing a fair-sized audience 4) the acquired style of the stage 5) the acquired style in singing. There is no indication of characteristic features of each style, nor is any principle given to distinguish one style from another. Some authors confuse styles of pronunciation with literary style. Avanessov distinguishes the following styles: 1) common colloquial 2) poetic 3) academic 4) style of public address 5) low colloquial. The author remarks that no distinct phonetic features of the styles can be quoted.

The distinctive feature acc to Shcherba is the degree of carefulness with which words are pronounced. He differs the full style and the colloquial style. Full style is characterized by moderately slow tempo and careful pronunciation. The words are pronounced in their full form without vowel reduction and loss of consonants. It acquires the pronunciation efforts without unnecessary assimilation. Colloquial style differs from full style in tempo and cleanness. The peculiarities of the coll style differ in every language. In US classification the most essential features that differentiate the styles are emphasized: careful coll style – is characterized by obligatory assimilations, it may have subdivisions in tempo. Careless coll style – free use of unobligatory assimilations.

The 2 styles of English pronunciation are distinguished by the use of strong forms in full style and weak forms in coll style. The careful and the careless coll style differ in the degree of carefulness and tempo. In Russian in careless coll style the words are shortened. Names, numerals and patronimics ares sometimes shortened beyond recognition.

The components of extralinguistic situation. 1) Purpose. The purpose directs the activities of the participants throughout the situation to complete task. We choose language means acc to the general type of activities we are involved. If we know the topic it’ll easier for us to choose words. 2) Participants. The society is subdivided into classes and social groups. Every social group has its social dialects and accents. Sex/age differences, cultural habits and intelligence influence the choice of the language means. Age – is associated with the role structure, with the assignment of authority and status. Old people speak and are spoken to in a different way. Sex. There is a tendency for women to produce more standard and correct speech. Emotional state of the speaker at the moment of speech. 3) Setting – physical orientation of the speakers. It involves the activity the participants are involved: public-private, personal- impersonal, polite-casual, high-cultured- low-cultured.

What types of transcription do you know

There are many different types of transcription, and when you work as a transcriber, you might be asked to do any or all of them. Later in your transcription career, you may choose to specialise in one, and this can be useful for your career. It’s important to know about the kinds of transcription so that you can provide the best possible transcript for your client – if it’s important to them to include everything everyone says and you do an intelligent transcription, your transcription might not even be any use to them!

The different kinds of transcription

These are the main types of transcription. Be careful, however: some clients might describe these different types in different ways, using different language or explaining what they want rather than using a particular term.

Phonetic / linguistic transcription

Phonetic or linguistic transcription is a highly specialised form of transcription which records not only the words used but the tone taken by the speakers and the exact overlap when two people speak. It is used when the client need to record what is said and how it’s said, because they need to analyse speech acts by a speaker or the exact nature of the interaction between two or more people.

I have encountered this kind of transcription being requested by linguists or clinical psychologists. In fact, I’ve also seen it in books and academic works about speech and interaction.

In phonetic transcription, you record the pronunciation of the words and the rise and fall of the sentence, overlapping utterances, etc., using specialised notation. Linguistic transcription does everything except the phonetic aspect.

For both kinds of highly specialised transcription (which is so highly specialised that I don’t offer it), you will be expected to use a range of symbols and probably a special template.

Time and pricing This is the most time-consuming type of transcription by far – expect to take twice as long as your normal speed, if not more. However, as a highly specialised type of work, the rate per audio minute is higher.

Video / descriptive transcription / captioning

If you’re doing video transcription of a film which is not simply of one or two people speaking, you may be asked to provide descriptive information or take down the text that appears on the screen. The purpose can be either to provide captions on the film in the same language, or to provide a script for translators to translate into another language.

This can involve two different aspects:

Captioning itself is a specialised art and I refer any true captioning jobs over to a friend and colleague who is experienced with it.

Time and pricing: This again is specialised work and takes extra time to do; for example, the words on the screen might appear at the same time a voiceover is saying something else, so you might need to go over the same tape twice. Therefore there’s an argument that you can charge a little more. Captioning is a specialised art and commands higher rates, but you really need to know what you’re doing.

Verbatim transcription

When we do a verbatim transcription, we record every single the speakers say, but using standard typing and symbols.

This is used by, for example, legal clients, researchers and marketing companies and anyone who wants to get the full flavour of how the person was speaking. Many of my ghost-writing clients also want verbatim transcription so that they can catch the exact way the subject speaks and capture that to write their book to sound as if it’s written by the subject.

Time and pricing: I use standard pricing for these three kinds of transcription from here onwards, as they actually take around the same length of time to do: the time typing errs and ums and repetitions can be used up by thinking about how to rewrite someone’s words!

Edited transcription

An edited transcription is a slightly tidied up version of a verbatim transcription. It is usually requested by general interviewers and journalists, and also some academic researchers and writers. Ghost-writers might ask for a small amount of editing just to limit the number of ums they have to remove before they can write up their book.

So the editing can have various levels, but usually means removing ums, ers, and repetitions, as well as any “speech tics” such as repeatedly adding “you know” or “d’you know what I mean”.

You do the editing as you type, as it would be far too time-consuming to type out a verbatim transcription and then go back and edit it. Once you’re used to it, it’s quite quick and easy to do.

Intelligent / smoothed transcription

In this type of transcription, you will typically turn non-standard or non-native English into standard English. You are likely to be altering grammar and even wording, as well as doing the activities involved in an edited transcription.

I have two types of client who ask for this kind of transcription:

Time and pricing: This is quite a specialised variety of transcription, as you need to be very confident in your own ability to write a good, grammatical sentence, to understand what someone has said and rephrase it. As a by-product of the kind of speaker whose words you are smoothing out, you need to be good at understanding non-native English accents. Not everyone is skilled at this, but if you are, it’s really fun to do, as it involves more thought than the other standard varieties of transcription. It does take a little longer than verbatim and edited transcription if the speaker is hard to understand, and I may charge a little more on that basis.

How do I find out what type of transcription my client wants?

If a client wants captioning or linguistic transcription, they will usually know this and provide templates and instructions: they will also check you know how to do this (don’t try to guess if you don’t have any training in this: it won’t work and it will end in tears!) and might give you a test.

To find out whether my client wants verbatim, edited or intelligent transcription, I include this question in my initial questions to the client:

“Do you want the transcription to have a complete record of all ums and ers / to be tidied up of ums and ers and repetitions / to be tidied into standard English and complete sentences where possible?”

This will usually get them to confirm what they want, even if they don’t use the specific terminology.

This article has explained what the types of transcription are and when they might be used, as well as examples of what they look like and some information on their particular challenges. You now know about linguistic transcription, film transcription and captioning, verbatim, edited and intelligent transcription.

If you’ve found this article useful, please do comment below – I always love to hear from my readers! There are sharing buttons there, too, so you can share this on whatever social media platforms you use. Thank you!

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What is Transcription and Its Types?

Transcription is the process of converting audio or video into text format. The conversion can be done on any written format like over a word document and many transcription services companies offer word-perfect transcription in which every single word spoken is written down including expressions or exclamation reactions or other similar words.

As per the experts, the process of transcription is far more than turning speech into text or written language. And now it has reached the next level by using automatic speech recognition technology, human transcriptionists, or with the combination of both resources.

Types of Transcriptions

The First Kind Verbatim Transcription – is considered the most complicated and time-consuming process. This process is also expensive because it involves making sure each word spoken word, every emotion, laughs, shouting, background noise, even muttered or murmuring or jumbled sentences or words is transcribed carefully and time-codded in the written format making it like a replica of audio or video file as recorded. Such transcription is mainly used for legal records or movies, films, and video commercials, etc.

The Second Type of Transcription – Edited Transcriptions are often used when the transcriber can omit the parts from the video or audio file, without disturbing the meaning of the recording does not change at all. Though, this type of transcription is time-consuming as the transcriber must know what is important to keep into adios or video files and what is not important. Edited transcriptions require the transcriber to understand the sense or purpose of the video or audio file and just clean up the odds of retaining the reliability of the audio or video file. Such kinds of transcriptions are generally used for seminars, conferences, public speeches, and editorial classes.

The Third Type of Transcription – Intelligent Transcription process does not involve any kind of emotions, half-sentences, mumbled or garbled speech in the written text format. The actual result of this transcription is that it’s straightforward and the final words would be full of inelegance to make it worth it. To perform this audio or video to text transcription a well-qualified and trained transcriber required having the experience to do such jobs carefully, as they need to have a complete understanding of what the speaker is trying to convey to the audience. This type of transcription process involves a lot more editing and less transcription effort.

However, all these three types of transcriptions have their pros and cons, hence it is very important before choosing the audio or video transcription services always evaluate the actual needs of the client to choose the right one or most suitable format of transcription as per the client’s usability to make it worth from every perspective.