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Virtual Coffee Podcast Transcriptions Guidelines

Virtual Coffee podcast transcription is transcribed exactly as it sounds. It includes all the speakers' utterances, except the filler words of 'uh' and 'um'.

Those utterances are:

  • Speech errors: I went to the bank on Thursday-- no, Friday.
  • False starts: And I-- it was a great day!
  • Filler words: kind of, sort of, I mean, you know, etc. (Exception: uh, um)
  • Slang words: Kinda, gotta, gotcha, betcha, wanna, dunno, etc.
  • Stutters: I-I bought that ch-ch-ch-chair yesterday.
  • Repetitions: I went- went to the bank last Friday.
  • Use these forms for the affirmative/negative:
    • Mm-hmm, Mm (affirmative), or Mm-mm (negative)
    • Uh-huh (affirmative) or Uh-uh (negative)

Table of Contents

⚠️ Important to Read Before Improving Transcripts

Colons (:)

Do not use colons (:) anywhere except in the timestamp and directly after the speaker label. The way that Buzzsprout processes .srt files results in errors or misparsed speaker names if colons are present in the text. Most times, we can use an em dash (–).

Timestamp

  • Make sure to always include the three digits after the comma. Write 000 if it's unknown, but ensure the end time is later than the start time.

    04:05:20,000 --> 04:05:21,638

Paragraph

  1. Keep the original one or two lines per number of a range of timestamps.

  2. Ensure there is no space after the last word of each paragraph.

  3. Each section should have a maximum of 4 lines (index, timestamp, and 1 or 2 lines of text).

    The check-srt command will fix these for you. But you need to fix the timestamps manually afterward if necessary.

  812
  00:49:49,139 --> 00:49:53,519
  Dan: [Chuckles] Yeah. I'm looking forward
  to that talk.

🖊️ Formatting

Double Quotations Marks ("")

  • Use it whenever there is a direct quotation.

    They told me, "You are not qualified for this role at all,” and then, "but thank you for applying."

  • Internal dialogues are seen as direct quotations.

    And I figured, "Hey, I should go make some new friends!"

  • The punctuation at the end of quotations goes inside the quotation marks.

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

  • Use quotation marks for book titles, movie titles, song titles, etc. In this case, punctuation goes outside the quotation marks.

    My favorite movie is definitely "Moana".

Comma (,)

  • Repetition that gives emphasis to the word.

    I really, really love that book.

Single Dash (-)

  • Stutters:

    I-I bought that ch-ch-ch-chair yesterday.

  • One word repetitions:

    I went- went to the bank last Friday.

  • Spelling:

    My name is Anna, A-N-N-A.

  • Unfinished words:

    Whenev- I can never visit them alone.

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

    Speaker 1: I thought he was-
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: -gone.

  • Do not give space before and after the single dash, except for repetitions and unfinished words.

  • In the case of severe stuttering, type a maximum of three stuttered sounds.

Double Dash (--)

  • Use it for false starts or when there is a change of thoughts.

    And I-- it was a great day!

  • Speech errors:

    I went to the bank on Thursday-- no, Friday.

  • Incomplete sentence:

    I wanted to say something but--

  • Repetitions with more than one word:

    I feel like-- I feel like I wanna go there someday.

  • Give no space before and a space after the double dash.

  • Use lowercase for the sentence that follows the double dash.

Em Dash (—)

  • Use it to introduce a list or idea.

    Multiple languages are spoken in Canada—English, French, and Native languages.

  • Use it to insert an explanation, an example, or added information in the middle of a sentence.

    We used to own a computer when — not like when I was super young — but when I was in high school.

  • Give a space before and after the em dash.

How to create an em dash on Windows or Mac.

Ellipsis ( ... )

  • Use it to describe a short pause, up to 4 seconds.

    Anyway, it's ... one of the things I'm most proud of.

  • Separate words before and after ellipsis with a space.

Capitalization

  • The beginning of every sentence should be capitalized.
  • When quoting, the first word of a complete sentence should be capitalized.
  • Always research the proper capitalization, e.g., iPhone, Ruby on Rails, SaaS.
  • Always capitalize AM and PM for time, e.g., two forty PM, five AM.
  • Capitalize nouns followed by numbers or letters that are part of a series, e.g., Season 1, Episode 1.
  • Capitalize titles of movies, books, et cetera, e.g., “Gone With The Wind”.
  • Capitalize spelling, e.g., “My name is Anna, A-N-N-A.”

Non-Text Audio

  • Sound events that are significant to the audio should also be noted using brackets ([ ]).
    e.g., [laughs], [chuckles], [giggles], [gasp]. [Laughs] is a usual laugh; [chuckles] is a soft laugh.

    • Capitalize the word inside brackets at the beginning of a sentence and capitalize the word following the brackets.

      Guest: [Chuckles] And it's almost impossible to do it on your own. Well, you know what I mean.

  • Use [crosstalk] when two speakers are talking over one another. Try to get as much from each speaker as possible.

    Host: Another [crosstalk] perspective is that we can learn something from it.
Guest: Well, that’s my opinion.

    In the example, the guest interjected before the host finished. But we want to keep each speaker's whole sentence(s) in one paragraph. Therefore, the host’s sentence is completed, and the guest's sentence is inserted into a new paragraph.

  • Use [silence] to demonstrate a short pause in speech; not less than 4 seconds but not longer than 10 seconds.

    Anyway [silence], I think I will do that next time.

  • Use [??] for unintelligible audio after the word or sentence when you have an idea of what it says but aren't entirely sure.

    We have an entire thread [??] in basecamp.

  • Use [unintelligible] after the word or sentence if speech can be heard but cannot be understood due to background noise or muffled voice or when you cannot guess what was said.

    Yeah, there's not really much of [unintelligible].

📝 Other Notes

  • Do not correct grammatical errors made by the speakers.
  • Strictly transcribe what the speakers say, except for ‘uh’ and ‘um’.
  • False starts, filler, repetitive phrasing, and slang should be included in the transcripts. If the speaker clearly says "cuz", then write "cuz" and not "because".
  • Do not censor hosts or guest(s). If they say “shit”, write “shit”.
  • Never change spoken contractions (e.g., y’all, ain’t, don’t, can’t, it’s, etc.)
  • Try to best guess unintelligible words, and use [unintelligible] only when you cannot guess it in any way.
  • When in doubt, transcribe exactly!

📚 Resources