🇬🇧

English Guidelines for Transcriptions and

Subtitles – enGB, enUS
Version 1 - 11 February 2022

Scope

1. General Information

2. Flavour

3. Style & Tone of Voice

4. Text Reduction

5. Interjections

6. Consistency

7. Special Content

8. Special Formatting

9. Language-specific Items

10. Terminology

11. Notation Tags

12. Transcription Specifics

13. Subtitles Specifics

14. Useful Tools

15. Reminders

💡 🏄🏿‍♂️ QUICK-SURFING HACK 🏄🏼‍♀️

The CTRL+F (or Command+F) function works in open toggle lists.
If you want to quickly close all the toggle lists to check the list of the sections at a glance click on
CTRL+Alt+T (Command+Alt+T).

Each section is completed with a list of search keywords in your language to facilitate your navigation.

Scope
‣

Welcome to Happy Scribe Guidelines, a set of rules and hacks for granting consistency and delivering high-
quality transcription and subtitling projects.
  ✨Take the most out of them! ✨
How to read the Guidelines?
‣

Sections 1-8 → Generic information applicable across languages

Section 9 → Language-specific rules

Section 12 → Transcription specifics

Section 13 → Subtitles specifics

⚙💡 Looking for extra information or some useful tips?

 introduces further details on a topic.

💯  introduces useful hacks.

🔑  introduces localized search keywords.

How to use the Guidelines?

‣

1st time → Check all the sections thoroughly before starting working on your first assignment.

Following times → Use CTRL+F (or Command+F) to find the solution to your issue.

💡 You are not expected to read the Guidelines every single time you work on a file. However, you
are expected to be aware of the latest additions all the time.

The latest additions will be highlighted in pink from time to time.

💯 Quality tip: Use the guidelines efficiently.

Are you working on a file with no audio? Run a search for “no audio” and you will know what to
do with that.

How to improve the Guidelines?

‣

The Guidelines have been designed to be a dynamic tool to fulfil your needs.
 Feel free to share your feedback to expand, enrich and improve them.
Add a reliable source reference any time you make any suggestions.

💡 Share your feedback in the Discord Channel of your language.

WARNING: If customer-specific instructions are available, they prevail over these Guidelines.

What languages do these Guidelines refer to?

‣
🇬🇧🇺🇸
The following Guidelines include specifications for the following flavours:

English for Great Britain

English for the US

Flavour-specific rules will be noticed accordingly. If no flavour is specified, the rule is meant to be applied
across all variants.

1. General Information
‣

i. Service Level
‣

What type of transcription/subtitles does Happy Scribe offer at the moment?

Happy Scribe does not provide Verbatim transcription at the moment.

We currently offer clean-read transcripts and subtitles.
A clean read transcript aims to make the text legible, concise, and clear, without changing the meaning or
definition of speech, or the speaker's intention. Repetitions, stutters, or false starts are left out.
In the case of repetitions, they are allowed if the speaker is intentionally repeating certain words for
emphasis.
The speech continuity should be granted by using the proper punctuation sign.

💯 Quality tip: Check the “Text Reduction” section for further details on how to edit the text
accordingly and “Punctuation” to know how to report long pauses.

💡 If the file you are transcribing or subtitling has some embedded subtitles in your language, please
DO transcribe the speaker’s speech. DON’T mirror the embedded subtitles even when they are
slightly different from the speech spoken by the speaker.

🔑 Search keywords: verbatim, type of transcription

ii. No Speech in File or Poor Audio

‣

You claimed a file but it:

Has no audio.

Has very poor audio.

What should you do?

1. Post the file name on the channel “unworkable-projects” on Discord.

2. Report the file as “unworkable” on the Editor and select either “No speech: there is nothing to
transcribe” or “Inaudible: it is impossible to transcribe because the audio cannot be heard”.

3. Unclaim the job. Never submit it as “Done”.

💡 If a file with no/little/very poor audio is submitted as “Done”, no payment will be processed.

💡 If there is very little audio in the file (less than 20% of the total length), flag it immediately by
sending an e-mail to human@happyscribe.com.

🔑 Search keywords: no speech, poor audio, unworkable, bad audio

 iii. Songs

‣
You claimed a file but more than 80% of the audio is a song or lyrics only.

What should you do?

1. DON’T transcribe the lyrics of the song and DON’T submit the file.

2. Post the file name on the channel “unworkable-projects” on Discord.

3. Report the file as “unworkable” on the Editor and select “Song: the majority of the audio is a song
(80%+)”.

4. Unclaim the job.

💡 If less than 80% of the audio is a song:

- If the song takes less than 10 seconds, transcribe the words to the song. Use italics.

- If the song takes more than 10, use the proper tag. Check the section “Notation Tag” below to
know how to use the right one!

🔑 Search keywords: song, singing, lyrics, unworkable

iv. Foreign Languages

‣

Scenario DO

Report the file by selecting “Foreign

The file contains at least 80% of the foreign
language[...]”.
language in the spoken part.
Unclaim the job.

The file contains both English and a foreign

Please don’t copy the subtitles. Transcribe
language but is embedded with English
the English part only.
subtitles.

Don’t transcribe the foreign part.

The file contains both English and a foreign Use the proper tag and transcribe the
language but without embedded subtitles. English part only in both transcriptions and
subtitles.

💯 Quality tip: If the speaker says “The children play with the… How do you say that? The qìqiú.”
when they mean “The children play with the ball”, DO type it as “The children play with the… How
do you say that? The [foreign language 00:00:00]”. DON’T type “The children play with the ball”.

In this example, the interviewee is using a word from his native language that is not known to the
interviewer: it is not a case of code-mixing or loan word, but a case of communication loss. Even
if you were to speak Chinese and know the word, please don’t add it as it is not relevant in this
specific context.

🔑 Search keywords: foreign language, foreign speakers, foreign tag

2. Flavour
‣

Depending on the geographical area in which they are spoken, some languages can have locales, also known
as “flavours”. This is the case of Dutch, for instance, there are two flavours: Dutch for Belgium and Dutch for
the Netherlands.
Always follow the flavour as selected by the customer and displayed on your job dashboard.

💡 DON’T confuse the flavour with the accent. The speaker can be speaking Dutch for Belgium with an
English accent.

💯 Quality tip: Before claiming your job, check the flavour requested. This will help you anticipate some
of the challenges of the file you will be working on and apply the relevant linguistic conventions for
that specific flavour, like the appropriate spelling and punctuation preferences, accent, and other
factors.

💯 Quality tip: In case of multiple English accents, unless otherwise specified, please use the British
spelling.
 🔑 Search keywords: locale, flavour, localisation, adaptation, accent

3. Style & Tone of Voice

‣
The style and tone of voice of speakers should be reported faithfully. This doesn’t refer to the intonation, but
rather to the usage of a formal or informal language (i.e., the register).
Stick to the following pillars when working on a file:

Avoid long sentences/paragraphs. Look for natural points in the speech, like shifts
Be concise
in topic, emphasis, or references, and start a new sentence.

Be accurate Never add content, paraphrase, or rearrange the order of speech.

Never use standard informal contractions for formal speeches and vice-versa.
Be proper e.g.: if the speaker says “I’m” don’t type “I am”. The same applies to other
grammatical contractions like they’re, who’s, etc.

💡 What should I do when speakers use non-standard informal contractions when speaking?

Always use expanded forms as per standard conventions:

gonna → going to

wanna → want to

gotcha → got you

gotta → got to

y’all → you all

💯 Quality tip: Before completing your job, run a quick search looking for unnecessary filler words using
CRTL+F (or Command+F).

🔑 Search keywords: contractions, contracted forms, informal tone, formal tone, formality

4. Text Reduction
‣

Unless otherwise specified, DON’T use unnecessary filler words, feedback words, interruptions, false starts,
and repetitions.

DO DON’T

Stutters & She said they should not be She s-s-said th-th-they should not
Stammers invited. So I didn’t. be in-in-invited. So I didn’t.

She said, er, they, should not be,

Unnecessary filler She said they should not be
uh, invited. And I was like, hmm,
words invited. So I didn’t.
yeah, you know. So I didn’t.

-She said they should not be

She said they should not be invited.
Feedback words
invited. So I didn’t. -Right.
-So I didn’t.

Self interruptions, She said they should not be They sa... She said they should
and false starts invited. So I didn’t. not be invited. So I didn’t.

She said they should not be

She said they should, should not
Repetitions invited.
be, be invited. So I didn’t.
So I didn’t.

💡 What if an “unnecessary word” is the only answer of a speaker to a question?

In that case, the word cannot be considered unnecessary and it should be included in the text.

DO DON’T

Speaker 1: Did you go to the movie

theatre?

Speaker 1: Did you go to the movie theatre?

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah, last night.

Speaker 2: Yeah, last night.

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: And what about the movie? Did

Speaker 1: Hmm. And what about the
you like it?

movie? Did you like it?

Speaker 2: Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: Uh-huh.

Speaker 1: You’re not really talkative today?

Speaker 1: You’re not really talkative
today, uh?

Text in red should not be included, text in green should be.

These are the accepted spellings for the following:

Affirmative answers: uh-huh/mm-hmm

Negative answers: uh-uh/nuh-uh/mm-mm

💡 If a short false start includes the crucial meaning, like the speakers correcting themselves, be sure to
include it.
 We want to include clearer parts, I mean, linguistic conventions to these
DO
guidelines.

If conjunctions don’t work as such, but rather as fillers, please remove them. The same applies to
any other connectors (relatives pronouns, adverbs, etc.) when they don’t work for the purposes they
should.

DO DON’T

-I’m not sure I’m still in love.

-I’m not sure what to wear for the party.

-So you’re suggesting we should

-So, what about the red dress?
break?

This conjunction doesn’t connect the

The conjunction connects the two
sentences, grammatically speaking. It
sentences in this case.
should be omitted.

Truncate further content exclusively where reading speed and synchronicity to the audio are causing you
issues in subtitles. Never omit meaningful content.

💯 Quality tip: If you spot an unnecessary filler word, run a quick search throughout the file by using
CTRL+F (Command+F) functionality and remove them all.
Interjections should not be treated as filler words. Check out the relevant section below for further
details.

🔑 Search keywords: text reduction, filler words, stutters, stammers, repetitions, interruptions

5. Interjections
‣

As part of speech, interjections are exclamations that express speakers’ reactions or feelings. They are
grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence where they appear.
Only the interjections below are allowed in transcriptions and subtitles:
Oh my God!

Oh, dear!

Oh my!

Oh boy!

Wow!

DON’T use any interjections currently not included in the list or the reference.

DO reach out to add new interjections that you consider are missing.

In the case of subtitles, interjections can be omitted to meet character constraints, if their omission does not
imply any loss in meaning.

💡 Exclamation marks can be used only for interjections and shouts. Check the relevant section about
punctuation to discover when they are forbidden.

💯 Quality tip: How to distinguish filler words from interjections?

If the phrases work as a reaction from the speaker, they should rather be considered interjections.

Unless you have been instructed otherwise, ask yourself “Would omitting this item impact the core
message the speech is conveying?”. If the answer is “No”, it should be pretty safe to omit it.

🔑 Search keywords: interjections, exclamation marks, filler words, omission, omitting

6. Consistency
‣

Consistency means taking decisions on how to tackle specific items and applying the same approach
throughout a file.
What items should you apply consistency to?
Punctuation, capitalization, numbers, dates, spelling, symbols, terminology, interjection rendering... Be sure to
stick to these guidelines to ensure the highest level of consistency!
The more the consistency, the greater the user experience.

💡 By keeping the consistency, Scribes will be able to increase precision by reducing ambiguity and
preventing loss of meaning in case the transcriptions/subtitles are going to be translated into other
languages.

💯 Quality tip: You run a search for a proper name and you want to be sure the correct spelling is
applied also when files on the same topic arrive in bulk, do you? Or do you opt for one out of several
accepted spelling for a single word?

Then use the “Glossary” option and add some specific terms there to help grant consistency. Check
the section “Terminology” for more details.

 To check internal consistency in the file you are working on, use the CTRL+F (Command+F) option to
navigate through the file and check all instances by typing the first three characters or potential
variants.

💡 Still in doubt with some specific items? Post your issue on the English Channel on Discord. Sharing is
caring!

🔑 Search keywords: consistency, consistent rules

7. Special Content

‣ i. Proper Names & Titles

‣ ◦ Capitalize them accordingly.

◦ In case of transliteration from non-Latin languages, check

Proper names the most common transliteration and use that consistently
throughout the file.
◦ Diacritics should be kept in proper nouns and names.

◦ Use the correct spelling and capitalization – some of them

Company/brand/product names
might stray from standard conventions.

◦ Run proper searches to transcribe them accurately.

Titles (books, movies, etc.) ◦ Use italics.

◦ Use title case.

💯 Quality tip: The rule of thumb is always to check for spelling company/brand/product names by
doing a quick search. Always refer to the official websites to be sure to use the correct names. In
the case of book/movie titles, check them on the main online catalogues.

If several different spelling/formatting alternatives are available, choose one and be consistent
throughout the file. Add it to the Glossary!

🔑 Search keywords: proper nouns, spelling proper nouns, titles, product name, company name,
brand name

ii. Profanity & Curse Words

‣

DON’T censor profanity or curse words. If they appear in the audio, transcribe them word for word.

DO DON’T

What the fuck is going on? What the f*** is going on?

💡 Exception: If the curse words are censored and beeped in the audio, DO use asterisks in the
transcription/subtitles.

🔑 Search keywords: profanity, curse words

iii. Incorrect Grammar

‣

DO type the correct spelling in case of mispronunciation of words in the speech.

DON’T fix incorrect grammar as spoken if the message is not altered.

DON’T use the [sic] tag and don’t edit the speech.

Audio: “Linda, you didn’t told me you have three childrens.”

Audio: “That beer was huge” (but they meant “bear”)

DO DON’T

Linda, you didn’t tell me you have three

Linda, you didn’t told me you have three childrens.
children.

That bear was huge. That beer was huge.

🔑 Search keywords: incorrect grammar, grammar issues, grammar violations

iv. Acronyms & Abbreviations

‣

DON’T hyphenate acronyms.

DON’T use periods in abbreviations where it is not needed.

DO DON’T
 She told me to be here at 5 PM She told me to be here at 5 pm
Can you please switch off the TV? Can you please switch off the T.V?
The news they gave about UNESCO were quite The news they gave about the U-N-E-S-C-O was
inaccurate. quite inaccurate.

💡 Et cetera and its more common abbreviation, etc., are used to show that a list of at least two
items is incomplete. Either form can be used. However, choose an option and stick with the
same one throughout the file for keeping consistency.

💯 The usage of periods in abbreviations may vary according to the flavour.

US English, for instance, consider both U.S.A. and USA as correct.

If not otherwise specified, please choose either form and be consistent throughout the file.

Remember to always check the flavour and add the selected option to the Glossary!

🔑 Search keywords: acronyms, abbreviations, abbreviated words

v. Websites & E-mail Addresses

‣

Websites should be transcribed as they are written normally in the URL.

E-mail addresses follow the same rule.

DO DON’T

happyscribe.com happy scribe dot com

shane@happyscribe.com shane at happy scribe dot com

💡 What if the speaker spells out their e-mail address? Follow the rule for spelt-out items under the
section “Capitalization”.

💯 Quality tip: Stick to “e-mail” hyphenated spelling.

🔑 Search keywords: websites, email, e-mail

vi. Onomatopoeias
‣

Since we are currently providing clean transcriptions and subtitles, onomatopoeias should not be
included in the text unless they convey a meaningful message, i.e. they are the only answer in a two-
person dialogue or they are said by the speakers instead of actual words, for instance.

Said DO

-What, Frank? Is it a good idea? -What, Frank? Is it a good idea?

-Are you joking? It is like... boom. -Are you joking? It is like... boom.

DO spell the onomatopoeias as per the list in the link below: https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/240643

💡 Check out the “Text Reduction” section for more details on how and when to reduce the text
being compliant with our service level.

💯 Quality tip: Onomatopoeias should be in italics.

🔑 Search keywords: onomatopoeias, sounds, atmospherics

vii. Atmospherics & Sounds

‣

Since we are currently providing clean transcriptions and subtitles, atmospherics and sounds should not
be included. If the speaker is interrupted by either of them, only the spoken speech should be typed.

🔑 Search keywords: onomatopoeias, sounds, atmospherics

viii. Religious References

‣

Use numerals and follow conventionally written formatting for chapter/verse references of religious texts.

DO DON’T

Acts 27:1 (Said: Acts 27 verse 1) Acts 27 colon 1 (Said: Acts 27 verse 1)

🔑 Search keywords: religion, religious

8. Special Formatting

‣
Italics, Bold, and Underline
Happy Scribe Editor supports Italics formatting only. Stick to the chart below for its correct usage.

DO use it for DON’T use it for

◦ Narration

◦ Unfamiliar foreign words and phrases which do not appear

in the nominated dictionary for your language
◦ Titles of books, periodicals, works of art, albums, movies, TV
shows, radio shows, video games, etc. ◦ Proper names

◦ The speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off-screen, ◦ Foreign loan words which appear
behind a door, or out of shot in your language’s nominated
◦ Dialogue that is heard through electronic media, such as a dictionary, e.g. rendezvous, zeitgeist,
phone, television (especially if we see the television and hear etc. for English
the audio), computer, loudspeaker, non-sentient robots,
robotic voices or AI, etc
◦ Songs

◦ Metareferences e.g. The word computer is made of 8 letters

🔑 Search keywords: italics, titles, book, movie, italics, when to use italics

9. Language-specific Items
‣

i. Punctuation
‣

Punctuation Sign Usage DOs & DONT’S

◦ Use the ellipsis symbol

◦ Speaker’s trailing off or
pausing significantly
… Ellipsis
◦ Speaker’s cutting off and
changing direction
rather than three dots
◦ Use a capital letter after an
ellipsis
◦ Do not put any space before
the ellipsis

◦ Don’t use apices or opening

◦ For possession

single quotes as apostrophes

‘ Apostrophes ◦ In contractions

◦ Don’t use apostrophes as

◦ For decades truncation
accents

◦ Capitalize the first word of

the quote
◦ If a quote is nested within
another one, use single
quotation marks ‘’
◦ Direct speech (spoken, ◦ Don’t use quotation marks
“” Quotation Marks
thought, or written) on several subtitles events in
case of continuous subtitles
(just at the beginning)
◦ Don’t use quotation marks
for titles, unless they are part
of the title itself

◦ Put them outside the

? Question & ◦ Questions

quotation marks unless they

! Exclamation Marks ◦ Interjections and shouts only
belong within the quoted text

◦ Use the Oxford comma in

lists of more than three items
◦ Don’t use it after
◦ Lists

conjunctions (so, but, etc.)

◦ Introducing quotations

◦ Put it inside the quotation

, Commas ◦ Addressing someone directly

marks
◦ After interjections

◦ Don’t use commas for

◦ Improving reading flow
marking parenthetical
clauses (see Em-dashes
below)

◦ Put it inside the quotation

marks
◦ Don’t add another period to
names or brands if they end a
. Periods ◦ Ending sentences
sentence
e.g., I work at Yahoo Inc. NOT
Yahoo Inc..
◦ Don’t use in acronyms

◦ Introducing lists or ◦ Don’t use to introduce direct

: Colons
explanations speech

; Semicolons ◦ Linking closely related ◦ Don’t over-use it

sentences
 ◦ Complex lists with commas
within items

◦ Compound names

◦ Abrupt interruptions and

cutoffs of speakers – no space
◦ Don’t use it for line breaks

should be added afterwards.

- Hyphens ◦ Never use en- and em-
◦ Separating letters in spellings

dashes for all this

e.g., Happy is spelt H-A-P-P-Y
◦ Introducing two speakers in
subtitles (no space)

◦ Marking parenthetical clauses ◦ Never use en-dashes or

— Em-dashes
that are grammar-independent
e.g., I took my sister’s car
without asking he—he never
asks when borrowing my
clothes anyways—and I drove to
town.
commas for this
◦ Don’t add any spacing
before and after an em-dash
Ref.:
https://www.thepunctuation
guide.com/em-dash.html

◦ Look for double spaces and

delete them
Single space ◦ Separating parts of the speech ◦ Don’t include any space
after hyphen for introducing
two speakers

💡 What punctuation to use with interruptions?

Scenario Punctuation sign

The speaker interrupts themselves Ellipsis

Hyphen (no space before)

The speaker is interrupted by

Speaker 1: I was wondering if-

someone else
Speaker 2: Busy, can’t speak now.

Hyphens (no spaces before or after)

The speaker is interrupted by Speaker 1: I was wondering if-

someone else and then resumes Speaker 2: Busy, can’t speak now.

with unaltered grammar Speaker 1: -you would want to come and grab a
bite?

🔑 Search keywords: punctuation, interruptions, spacing rules, space

ii. Capitalization
‣

When to use upper case

‣

Item 💡 Further Explanation DOs & DONT’S

First word of a Standard sentences Let’s go fly a kite.

sentence Sentences in quotes She said, “Let’s go fly a kite.”

People John Smith

Countries USA
States Florida
Counties Yorkshire
Regions Molise
Cities Paris
Proper nouns Rivers Nilo
Lakes Lake Victoria
Falls Niagara
Vessels Titanic
Institutions African union
Genus Homo sapiens
Ethnic Group Mayans

When referring to specific North Carolina is north of

Compass Points geographic areas or part of South Carolina and east of
proper names only West Virginia.

Ms, Mr
People titles
Chief Executive Officer John
Formal job titles:
Titles Smith/ I’m John Smith, the
◦ referring to specific people

Chief Executive Officer of

◦ when representing a company
Happy Scribe

Tables
Charts Appendix C
Names of
Figures Chapter 13
charts/sections
Bigger sections (NOT smaller BUT slide 3, page 100
divisions)
 Variables Variables referred to in a X marks the spot.
sentence (NOT in an equation,
in that case, use lower case)

When to use ALL-CAPS

‣
Capitalized Item 💡 Further Explanation DOs & DONT’S

Match OST capitalization

and avoid using all-caps in
the following cases:
◦ Handwritten notes

OST On-screen text

◦ Excerpts from
(On-screen text) Forced Narrative
books/papers
◦ Social Media messages

◦ Text messages

◦ Long passages of OST

When a speaker spells out a

Spelt-out words Happy is spelt H-A-P-P-Y.
word

When to use Lower Case

‣

Capitalized Item 💡 Further Explanation DOs & DONT’S

Being a chief executive officer must

Titles Job titles
be tough.

Variables in an equation (NOT

Audio: 3 times x
Variables referred to in a sentence, in that
Typed: 3x
case, use upper case)

When to use Special Capitalization

‣

Capitalized Item 💡 Further Explanation DOs & DONT’S

Books
Titles Use title case
Movies

Yahoo!
AirPods
Company names
Brand-relevant Items
Product names 💯 Check on official
websites/reference material the
proper capitalization

AfD
UNESCO
Saas
Institution acronyms
COVID-19
Acronyms Product types
Diseases
💯 Always check the proper
capitalization on reliable
resources

iii. Numbers
‣

1. General Rules
‣

Item Rule DO

I worked on four subtitles projects last

0-9 Numbers 0-9 are written out.
month.

Numbers above 10 are written in I worked on 14 subtitles projects last

+10
figures. month.

Million
They processed three million minutes
Billion The above rules apply.
last month for a total of 59 billion over
Trillion Descriptors are kept.
the year.
and above

Numbers at the beginning of a

Starting a sentence are written out Sixty-eight new Scribes joined the
sentence regardless of the actual amount or team.
number.

1.1 Exceptions
‣

Item Rule DO

Decimals Always in figures 3.14 is the approximate value of Pi.

 Pi number’s value is approximatively
3.14.

Days and years always in November 9th, 1989 was a crucial

Dates
figures date for Europe.

Most of them were born in the early

Decades & eras Always in figures ‘90s.
The 1990s were such a great decade.

At 6 feet, he was so tall that he blocked

Measurements Always in figures
out the sun.

I live on 6, Santa Teresa Street.

Addresses Always in figures
My ZIP code is 08012.

Name of a
Always in figure The number 5 is my favourite one.
number

Their websites were scored 2, 5, 7, 23

List of numbers Always in figures
and 28.

He’s a genius. He could read at 3, write

Combination of
Always in figures poems at 9 and solve advanced
numbers
calculus at 12.

Repeated
-I read that you have 2,500 employees-
numbers in
-3,500.
consecutive Always in figures
-I beg you pardon?
sentences/cap
-3,500. We have 3,500 employees.
sules

Religious
Always in figures Acts 27:1 (Audio: Acts 27 verse 1).
references

Phone Our phone number is +34 600 000

Always in figures
numbers 000.

The 5% of the audience was not

Percentages Always in figures
listening.

Currencies Always in figures They should earn $3 million

Range of Always in figures unless at Kids aged 1-12 weren’t allowed to the
numbers the beginning of a sentence show.

It’s 5:20 PM.

Always in figures unless She said she would be here at five
Time
“o’clock” is included o’clock.
They work 24/7.

Time It took about a hundred days to find

Always written out
estimation the right book.

2. Number Separators
‣

Item Punctuation Sign DO

Decimals . Dot 3.14

Thousands Comma 3,000

/ Slash if all in figures 11/09/1989

Dates
, Comma if the month is written out November 9th, 1989

Phone numbers
- Hyphen 1-508-555-2232
units

Prefix () Rounded parenthesis (+39) 333-00-00-000

Ranges - Hyphen 1-12

💯 Quality tip: You found a number in the audio track of the file you are working on, but you don’t
remember how to handle that. Quickly surf the Guidelines by using CTRL+F (Command+F) and
search for the number type that is causing you troubles.

Warning: Use an apostrophe for truncated decades instead of a single quote mark.

🔑 Search keywords: numbers, decimals, million, date, time, measurements

iv. Date & Time Format

‣

Format Rule DO

Date ◦ Follow the format used by the Audio: The company was founded on January
 speaker(s), also in the case of twenty seventeen, one one twenty seventeen to
centuries be exact.
Typed: The company was founded on January
2017, 1/1/2017 to be exact.

◦ Follow the format used by the

Audio: She always wakes up at seven am.
Time speaker(s)
Typed: She always wakes up at 7:00 AM.
◦ Capitalize AM/PM if stated

🔑 Search keywords: date, time

v. Symbols & Currencies

‣
Special rules apply to symbols and currencies as per the chart below:

Item Rule DO

J&J is one of the biggest groups of

Ampersand ◦ Use only if part of a proper
companies.
& name or a common acronym
The R&D team expanded notably.

◦ Use only if included in the

speech.
It was 50 cents only.
◦ Use the currency symbols
I don’t care about euro or yen fluctuation.
with figures only.
Currencies It’s $17.45 each. (DON’T type 17.45
◦ Use figures with currencies.

dollars each.)
◦ Symbols should go before the
They should earn $3 million.
number and close up.
◦ Don’t convert.

◦ Use the percentage symbols

Percentage with figures only. The percentage shown was not real.
% ◦ Don’t add any space between The 5% of the audience was not listening.
the symbol and the figure.

🔑 Search keywords: symbols, percentage, currencies

vi. Mathematical Items

‣

Please stick to the rules below, unless otherwise specified:

Item Rule DO

Use figures for numerals and

Math equations 20 plus 4 times 0.5 equals 22
spell out math operators.

Alpha, Omega, Pi are very common

Greek letters Spell them out.
symbols.

Draw an angle of 270 degrees.

Measurements Spell them out. Pi radians are quite complex.
The table is 85 centimetres long.

Two-thirds of the population is

Fractions Spell them out.
unemployed.

Trigonometric
Spell them out. Let’s calculate the cosine of 1 radian.
functions

Use symbols and don’t spell
out the math operator.
Variables
Check capitalization rules
here.
Audio: 3 times x plus 4 times y equals 23
Typed: 3x plus 4y equals 23
X marks the spot. Add example and talk
with CS

Audio: x to the sixth

Superscript/Subs Use superscripts/subscripts Typed: x⁶

cript (the Editor allows its usage). Audio: H2O

Typed: H₂O

🔑 Search keywords: numbers, math, mathematical

vii. References
‣

Use the following references in case you have any doubts on items not included in these language
guidelines:

EF: https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/

Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/

Cambridge: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/
‣
10. Terminology

i. Domain Relevance

‣
Always refer to the context to catch the appropriate words or phrases.

This is especially important for proper nouns or industry terminology.

Lack of proper research might lead to accuracy issues and impact the final quality of your job.

💯 Quality tip: Some foreign words have become part of the common terminology for specific
verticals.

Depending on the industry, it is not uncommon to see how certain loan words have become part
of a specific industry domain.

DON’T use tags for loan words or any foreign word that is domain-specific.

Example:

The English term hashtag is part of the specific terminology of Social Media almost across all
languages. If the video that you are transcribing/subtitling is about Social Media, then you
needn’t use any italics or tags when typing the term hashtag. If the video you are
transcribing/subtitling is not about Social Media, and the term hashtag is used, then it should go
in italics.

ii. Glossary
‣

The Editor allows customers and Scribes to add a specific set of terms that should be used in one or
multiple files.

Why should stick to the glossary? Because this will:

Ensure terminology consistency – internally and across related files.

Speed up your task – you won’t need to search elsewhere.

Minimize accuracy issues.

iii. On-screen Text

‣

Stick to the terminology of the on-screen text, unless:

The on-screen text has typos. In this case flag this to the Admins.

The glossary provided by the customer includes options that differ from the on-screen text.

The instructions state otherwise.

🔑 Search keywords: terms, terminology, glossary, loan word

11. Notation Tags

‣

If the file you are working on has unclear, muffled portions of audio, you can use one of the notation tags listed
below, including a timestamp of the audio location.

Scenario Ta DO

Unintelligible or inaudible
[inaudible hh:mm:ss] [inaudible 00:01:32]
words are stated.

Multiple people speaking

[crosstalk 00:00:52]
over each other causes any
[crosstalk hh:mm:ss] Transcribe what is
one of the speakers to
discernible.
become unintelligible.

[foreign language 01:02:02]

Indicate where they begin

Portions of audio in a
foreign language.
with a timestamp and the tag
“foreign language”.
[foreign language
Don’t transcribe non-English
hh:mm:ss]
audio.

If a file is mostly or entirely in

a foreign language, check
“Foreign Language” section.

The speaker starts singing
and it is more than 10
seconds long.
[singing 01:59:02]
[singing hh:mm:ss] If it takes less than 10
seconds, transcribe the
words to the song in italics.

General DON’Ts

DON’T leave out the timestamp. [inaudible]

DON’T use upper case/all-caps in any notation tags. [Foreign Language 02:03:55]

DON’T use your own notations. (crosstalk 02:03:55)

DON’T include the name of the foreign language even though you spot it. [Polish 02:03:55]

DON’T use [foreign language 02:03:55] for loan words.

 💡 At Happy Scribe we currently DON’T use any [guess] tag. When you are struggling with some words,
it’s safer to use the [inaudible hh:mm:ss] tag.

💯 Quality tip: Do you want to use a tag accurately? Type [ on the Editor at the exact point you want to
add a tag and choose from the drop-down menu.

Windows shortcut: Alt+0091

Mac shortcut: Alt+Shift+ ^ key

Punctuation and Tags

When the tag is replacing a word, a phrase or a portion of a sentence, DO use standard punctuation
afterwards.

However, when a tag is used to replace a whole sentence or paragraph, DON’T include any
punctuation sign after the tag.

🔑 Search keywords: foreign, foreign language, inaudible, crosstalk, singing, notation tag, loan word

12. Transcription Specifics

‣

i. Multiple Speakers
‣

In the case of multiple speakers, a labelling strategy should be followed.

Refrain from creating your own descriptive labels and rather stick to the following rules based on different
scenarios:

Scenario Rule DO

The speaker’s name can be

John Smith
reasonably inferred from the Use speaker’s name label
Professor Lee
audio/video.

The speaker’s name cannot be

Interviewer
reasonably inferred from the
Use job title or role labels Professor
audio/video, but the job title or
Student
role can be.

The speaker’s name cannot be

reasonably inferred from the Speaker 1
Use sequentially numbered labels
audio/video, nor can be the job Speaker 2
title or role.

There are too many speakers Use group labels.

Students
to consistently track who says Don’t use it as a substitute for
Audience
what (e.g. classroom reasonable speaker identification.
Camera Crew
discussion, focus group). Don’t include any number.

💡 What to do in case of crosstalk? Check the “Notation Tag” section.

What to do in case of interruptions? Check the “Punctuation” section.

💯 Quality tip: Remember you must assign a speaker to all paragraphs, even if there are multiple
consecutive paragraphs from the same speaker.

If the client provided the list of speakers, be sure to stick to it.

🔑 Search keywords: multiple speakers, various speakers

ii. Segmentation
‣

Avoid writing excessively long paragraphs, even if there is only one speaker in the file.

Look for natural points in the speech, such as a shift in topic, emphasis, or reference, to start a new
paragraph.

💡 How to assess whether a paragraph is “too long"? Check this out .

💯 Long paragraphs are now warned by the quality check tool!

🔑 Search keywords: long paragraphs

13. Subtitles Specifics

‣

i. Multiple Speakers
‣

When subtitling, DON’T add any speaker label.

Use hyphens (not followed by any space) to separate speech uttered by two speakers speaking at the
same time, or speaking too closely to each other – putting them in one capsule preserves CPS limits
and avoids fast transition from one capsule to another.
 Only one speaker per line is allowed.

DO DON’T

- Hi mum. - Hi John.
-Hi mum.
How was
-Hi John. How was your day?
your day?

🔑 Search keywords: multiple speakers, various speakers

ii. Segmentation
‣

1. Line Treatment
‣

Subtitles can have at most two lines, even in the case of multiple speakers.

Try to always stick to 1 line unless the character per line (CPL) limit is exceeded.

DO DON’T

- Hi mum. - Hi John.
-Hi mum.
How was
-Hi John. How was your day?
your day?

2. Line Breaks
‣

Ideally, try to seek subtitles balance by keeping the first line shorter than the second line.

However, remember that logical line breaks override subtitles balance.

Lines should be broken at logical points, matching a punctuation sign like a period, comma or colon
whenever possible.
If the break has to be elsewhere in the sentence, avoid splitting the parts of the speech in the chart
below.
DON’T sacrifice logical line breaks to keep a pyramidal text distribution in subtitles.

Parts of the
DO DON’T
speech

They have arranged They have arranged a confe-

Noun
a conference in Rome. rence in Rome.

Subject/Pronoun They have arranged They

and verb a conference in Rome. have arranged a conference in Rome.

Parts of a They have arranged They have

complex verb a conference in Rome. arranged a conference in Rome.

They have arranged They have arranged a

Article and noun
a conference in Rome. conference in Rome.

Preposition and
They arranged a conference They have arranged a conference in
the following
in Rome. Rome.
phrase

Conjunction and
They arranged a conference They have arranged a conference but
the following
but I didn’t go. I didn’t go.
item

💯 Quality tip: Are you still struggling to understand what a logical point is? Have a look at the
sentences below for further examples.

The ideal break places are marked by green slashes.

The orange slashes indicate where it would be OK to break if breaking at the green slashes
were not possible.

This is a very long,/verbose piece/of prose/that no one knows/and no one/will remember.

Mary wants/to go/to the store,/but as far as I know,/all the stores/are closed/on Translation Day.

I woke up,/jet-lagged,/at 4 in the morning,/in my new bed,/and right away I called/Annie

Jayaraman,/to tell her/about my interview.

🔑 Search keywords: line break, number of lines

3. CPL
‣
 The subtitles CPL should not exceed 42 CPL. Whenever exceeded, it is marked in red in the Editor.
If the line is over 42 CPL, you can either:

Break the subtitle into two lines by pressing Shift+Enter ;

Split into multiple subtitles by pressing Enter to stay within this limit;

Omit content without altering the core meaning of the speech. Check the section “Text Reduction”
for further details.

Delete any blank space at the end of each line.

💯 Quality tip: Did you have to break many lines to meet the CPL and you are afraid of having
messed it up with line-break rules?

Be sure that no line ends with an article or a preposition and watch out for those ending with
an auxiliary verb – they might potentially contain issues.

Remember to check the time sync as well.

💡 CPL for portrait mode is 32. For further details, check the section “Portrait Mode”.

🔑 Search keywords: line break, cpl, character limit

iii. Time Sync

‣

1. CPS
‣

The subtitle CPS (Characters per second) is an indicator of the comfort of the viewer. A high CPS
indicates that the viewer will have to read faster, making the experience less comfortable.

Values higher than 20 CPS indicate a degraded viewer experience, so you should make an effort to
try to reduce it when possible. Whenever exceeded, it is marked in red in the Editor.

There is a slight tolerance in exceeding the 20 CPS soft limit if the speaker talks too fast and it is
not possible to reduce the subtitle further without losing meaning or worsening the final user’s
experience.

💡 If the content is for children, the CPS should not exceed 15.

2. Sync
‣

To be sure your text is synced with the audio and thus granting a great experience to the final user,
stick to the guidelines listed below (in order of priority):

Subtitle appearance should coincide with speech onset. Subtitle disappearance should coincide
roughly with the end of the corresponding speech segment.

Your subtitles should not anticipate speech by more than 1.5 seconds or hang up on the screen
for more than 1.5 seconds after speech has stopped.

Avoid creating subtitles that straddle a shot change (i.e. a subtitle that starts in the middle of
shot one and ends in the middle of shot two).
You might need to split a sentence at an appropriate point or delay the start of a new one to
coincide with the shot change.

To meet the 20 CPS limit, you can split or merge subtitles or extend their timespan.

💡 Use the timeline interface located at the bottom of the editor to synchronize the subtitles
with the audio and extend or shorten their timespan.
 💯 Quality tip: While you should aim to meet the CPS, it is paramount that the text on the screen
coincides with the speech – the final user’s experience is worsened when they have to read
something different from what they are hearing.

Avoid pushing the text forward or backwards to meet the CPS if this leads to a mismatch
between speech and text.

In the example below, for instance, the third subtitle has been pushed back to meet the 20-
character limit of the second one (boxes in green show where the synced subtitles should be
appearing). It means that a new sentence in the speech would start while the previous subtitle is
still on screen, this worsening the final user’s experience, even though the CPS has been met.

🔑 Search keywords: cps, time sync, sync

iv. Portrait Mode and Square Videos

‣

Portrait Mode

In some cases, you might find the video has been recorded vertically.
This can be easily identified because the picture will not cover the entire screen.
Please follow the adjusted criteria (in order of priority):

Maximum 32 CPL

Keep 20 CPS

Ignore the number of lines appearing on the video, the font size will be adjusted later.

Square Videos

In some cases, you might find the video has a square format (1:1).
Please follow the adjusted criteria (in order of priority):

Try to stick to 36/38 CPL if possible

💡 How to adjust the criteria?

1. Open the subtitle Editor

2. Click on “Edit subtitle limits”

3. Adjust the CPL accordingly

🔑 Search keywords: vertical video, portrait mode, video format, square video
14. Useful Tools

‣
Here is a list of life-saving tools for transcriptionists and subtitlers:

Grammarly

Language Tool

Sound booster

Chrome extension

Background noise-cancelling extension

15. Reminders
‣
Always check if there are specific instructions from the customer for a file. In that case, the customer’s
instructions prevail over these Guidelines.

Never transcribe in an external editor (Word for example) and then paste the text into Happy Scribe's
editor.

Be sure to run a spell-check by using Grammarly or any other available extension available for your
browser.

If you struggle with some specific words or a part of the speech, be sure to run some searches on the
Internet. Check pages related to the topic of the file you are working on for better results.
If you cannot find the answer, reach out to the Tribe on Discord and seek further support.

Please note, once you have submitted a file, you cannot alter and correct the text afterwards.
If you accidentally submit a file, please reach out to human@happyscribe.com

Be sure you have the spell-check option/extension/plug-in enabled on your browser.