- 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
- 16. Version Log
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! ✨
Sections 1-8 → Generic information applicable across languages
Section 9 → Language-specific rules
Section 12 → Transcription specifics
Section 13 → Subtitles specifics
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.
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.
WARNING: If customer-specific instructions are available, they prevail over these Guidelines and any other rules.
🇪🇸 🌎
The following Guidelines include specifications for the following flavours:
- Spanish for Spain
- Spanish for Latin America
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.
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?
- Post the file name on the channel “unworkable-projects” on Discord.
- 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”.
- Unclaim the job. Never submit it as “Done”.
iii. Songs
You claimed a file but more than 80% of the audio is a song or lyrics only.
What should you do?
- DON’T transcribe the lyrics of the song and DON’T submit the file.
- Post the file name on the channel “unworkable-projects” on Discord.
- Report the file as “unworkable” on the Editor and select “Song: the majority of the audio is a song (80%+)”.
- Unclaim the job.
iv. Foreign Languages
Scenario | DO |
The file contains at least 80% of the foreign language in the spoken part. | Report the file by selecting “Foreign language[...]”.
Unclaim the job. |
The file contains both Spanish and a foreign language but is embedded with Spanish subtitles. | Please don’t copy the subtitles. Transcribe the Spanish part only. |
The file contains both Spanish and a foreign language but without embedded subtitles. | Don’t transcribe the foreign part.
Use the proper tag and transcribe the Spanish part only in both transcriptions and subtitles. |
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.
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:
Be concise | Avoid long sentences/paragraphs. Look for natural points in the speech, like shifts in topic, emphasis, or references, and start a new sentence. |
Be accurate | Never add content, paraphrase, or rearrange the order of speech. |
Be proper | Never reflect informal contractions.
e.g.: if the speaker says “Nos fuimos pa’l pueblo” it should be corrected to “Nos fuimos para el pueblo”.
The same applies to other grammatical contractions like na’ (correct: nada), comprao (correct: comprado), etc.
Also, never reflect phonetic variants that alter the speech like ceceos, seseos and yeísmos. |
4. Text Reduction
- Unless otherwise specified, DON’T use unnecessary filler words, feedback words, interruptions, false starts, and repetitions.
DO | DON’T | |
Stutters & Stammers | Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. | Ella d-d-dijo q-q-que no deberíamos in-in-invitarlos. Así que no los invité. |
Unnecessary filler words | Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. | Mmh pues ella dijo como que no deberíamos invitarlos y tal. Y fue en plan de... Bueno. Así que no los invité. |
Feedback words | Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. | -Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos.
-Claro.
-Así que no los invité. |
Self interruptions, and false starts | Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. | Ellos dijeron que... Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. |
Repetitions | Ella dijo que no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité. | Ella dijo que no, no deberíamos invitarlos. Así que no los invité, no los invité. |
- Truncate further content exclusively where reading speed and synchronicity to the audio are causing you issues in subtitles. Never omit meaningful content.
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:
¡Dios mío!
¡Vaya por Dios!
¡Madre mía!
¡Vaya!
¡Guau!
¡Hala!
¡Ay, no!
¡Buah!
DON’T use any interjections currently not included in the list or the reference.
DO reach out to add new interjections that you consider missing.
In the case of subtitles, interjections can be omitted to meet character constraints, if their omission does not imply any loss in meaning.
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.
7. Special Content
i. Proper Names & Titles
Proper names | ◦ Capitalize them accordingly.
◦ In case of transliteration from non-Latin languages, check the most common transliteration and use that consistently throughout the file.
◦ Diacritics should be kept in proper nouns and names. |
Company/brand/product names | ◦ Use the correct spelling and capitalization – some of them might stray from standard conventions. |
Titles (books, movies, etc.) | ◦ Run proper searches to transcribe them accurately.
◦ Use italics.
◦ Use sentence case. |
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 |
¿Qué coño está pasando? | ¿Qué c*** está pasando? |
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, no me dijistes que tenías tres hijos».
Audio: «El coso era enorme» (but they meant «oso»).
Audio: La dije que viniera.
DO | DON’T |
Linda, no me dijistes que tenías tres hijos. | Linda, no me dijiste que tenías tres hijos. |
El oso era enorme. | El coso era enorme. |
La dije que viniera. | Le dijera que viniera. |
iv. Acronyms & Abbreviations
- DON’T hyphenate acronyms.
- DON’T use periods in abbreviations where it is not needed.
DO | DON’T |
Me dijo de estar aquí a las 5:00 p. m.
¿Puedes apagar la TV?
Las noticias sobre la UNESCO no eran del todo ciertas. | Me dijo de estar aquí a las 5pm
¿Puedes apagar la T.V.?
Las noticias sobre la U-N-E-S-C-O no eran del todo ciertas. |
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 |
scriby@happyscribe.com | scriby at happy scribe dot com |
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 |
-¿Qué dices, Frank? ¿Crees que es buena idea?
-¿Acaso lo dudas? Es como... bum. | -¿Qué dices, Frank? ¿Crees que es buena idea?
-¿Acaso lo dudas? Es como... bum. |
DO spell the onomatopoeias as per the list in the link below: https://www.wikilengua.org/index.php/Onomatopeya
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.
viii. Religious References
Use numerals and follow conventionally written formatting for chapter/verse references of religious texts.
DO | DON’T |
Hechos 27:1
(Audio: Hechos 27 versículo 1) | Hechos 27 dos puntos 1
(Audio: Hechos 27 versículo 1) |
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 |
◦ Voice-over narration (no documentaries, no reportages)
◦ 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.
◦ The speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off-screen, behind a door, or out of shot
◦ Dialogue that is heard through electronic media, such as a phone, television (especially if we see the television and hear the audio), computer, loudspeaker, non-sentient robots, robotic voices or AI, etc
◦ Songs
◦ Referring to specific words said by the speaker (metalanguage instances), e.g.: la misma palabra vértigo me genera mucha ansiedad | ◦ Proper names
◦ Foreign loan words which appear in your language’s nominated dictionary, e.g. okey, marketing, kite surf, etc. for Spanish
|
9. Language-specific Items
i. Punctuation
Punctuation Sign | Usage | DOs & DONT’S | |
… | Ellipsis | ◦ Speaker’s trailing off or pausing significantly
◦ Speaker’s cutting off and changing direction | ◦ Use the ellipsis symbol or three dots
◦ Use a capital letter after an ellipsis when the previous sentence is finished. Otherwise, leave it uncapitalized.
◦ Do not put any space before the ellipsis
◦ Do not use the ellipsis to introduce a paragraph after a video editing cut (the video is edited in a way that it interrupts the speaker and the next paragraph starts in the middle of a different sentence) |
«» | Quotation Marks | ◦ Direct speech (spoken, thought, or written)
◦ The speaker is on the screen and is reading out loud | ◦ Capitalize the first word of the quote when followed by a “dicendi” verb and a colon, e.g.:
Juan dijo: «Me voy».
◦ If a quote is nested within another one, use English quotation marks “”. And if there’s another quote within the second quote, use quotation marks ‘’. The rule would be as follows: «”’...’”»
◦ Don’t use quotation marks 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
◦ Don’t use quotation marks for referring to specific words said by the speaker (metalanguage); use the italics instead: la misma palabra vértigo me genera ansiedad |
¿?
¡! | Question & Exclamation Marks | ◦ Questions
◦ Interjections and shouts only | ◦ Put them inside the quotation marks if they belong to the quoted sentence
https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/interrogacion-y-exclamacion-usos-de-los-signos-ortograficos/ |
, | Commas | ◦ Lists
◦ Addressing someone directly
◦ After interjections
◦ Improving reading flow | ◦ Use the Ortografía de la RAE comma in lists of more than three items
◦ Put it outside the quotation marks
https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/comillas-uso-de-este-signo-ortografico/
◦ Don’t use commas for marking parenthetical clauses (see Em-dashes below) |
. | Periods | ◦ Ending sentences | ◦ Put it outside the quotation marks unless in the case of abbreviations
https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/comillas-uso-de-este-signo-ortografico/
◦ Don’t add another period to names or brands if they end a sentence
e.g., I work at Yahoo Inc. NOT Yahoo Inc..
◦ Don’t use in acronyms |
: | Colons | ◦ Introducing lists or explanations | ◦ Use to introduce direct speech |
; | Semicolons | ◦ Linking closely related sentences
◦ Complex lists with commas within items | ◦ Don’t over-use it |
- | Hyphens | ◦ Compound names
◦ Abrupt interruptions and cutoffs of speakers – no space should be added afterwards.
◦ Separating letters in spellings
e.g., Happy is spelt H-A-P-P-Y
◦ Introducing two speakers in subtitles (no space)
| ◦ Don’t use it for line breaks
◦ Never use en- and em-dashes for all this |
— | Em-dashes | ◦ Marking parenthetical clauses that are grammar-independent
e.g., Cogí el coche de mi hermana sin preguntarle —ella siempre toma prestada mi ropa sin preguntarme antes— y me fui a la ciudad. | ◦ Never use en-dashes or commas for this
◦ Don’t add any spacing before and after an em-dash
Ref.:
https://www.fundeu.es/escribireninternet/la-raya-tambien-exist/ |
Single space | ◦ Separating parts of the speech | ◦ Look for double spaces and delete them
◦ Don’t include any space after hyphen for introducing two speakers |
ii. Capitalization
Item | 💡 Further Explanation | DOs & DONT’S |
First word of a sentence | Standard sentences
Sentences in quotes | Vamos a volar un cometa
Ella dijo: «Vamos a volar un cometa». |
Proper nouns | People
Countries
States
Counties
Provinces
Cities
Rivers
Lakes
Falls
Vessels
Institutions
Genus | Pablo Neruda
España
Castilla y León
Ciudad Lineal
Burgos
Madrid
Nilo
Lagos de Covadonga
Salto Ángel, but: Las cataratas del Niágara
Titanic
Unión Africana
Homo sapiens |
Compass Points | When referring to specific geographic areas or part of proper names only | Carolina del Norte se encuentra al norte de Carolina del Sur y al este de Virginia Occidental. |
Variables | Variables referred to in a sentence (NOT in an equation, in that case, use lower case) | La X marca el punto. |
Capitalized Item | 💡 Further Explanation | DOs & DONT’S |
OST
(On-screen text) | On-screen text
Forced Narrative | Match OST capitalization and avoid using all-caps in the following cases:
◦ Handwritten notes
◦ Excerpts from books/papers
◦ Social Media messages
◦ Text messages
◦ Long passages of OST |
Spelt-out words | When a speaker spells out a word | Happy is spelt H-A-P-P-Y. |
Capitalized Item | 💡 Further Explanation | DOs & DONT’S |
Titles | Job titles (check upper-case section) | Debe ser difícil ser el jefe ejecutivo. |
Variables | Variables in an equation (NOT referred to in a sentence, in that case, use upper case) | Audio: 3 veces x
Typed: 3x |
Proper noun | Ethnic group | mayas, finlandés |
Names of charts/sections | Tables
Charts
Figures
Bigger sections (NOT smaller divisions) | apéndice C
capítulo 13
diapositiva 3
página 100 |
Capitalized Item | 💡 Further Explanation | DOs & DONT’S |
Titles | Books
Movies | Use sentence case |
Brand-relevant Items | Company names
Product names | Yahoo!
AirPods
💯 Check on official websites/reference material the proper capitalization |
Acronyms | Institution acronyms
Product types
Diseases | AfD
UNESCO
Saas
COVID-19
💯 Always check the proper capitalization on reliable resources |
iii. Numbers
Item | Rule | DO |
0-9 | Numbers 0-9 are written out. | Trabajé en cuatro proyectos de subtitulaje el mes pasado. |
+10 | Numbers above 10 are written in figures. | Trabajé en 14 proyectos de subtitulaje el mes pasado. |
Million
Billion
Trillion
and above | The above rules apply.
Descriptors are kept.
Add unbreakable space after the figure. | El mes pasado procesaron tres millones de actas por un total de 59 mil millones en todo el año. |
Starting a sentence | Numbers at the beginning of a sentence are written out regardless of the actual amount or number. | Sesenta y seis nuevos Scribes se unieron al equipo. |
Unbreakable space | Always after a figure.
Shortcut MacOS: option+space bar
Shorcut Windows: alt+space bar | La inflación subió un 15 %.
El teléfono me costó 300 €. |
Item | Rule | DO |
Decimals | Always in figures and preferably with a dot
Ref.: https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/decimales-coma-y-punto-son-ambas-validas/ | 3.14 es el valor aproximado de pi.
El valor aproximado de pi es 3.14. |
Dates | Days and years always in figures | El 9 de noviembre de 1989 fue una fecha crucial para Europa. |
Decades & eras | In figures or written out, with an unbreakable space after the article, but never with an -s at the end | La mayoría nació a principios de los 90. /
La mayoría nació a principios de los noventa.
Los 90 fueron una gran década. /
Los noventa fueron una gran década. / La década de los 90 fue una gran década. |
Centuries | Always in Roman numerals | Estamos en el siglo XXI |
Always in figures with an unbreakable space | Medía 1,80 m. Era tan alto que tapaba el sol. | |
Addresses | Always in figures | Vivo en Calle de Santa Teresa 6.
Mi código postal es 08012. |
Name of a number | Always in figure | El número 5 es mi favorito. |
List of numbers | Always in figures | El puntaje de sus páginas web fue de 2, 5, 7, 23 y 28. |
Combination of numbers | Always in figures | Es un genio. A los 3 años ya sabía leer, escribía poemas a los 9 y resolvía problemas de matemática avanzada a los 12. |
Repeated numbers in consecutive sentences/capsules | Always in figures | -Su empresa tiene 2500 empleados-
-3500.
-¿Perdón?
-3500. Tenemos 3500 empleados. |
Always in figures | Hechos 27:1 (Audio: Hechos 27 versículo 1). | |
Phone numbers | Always in figures with an unbreakable space | Nuestro número de teléfono es +34 600 000 000. |
Percentages | Always in figures and with an unbreakable space after the figure | El 5 % del público no estaba escuchando. |
Range of numbers | Always in figures unless at the beginning of a sentence | Los niños entre 1-12 años tenían la entrada prohibida al evento. |
Time | Always in figures unless
“en punto”, “de la tarde” or “de la mañana” is included.
Use the format chosen by the speaker (12 or 24 h). | Dijo que llegaría a las diez en punto.
Me tomé un café a las cuatro de la tarde.
Me desperté muy temprano, a las tres de la mañana.
Audio: Son las cinco y veinte
Type: Son las 5:20
Audio: Son las diecisiete y veinte
Type: Son las 17:20.
Ellos trabajan 24/7. |
Time estimation | Always written out | Nos tomó como mil años encontrar el libro adecuado. |
Item | Punctuation Sign | DO | |
Decimals | . | Dot | 3.14 |
Thousands of four figures | Altogether | 3000 | |
Thousands of four figures or more | Altogether with an unbreakable space | 120 000
15 500 | |
Dates | .
| Dot in all figures
No commas or dots
if the month is written out | 09.11.1989
El 9 de noviembre de 1989 |
Phone numbers units | Unbreakable space | 1 508 555 2232 | |
Prefix | () | Rounded parenthesis | (+39) 333 00 00 000 |
Ranges | - | Hyphen | 1-12 |
iv. Date & Time Format
Format | Rule | DO |
Date | ◦ Follow the format used by the speaker(s), also in the case of centuries | Audio: La empresa fue fundada en enero de dos mil diecisiete, uno del uno de dos mil diecisiete para se exactos.
Typed: La empresa fue fundada en enero de 2017, 1.1.2017 para ser exactos. |
Time | ◦ Follow the format used by the speaker(s)
◦ “a. m.” and “p. m.” with unbreakable space | Audio: Ella siempre se despierta a las siete a. m.
Typed: Ella siempre se despierta a las 7:00 a. m. |
v. Symbols & Currencies
Special rules apply to symbols and currencies as per the chart below:
Item | Rule | DO |
Ampersand
& | ◦ Use only if part of a proper name or a common acronym | J&J es uno de los grupos de empresas más grande.
El equipo de R&D se han expandido notablemente. |
Currencies | ◦ Use only if included in the speech.
◦ Use the currency symbols with figures only.
◦ Symbols should go after the number with an unbreakable space. In case of currencies with the same symbols (like Mexican pesos and dollars) happening within the same project, we should write out the currency.
◦ Don’t convert. | Me costó solo 50 céntimos.
No me importa la fluctuación del euro o del yen.
Son 17.45 $ cada uno. (DON’T type 17.45 dólares cada uno.)
Exception:
Son 17.45 pesos por esta cartera, y 40 dólares por la maleta. |
Percentage
% | ◦ Use the percentage symbols with figures only.
◦ Add an unbreakable space between the symbol and the figure. | El porcentaje que mostraron no era real.
El 5 % del público no estaba escuchando. |
vi. Mathematical Items
Please stick to the rules below, unless otherwise specified:
Item | Rule | DO |
Math equations | Use figures for numerals and spell out math operators. | 20 más 4 veces 0.5 es igual a 22. |
Greek letters | Spell them out. | Alfa, omega y pi son símbolos muy comunes. |
Measurements | Spell them out, but: use
cm, m, km, gr, and kg abbreviated when preceded by figures. | Dibuja un ángulo de 270 grados.
Los radianes de pi son muy complejos.
La mesa mide 85 cm. |
Fractions | Spell them out. | Dos tercios de la población están desempleados. |
Trigonometric functions | Spell them out. | Calculemos el coseno de 1 radián. |
Variables | Use symbols and don’t spell out the math operator.
Check capitalization rules here. | Audio: 3 veces x más 4 veces y igual a 23
Typed: 3x más 4y igual 23
La X marca el punto. Añade un ejemplo y habla con CS. |
Superscript/Subscript | Use superscripts/subscripts (the Editor allows its usage). | Audio: x a la sexta
Typed: x⁶
Audio: H2O
Typed: H₂O |
vii. Reference
Use the following references in case you have any doubts on items not included in these language guidelines:
- Fundéu - Español Urgente: https://www.fundeu.es/
- Diccionario panhispánico de dudas: https://www.rae.es/dpd/
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.
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 you 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.
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 | Tag | DO |
Unintelligible or inaudible words are stated. | [inaudible hh:mm:ss] | [inaudible 00:01:32] |
Multiple people speaking over each other causes any one of the speakers to become unintelligible. | [diafonía hh:mm:ss] | [diafonía 00:00:52]
Transcribe what is discernible. |
Portions of audio in a foreign language. | [otro idioma hh:mm:ss] | [otro idioma 01:02:02]
Indicate where they begin with a timestamp and the tag “otro idioma”.
Don’t transcribe non-Spanish 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. | [canción hh:mm:ss] | [canción 01:59:02]
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.
[Otro idioma 02:03:55] - DON’T use your own notations.
(diafonía 02:03:55) - DON’T include the name of the foreign language even though you spot it.
[polaco 02:03:55] - DON’T use
[otro idioma 02:03:55]
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 reasonably inferred from the audio/video. | Use speaker’s name label | Pablo Neruda
Profesor Neruda |
The speaker’s name cannot be reasonably inferred from the audio/video, but the job title or role can be. | Use job title or role labels | Entrevistador(a)
Profesor(a)
Estudiante |
The speaker’s name cannot be reasonably inferred from the audio/video, nor can be the job title or role. | Use sequentially numbered labels | Persona 1
Persona 2 |
There are too many speakers to consistently track who says what (e.g. classroom discussion, focus group). | Use group labels.
Don’t use it as a substitute for reasonable speaker identification.
Don’t include any number. | Estudiantes
Público
Grupo de camarógrafos |
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.
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 |
-Hola, mamá.
-Hola, Pablo. ¿Cómo te fue hoy? | - Hola, mamá. - Hola, Pablo.
¿Cómo te fue
hoy? |
ii. Segmentation
- 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 |
-Hola, mamá.
-Hola, Pablo. ¿Cómo te fue hoy? | -Hola, mamá. -Hola, Pablo.
¿Cómo te fue
hoy? |
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 speech | DO | DON’T |
Noun | Ellos han organizado
una conferencia en Roma. | Ellos han organizado una confe-
rencia en Roma. |
Subject/Pronoun and verb | Ellos han organizado
una conferencia en Roma. | Ellos
han organizado una conferencia en Roma. |
Parts of a complex verb | Ellos han organizado
una conferencia en Roma. | Ellos han
organizado una conferencia en Roma. |
Article and noun | Ellos han organizado
una conferencia en Roma. | Ellos han organizado una
conferencia en Roma. |
Preposition and the following phrase | Ellos organizaron una conferencia
en Roma. | Ellos organizaron una conferencia en
Roma. |
Conjunction and the following item | Ellos organizaron una conferencia
pero yo no fui. | Ellos han organizado una conferencia pero
no fui. |
Subordinate clauses | Ellos organizaron una conferencia
a la que no fui. | Ellos organizaron una conferencia a la
que no fui. |
- Esta es una pieza/muy larga y verbosa,/de prosa/que nadie conoce/y que nadie/recordará.
- María quiere/ir/a la tienda,/pero que yo sepa,/todas las tiendas/cierran/en el día de la traducción.
- Me desperté/con jet-lag/a las 4:00 a. m.,/en mi nueva cama,/y rápido llamé/a Annie Jayaraman/para contarle/sobre mi entrevista.
- Si no me hubieses dicho/no hubiera hecho/cita/para ir/a la clínica/que me recomendaste.
- Hay muchísimos pacientes/que tienen/otros síndromes/en el cuello/vesical/y no tienen/dolor.
- Es absolutamente/esencial,/porque muchas pacientes/tienen problemas/que ellas no reconocen/como tales,/y muchas veces/hay antecedentes/de absusos/sexuales/en la infancia.
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
Enterto 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.
iii. Time Sync
- 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.
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 never anticipate the speech, so please avoid stretching the subtitle event to the left. If needs be, you can slightly stretch the event to the right. Remember that when stretching the capsule to the right, it will be hanging up on the screen, so avoid to leave it there for too long not to worsen the final users’ experience. The end of the capsule should match the end of the speech as much as possible. The subtitles cannot stay on the screen more than 1.5 seconds after the speech has stopped under any circumstances.
- 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 slightly extend their timespan.
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
14. Useful Tools
Here is a list of life-saving tools for transcriptionists and subtitlers:
- Grammarly
- Language Tool
- Sound booster
- 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 the Admins.
- Be sure you have the spell-check option/extension/plug-in enabled on your browser.
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