Do we still omit on-screen subtitles?
Our general standard is, no, we do not transcribe already captioned audio. However, all Surge job types require all audio to be transcribed, even if it is already captioned. Therefore, we only omit on-screen subtitles in Full Custom (Vitac) job types.
How do we scribe ordinals (tenth or 10th)?
Generally, spell out ordinals zero through nine, figures for 10 and greater, figures for dates.
- On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five golden rings.
- The 21st amendment repealed the 18th amendment.
- May 5th is English for Cinco de Mayo.
How do we scribe percentages?
Our standard has changed to now treating percentages as a unit of measure. Therefore, percentages are written out as figures or numerals followed by the word "percent" written out, no symbol (%)
- Inflation is down 2 percent this quarter.
- Results of the experiment showed a disappointing 0.2 percent improvement in efficiency.
- New studies suggest that a new hairdo could boost your confidence by as much as 5 percent.
Do we have to spell British words ourselves?
Generally, we stick to American spellings with a couple of exceptions:
- Special Content - Ex: Under Armour, "Any Colour You Like," Labour Party.
- UK Spelling and Canada Spelling job type instructions include exceptions to use spellings of "cheque" and "storey" in their appropriate contexts. The customers do want "British" spellings for these jobs, but our system automatically filters and corrects the spellings for us after we've processed the job. The system just can't determine the appropriate context to use "cheque" or "storey," so we have to look out for those ourselves.
The Job Notice says one thing, and the job type instructions say another. Which do I follow?
The Job Notice is specific to that particular job whereas the job type instructions are general standards for any jobs under that job type umbrella. Job Notices sometimes include specific formatting instructions on speaker IDs, sound markers or punctuation that contradict our standards or job type instructions. Because the Job Notices are particular instructions for the job from the customer, we prioritize them over our general standards and job type instructions.
For example, SID Paragraph Caption job type instructions say: "Use full-name speaker IDs."
However, the Job Notice says: "Please include speaker names Brian: Milan:"
For this job, we would ID the speakers as Brian: and Milan: without last names.
The job type instructions don't say whether to use -- or ... for interruptions. Which should I use?
Our default interruption marker is ellipsis with space on either side. ( ... )