Getting Started

Refer to the SALT Conventions for detailed descriptions of the SALT transcription conventions broken down by topics. Work your way through the topics, from the basic conventions through the advanced conventions, or just brush up on a few selected topics. Many of the topics include a short "Try It!" exercise to check your transcription skills. The Spanish Conventions describe the transcription conventions which are specific to Spanish samples. Be sure to check out the transcription practice section which contains a series of short audio samples for you to transcribe and then check against the "master" transcript.

What skills are needed to transcribe the samples?

  1. Transcribers do not need to be experienced clinicians.
  2. Transcribers should be familiar with the elicitation protocol.
  3. Transcribers should be fluent speakers in the language of the sample in order to pick up subtleties in the recordings that non-fluent speakers may miss.
  4. Transcribers should be familiar with the SALT transcript-entry conventions.

Note: You may find it expedient to divide the transcription task into two components: 1) a transcriber, fluent in the language of the sample, glosses the speech; and 2) a transcriber, familiar with the SALT transcript-entry conventions, edits the glossed text into a SALT transcript.

What materials are needed to transcribe the samples?

  1. A transcription device for controlled audio or video playback. Consider going digital for better sound quality and more playback options.
  2. The SALT editor for typing in the language sample and checking it for transcription errors.

See how to begin a new transcript for a quick guide to using the SALT editor to begin a new transcript. Transcribe the language samples following the SALT transcription conventions for English and Spanish samples. There is a lot of flexibility in the format of SALT transcripts. If you plan to compare your language samples to samples selected from the SALT reference databases, however, it is important that you use the same transcription conventions as were used with these database samples.