CRI Transcription Standards & Accuracy 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When a witness uses a non-standard regional dialect term during testimony, how should a certified reporter handle it?
- Substitute the standard English equivalent
- Transcribe the term exactly as spoken with a parenthetical note if needed (Correct answer)
- Omit the term and note [dialect]
- Replace it with [unintelligible]
Correct answer: Transcribe the term exactly as spoken with a parenthetical note if needed
Verbatim accuracy requires transcribing the speaker's exact words, including dialect terms, with notations added only when clarification is necessary.
Question 2: In a certified transcript, overlapping speech between two witnesses should be indicated by:
- Transcribing only the louder speaker
- Omitting both statements and noting [crosstalk]
- Transcribing both speakers' words sequentially with a crosstalk notation (Correct answer)
- Leaving a blank line for the reporter to fill in later
Correct answer: Transcribing both speakers' words sequentially with a crosstalk notation
Standard practice is to transcribe as much of each overlapping statement as possible and flag the section with a crosstalk notation.
Question 3: Which transcription style requires capturing every filler word, false start, and repetition exactly as spoken?
- Clean read
- Intelligent verbatim
- True verbatim (Correct answer)
- Edited transcript
Correct answer: True verbatim
True verbatim (or strict verbatim) transcription preserves every utterance including 'um,' 'uh,' false starts, and repeated words.
Question 4: A court reporter discovers that a word in the final transcript is different from what was actually said on the audio. The correct action is to:
- Leave it as is if the meaning is the same
- Issue an errata sheet and correct the certified transcript (Correct answer)
- Notify only the hiring attorney
- Delete the page and retype it without logging the change
Correct answer: Issue an errata sheet and correct the certified transcript
An errata sheet is the proper mechanism to formally correct errors in a certified transcript while maintaining an accurate record of the change.
Question 5: When transcribing spoken numbers in legal testimony, the preferred NCRA standard is to:
- Always spell out numbers in full
- Use numerals for all numbers above ten
- Follow the speaker's intended meaning, defaulting to numerals for quantities and figures (Correct answer)
- Always use numerals regardless of context
Correct answer: Follow the speaker's intended meaning, defaulting to numerals for quantities and figures
NCRA guidelines direct reporters to use numerals for factual quantities and figures while spelling out numbers that begin sentences or appear in quotations.
Question 6: A portion of the audio recording is unintelligible due to background noise. The proper transcript notation is:
- [blank]
- [noise]
- [inaudible] (Correct answer)
- [unclear — reporter's best guess: word]
Correct answer: [inaudible]
[Inaudible] is the standard notation used when words cannot be heard or deciphered with reasonable certainty.
Question 7: Speaker identification tags in a deposition transcript are primarily required to ensure:
- The transcript meets minimum page-count requirements
- Each statement is clearly attributed to the correct speaker for the legal record (Correct answer)
- The billing rate can be calculated per speaker
- Audio timestamps align with printed line numbers
Correct answer: Each statement is clearly attributed to the correct speaker for the legal record
Speaker labels (e.g., Q:, A:, MR. SMITH:) are mandatory so the record unambiguously identifies who said what.
CRI Transcription Standards & Accuracy 2
When a witness uses a non-standard regional dialect term during testimony, how should a certified reporter handle it?