Cape Peninsula Still far Behind in Integration

Samaritan gets Chased Like Dog

When a Coloured man (Kurtley Meyer, 47, from Lavender Hill) jumps over a wall to save a White woman’s life by doing CPR, gets her heart going and then gets roughly told by a White man “Wat maak jy” and chased away like a dog there is something very wrong with that White man’s attitude. He is recorded as later saying “Ek is jammer, maar jy kan nie hierdie dinge doen nie”.

Sies op jou, jou fieslike wit man!

Coloured Man Saves White Woman’s Life

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Alerted by the elderly woman’s daughter’s screaming for help, Kurtley jumped over the wall and administered CPR which he learned from a TV programme. When he began there was no pulse. That woman owes Kurtley her life and is grateful and thankful for his help.

The predominance of Dutch Reformed churches in Lakeside and surrounds and the general mistrust of coloured people is a hangover from a bygone era.

Living in Self-Made Prisons

Yes, there are coloured ‘bergies‘ who sell tik and boom to teenagers. Yes, there are young coloured and black men who mug the elderly (including my own mother 2 years ago – in her own yard) – but white people who are governed by fear, living behind their electric fences, fail to see that they have emulated concentration camp-style incarceration – for themselves.

Video Transcription for Bloggers

Content for Vidblogs

Video blogging is a popular way for bloggers to get their thoughts and ideas across to blog visitors. We all enjoy watching a movie. Search engines however don’t feel the same way about vidblogs as people – how do they find the information contained in the video.

One way to overcome this limitation is to include a transcription of the video in the vidblog post. This is precisely what I recently did for a client. The video below was transcribed ‘intelligent verbatim‘ in other words it was cleaned up; pauses for thoughts, filler expressions such as uh, um, kind of etc. edited out. The idea of intelligent verbatim transcription being to produce a readable result from the spoken word.

A Vidblog Transcription Example

The video below is used as an example of the effectiveness of video transcription for bloggers. The original post contained only a single line of text content ”

A Transcriber’s Life

My Life as a Professional Transcriber: Pt 1

When I started transcribing, way back in the early 1990′s, I never guessed it would become a full-time occupation, or the basis for my own business. Back then I could be best described as a professional temp, one of those office all-rounders called in at a moments notice to fill in for another employee taken ill, on leave, or just to help out with work overload.

It was in between assignments; a friend, a journalist writing for a weekly business news magazine, asked me to transcribe several interviews. The interviews came to me on, you guessed it, tape cassettes. I had to transcribe these interviews ‘verbatim’, in other words exactly as spoken. Fortunately for me, my friend the journalist knew how to record interviews, so although the audio quality was far from perfect, mostly the task was easy.

Now I am a Sound Engineer Too!

These days of course, all the audio recording come to me in digital format – I don’t even have a cassette player anymore – are those things still sold anywhere? I think not.

File Upload Utility for Clients

Great News, Our file upload Utility is now working. The upload utility allows our clients to submit files to our DropBox cloud storage service.

Clients can now use a simple 2 step precess to submit their work, without needing to connect to DropBox. They don’t even need to have a DropBox account. Customers only need to obtain a password to access the service.

Utility By Graphicline

The utility is provided be our web management service, Graphicline Web & Technology and hosted on a trial basis on their Small Business Technology Website, SME Technology. Should the service prove a success, we will look to installing the utility on our own website, intelliverb.co.za.

Find out more about this useful upload tool on our website information page SUBMIT WORK TO INTELLIVERB

Massive job

First Proof of Four

I just finished first proof read of the first of seven chapters of a massive report.  The current job consists of seven chapters, plus a prècis and a combination of all seven.

This project will require four proof reads and edits. The second will be on formatting because each chapter is a compiled effort by several contributors, each of whom have used different formatting, different versions of Word and even other word processing applications.

Second Language Authors

Much of the report was written by contributors with English as a second language (their first language is mainly Zulu or Afrikaans) making the proofing more difficult. The challenge is to re-write the somewhat strange use of English to produce a result that written in consistent English, ‘translating’ the idiosyncrasies without modifying the intended meaning.

Unfinished sentences hanging in midair, extra words that serve no purpose left over from a cut and paste, misuse of language, “Afr- is  Eng- are”, “Afr- of  Eng- from”, and all the oddities in between are some of the issues needing correction. Not that simple!

And then people like my mom and Tertia say “Oh, I could do that…” No, they couldn’t!

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Chrstmas card from: Free Christian Wallpapers

Common Mistakes

Ten common English word usage mistakes I often come across in my work as an editor and copy corrector that spell-checkers do not find, with explanations and examples of proper use:

• There vs. Their vs. ‘They’re
  There is an indication of location.
  Example: I would like to see that cell phone over there.
  Their is a possessive version of they.
  Example: They took their car to the mechanic.
  They’re is a contraction, short for they are.
  Example: They’re going to the cinema tonight.

• A lot vs. Allot vs. Alot
  A lot is an indication of quantity.
  Example: I have a lot of laundry to do.
  Allot means to distribute.
  Example: I will allot you two cold drinks.
  Alot is not a word.

• I.e. vs. E.g.
  I.e. means “in other words.”
  Example: Writing more articles increases your website traffic. I.e., it will bring you more exposure.
  E.g. means “for example.”
  Example: I have a lot of chores to do. E.g., laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc.

• To vs. Too vs. Two
  To is a function word to indicate relative position.
  Example: We took the boat to the lake.
  Too can indicate excessiveness or in addition to.
  Example: The food was too spicy.
  Example: I would like to go too.
  Two is the number 2.
  Example: I want two biscuits.

• Its vs. It’s
  Its is the possessive version of it.
  Example: Its door came off the hinges.
  It’s is a contraction, short for “it is.”
  Example: It’s a beautiful day.

• You’re vs. Your
  You’re is a contraction, short for “you are.”
  Example: You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met.
  Your describes the possessor as someone else.
  Example: Your dog barks a lot.

• Loose vs. Lose
  Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained.
  Example: I have loose change in my pocket.
  Lose is a verb that means “to suffer the loss of.”
  Example: I hope you don’t lose your money.

• Choose vs. Chose
  Choose is a present tense verb meaning “to select.”
  Example: I choose to eat healthy foods.
  Chose is a past tense verb meaning “to select.”
  Example: I chose to eat healthy foods.

• Effect vs. Affect
  Effect is usually a noun meaning “result.”
  Example: The effect of increased traffic to your website is directly related to the quality of your articles.
  Affect is usually a verb meaning “to influence.”
  Example: I hope this article will affect you in a positive way.

• Know vs. No vs. Now
  Know is usually a verb meaning “to understand.”
  Example: I know you are not coming to the cinema.
  No is a negative reply, refusal or disagreement.
  Example: There is no problem with the car.
  Now is usually an adverb meaning “at the present time or moment.”
  Example: Now I can easily write and publish my articles.
• With Regard To vs With Regards TO
  With Regards To  is an extended greeting to an esteemed person at the end of a letter
  Example: With regards to your dear mother.
  With Regard To  is a clumsy, ponderous, pompous, redundant and pleonastic way of saying “about”.

Appropriate Language

This post covers some of the major issues with appropriate language use: levels of language formality, deceitful language and Euphemisms, slang and idiomatic expressions; using group-specific jargon; and biased/stereotypical language.

it is very important to use language that fits your audience and matches your purpose when you write. Inappropriate language uses will damage your credibility, undermine your argument, or alienate your audience. This handout will cover some of the major issues with appropriate language use:

Below is a short overview of the different aspects of using appropriate language.

Levels of Formality:

The key to successful writing is to write in a style that your audience expects and that fits your purpose.

• In-Group Jargon: Jargon is specialised language used by groups of like-minded individuals. Only use jargon when you are writing for members of a particular group (e.g. accountants, architects, medical professionals). You should never use jargon for a general audience without first explaining it in detail.
• Slang and idiomatic expressions: Avoid using slang or idiomatic expressions in general academic writing, except perhaps as a way to add humour.
• Deceitful language and Euphemisms: Avoid using euphemisms (words that veil the truth, such as “collateral damage” for the accidental killing of civilians in an air strike) and other deceitful language.
• Biased language: Avoid using biased language, including language with a racial, ethnic, religious or gender bias, or language that is stereotypical.

Correct word usage

Intelligent Verbatim Transcription

What is Intelligent Verbatim Transcription

We do not speak the way we write, where sentences have a clear beginning, a middle and an end. Listening to a conversation between two people one  hears plenty of incomplete sentences as the speaker’s train of thought wanders around the topic. The same word may be repeated several times as the speakers find ways to express themselves. Pauses for thought are represented by filler expressions such as: uh, um, kind of, sort of, like, and you know.

Transcription that aims to capture what was said, rather than exactly how it was said is called Intelligent Verbatim Transcription. When transcribing a speech or interview the main priority is usually to capture what was spoken about and not every “um” and “you know” used. The ‘filler’ words that people commonly use while they are thinking are left out.

Intelligent verbatim audio transcription allows the filler words, the repeats (i.e. because… because… because…) and other irrelevant material to be stripped out. Half-finished sentences and sudden changes of topic in the middle of a sentence are transcribed, and the change of direction indicated in the transcript.

The transcriber must remain totally objective, only eliminating material which is clearly surplus and irrelevant. Unless directed by the client, transcribers undertaking intelligent verbatim transcription must not correct grammatical errors, or adding or deleting content they think are improvements.

Intelligent Verbatim Transcription Service

Intelligent Verbatim (www.intelliverb.co.za) is a South African based language services company providing a full range of writing services including recording of meetings, hearing and conferences, and audio transcription of English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Sotho, as well as the other official languages used in South Africa.

Editing Drafts

Basic Draft Editing Tips

A few tips on content editing. The scope of this article covers the overall context and content of articles and stories, but not copy correction editing which looks for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Editing Drafts

The first step is writing a first draft. Once it is written you should read through it, editing and revising until you are satisfied that it is as concise as possible.

When the second draft is complete, repeat the above process again until you feel that no more can be done.

Editing the drafts can take much longer than writing the original draft, and is where the donkey work comes in, but it is what turns a potentially good article into a good article.

It might be easier to work with printouts, not only on the computer screen. Errors that are quite noticeable when reading a printed version are often missed on a computer screen unless one is very used to working in screen layout.

Editing Unnecessary Content (padding)

During the editing process, things will be found which need to be edited out. These are some of the things to look for:

• Superfluous words and phrases: demanding a reader’s attention without contributing anything essential to the story.
• Repetition: words and phrases which say something already said in a slightly different way.
• Explanations intended to fill the reader in, just in case he isn’t quite sure what is going on.
• Article threads which digress from the topic.
• Indulgences included for your own benefit but which do not add anything to the story.

Editing Context:

Once the unnecessary padding has been edited, ask yourself  ‘does this sentence or paragraph say what I want it to say?’

Final Edit:

Once you have got through all the basic steps, you may want to have your work proofread and edited by a professional editing service. An editing service will provide the final polish to your writing, ensuring your work supports your image as a skilled professional author