Foreign Words/Names/Terms: Accents and Plural Punctuation

[Jennie Ann]

I am working on a transcript that references numerous Yugoslavian words.

First, I have no idea where to find the accents for these words. Take Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić.

Look at that "z" and "c." I can't find those symbols. I did a copy-and-paste on the above-referenced names, just so y'all could see the symbols.

Second, the speaker refers to "the Karadzics and the Mladics of the criminal system," meaning plural, but they sound like KAR-a-diches and Ma-LA-diches. Is the singular "s" okay, do you think? Somehow I feel like putting an apostrophe-s, but that looks wrong.

I sometimes don't bother with the accent marks in some transcripts, but this client is picky, picky, picky, and I aim to please.

TIA to any and all responders.

[Jennie Ann]

Thanks, Deborah. That is good to know.

I don't do ASCII anymore, but on a rare occasion, when I do have to produce an ASCII file, this information will come in quite handy. Thanks for the reply and the helpful info! :-)

[Alba Transcription]

Hi Cindy,

Not Jennie, but I wanted to say thanks for this tip. The insert/symbol facility in Word is useful for one or two changes but this is much better for global alterations.

Thank you!

[Jennie Ann]

Wow! Thank you so much, Cindy.

I don't know half of what I have in my computer, and I for sure would have never known about that Character Chart. It also allows you a variety of fonts to work with.

That is the cat's meow! THANKS!

[Jennie Ann]

I did an interview earlier this year that also had accent marks due to the foreign names and terms, et cetera. I have to admit that it was slow going, and I did spend a lot of time trying to produce the best transcript I could possibly produce.

I e-mailed my client the transcript, and this is the response I got a few days later:

"Dear Jennie,
The interviewer in the transcript I sent you--a former high ranking CIA official in Istanbul--called to compliment your transcription of the difficult Turkish names, which he said were letter perfect. In fact, he noted how efficiently and neatly the whole transcription was done. Thank you so much for the fine work."

I do sometimes go the extra mile, which means using the accent marks. I don't make as much money on transcripts like this, but I do win clients. I enjoy working with clients who appreciate quality. In fact, I'd much rather work for these kinds of clients than the client who is looking for the cheapest rate.

In the long run, I may come out ahead because I win a new client's future business. It is difficult to spend time adding accent marks and looking up name spellings that require extensive amounts of time, but that's how I roll.