Feedback and Lead-In Words
Feedback Words
At TranscribeMe, we define feedback words as "active-listening" responses. They are words used by one speaker with the sole purpose of conveying to another speaker that he or she is still listening, understands, and as encouragement for the other speaker to continue. Common feedback words are okay, right, got it, and yeah.
- Sits on a line by itself
- Isn't acknowledged by anyone
- Adds no meaning and does not directly comment on the topic at hand
Right.
--and forgot my list.
Yeah.
So I didn't--
Okay.
--get everything I needed.
Right. Yeah. Okay. I hate when I do that.
In the above example, when Right, Yeah, and Okay are spoken by the second speaker (S2) in the midst of the main speaker's speech and are the only thing said, they are feedback words and so we remove them. In the last line, however, when S2 continues their line after voicing these same words, every one of them stays in. These are called lead-in words:
Right. Yeah. Okay. I hate when I do that.
Lead-in Words
Lead-in words are the same words often used as feedback words; however, they are not sprinkled in as interruptions. There are people who just keep pouring forth these little utterances while they are gathering their thoughts. But, if they go on to say something of substance, you must include every word, even if it looks something like this:
Lead-in words usually come at the tail end of what the other speaker is saying and are often in rapid succession, followed by what that person is going to say. Yes, most times they are completely unnecessary since what follows usually confirms either way. However, we don't want to overly clean up the text. That would be the difference between Clean Verbatim and Edited Verbatim. We have found that our clients tend to like a more-is-better approach. So, although it grates on your nerves, we leave them in.
A bit of a judgment call, yes. But with experience, you'll be able to easily distinguish between feedback words and lead-in words.
Special Note for QAs and Future QAs
Remember that timestamps are timed when the first word is uttered for that speaker's line. If the speaker has false starts or filler words at the beginning of the line, the timestamp will still be inserted at the first utterance, even if those words are not included in the written transcript. So we timestamp filler words or false starts as the first utterance, even if it is something we would omit in the transcript.
However, in Clean Verbatim, we ignore feedback words entirely. Do not transcribe or stamp feedback words. This makes for a cleaner text.
So that's the difference between feedback words and lead-in words.
Okay. Okay. Right. Yeah, that makes total sense, and I really think it has helped to hone my skills.