On 3 May 2023, 120 speech-language therapists from South Africa and other parts across the globe convened virtually for a webinar that aimed to share the tips and traps of orthographic and phonetic transcriptions. The webinar panel of experts shared the perspective of a multidisciplinary team in language sample transcription. Prof Daan Wissing, an extraordinary professor of Linguistics at the Northwest University, shared his perspective from his discipline and the head of the Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Department at the University of Pretoria gave the insights from a speech-language therapist’s perspective. It was fascinating to hear from an engineer’s point of view why transcriptions are important with Prof Febe de Wet. In addition, the international perspective from Dr Hanna Ehlert, from the Leibniz University in Hannover, gave attendees a glimpse into the future of transcription and hopefully automated processes.

The practical second part of the webinar Petria Winter aimed to share where speech-language therapists and researchers should start when they are transcribing samples for assessment and research purposes. The experience of research transcribers Itumeleng Letageng and Klarissa Nel, who is also a speech-language therapist herself, were insightful. Lastly, Dr Elsie Naude wrapped a bow around everything that we learned throughout the day and reminded us that transcription, especially phonetic transcription, is very much a task of listening. The Speech Base project offered project partners the opportunity to join the session and for researchers across borders and linguistic backgrounds to collaborate and share knowledge.