Principles of transcription

1. Maintain the original writing - transcribe as faithfully as possible without correcting mistakes made by the writer.
    
2. Lines of text - the text should be transcribed in the original lines. If a word is divided between two lines, enter the word on both lines as in the original i.e. do not combine it.
    
3. Punctuation - all punctuation (e.g. commas, full stops, hyphens, etc.) appearing in the original should be omitted.
    
4. Use of capital letters - the programme does not distinguish between lowercase and uppercase letters and treats both as correct.
    
5. Letters with diacritics - if the text contains letters with diacritical marks, typical of the Polish language, keep them in the transcription.
    
6. Abbreviations - our general rule of transcription is that the abbreviation used by the writer should be expanded, giving the full word. In this document, however, you will find abbreviations that are exceptions to this rule i.e. those that do not need to be expanded.

 

 

You can read the full transcription rules here.

Helpful tips

1. The text is written in a hasty, cursive script, causing letters to be written carelessly (e.g. they lack diacritics). The writer also made an error (i.e. writing the letter e instead of a).
    
2. The rush also caused some words to be written carelessly, which may cause difficulty reading them, but the context of the whole sentence will be helpful.
    
3. The text only uses typical abbreviations or those which, in the rules of transcription, have been defined as exceptions that do not need to be expanded. A list of abbreviations used can be found by clicking the Abbreviations button. For general information on using abbreviations, click here.

 

 

You can find more tips to help you transcribe old texts here.

Exercise 28

Model letters

Exercise 28

Abbreviations