APPROACHES AND BEST PRACTICES:

Data Collection of Audio Dialogues to

Support the Training of Speech-to-Speech 

Translation Systems

Brian A. Weiss

Craig Schlenoff

Ann Virts

U.S DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Intelligent Systems Division 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230 

NISTIR 7712
 

NISTIR 7712

APPROACHES AND BEST PRACTICES:

Data Collection of Audio Dialogues to 

Support the Training of Speech-to-Speech 

Translation Systems

Brian A. Weiss

Craig Schlenoff

Ann Virts

U.S DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Intelligent Systems Division 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230 

June 2010

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Gary Locke, Secretary 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY 

Patrick Gallaher, Director 
1

APPROACHES AND BEST PRACTICES:

Data Collection of Audio Dialogues to Support the Training 

of Speech-to-Speech Translation Systems 

Last Updated: July 19, 2010 

National Institute of Standards and Technology1

Brian A. Weiss 

Craig Schlenoff 

Ann Virts 

 

1

 Certain commercial companies, products and software are identified in this paper in order to ex-plain our research. 

Such identification does not imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST, nor does it imply that the companies, 

products and software identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 
2

TABLE of CONTENTS

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Scenario Generation ..................................................................................................................... 3

2.1. Scenario Creation/Identification ............................................................................................ 4

2.2. Inventory of Existing Scenarios ............................................................................................ 4

2.3. Topic Identification ............................................................................................................... 5

2.4. Scenario Writing and Review ................................................................................................ 5

3. Data Collection ............................................................................................................................. 6

3.1. Data Collection Site Selection ............................................................................................... 6

3.2. Noise Masking and Wizard of Oz Setup ............................................................................... 7

3.3. Participants ............................................................................................................................ 9

3.4. 1st Morning Kickoff ............................................................................................................. 11

3.5. Workflow ............................................................................................................................. 11

3.6. Subsequent Morning Kickoffs ............................................................................................. 13

3.7. File Naming Convention and Post-Collection Delivery ...................................................... 13

3.8. Transcription/Translation .................................................................................................... 14

3.9. Data Usage ........................................................................................................................... 15

4. Cost ............................................................................................................................................. 15

5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 16

APPENDIX A: Example Iraqi Data Collection Scenarios ................................................................. 17

APPENDIX B: Example Afghan Data Collection Scenarios ............................................................ 20

APPENDIX C: Previous NIST Collection Output ............................................................................. 24

APPENDIX D: Wizard of Oz – Speech Flow and Implementation .................................................. 25

APPENDIX E: 1st Morning Briefing Points ...................................................................................... 27

APPENDIX F: Example Transcription/Translation Guidelines ........................................................ 31

 
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1. Introduction 

The purpose of this document is to describe the best practices that personnel from the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and implemented to efficiently and 

effectively capture two-way, free-form speech-to-speech audio dialogues within recording studios. 

These dialogues, produced to support the development and evaluation of machine translation 

technologies, are conducted by English and foreign language speakers conversing with one another 

in their native languages through the mediation of an interpreter. NIST personnel have collected 

over 500 h of bilingual audio data sets encompassing more than 1100 dialogues across three unique 

language pairs (English/Iraqi-Arabic, English/Dari, and English/Pashto) since it became involved in 

this work in 2007. 

This document will present the methods the NIST team has designed and employed allowing the 

successful capture of audio data. In addition to the data collection protocols including personnel 

training and workflow, data collection scenario generation and speaker recruitment protocols will be 

discussed. To further understand this work, the following acronyms (presented in Table 1) will be 

used throughout the document for brevity and clarity. 

Table 1: Document-Specific Acronyms and their Meanings 

ACRONYM MEANING/DESCRIPTION

FLE Foreign Language Expert - a bilingual speaker fluent in English and the target collection language

IET Independent Evaluation Team - the NIST-led team in charge of the data collection process

MOS Military Occupational Specialty - used to identify specific job function(s) of a US military personnel

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

OC Overall Coordinator - the individual in charge of the weekend data collections

OEF Operation Enduring Freedom - refers to the conflict in Afghanistan

OIF Operation Iraqi Freedom - refers to the conflict in Iraq

SME Subject Matter Expert - US military personnel playing the role of the English speaker

2. Scenario Generation 

Before data collections can begin, it is crucial to generate relevant and realistic scenarios to govern 

the individual dialogues. Developing scenarios for the data collections included a series of steps 

listed below. Note that these steps are presented in no particular order. 

• Scenario Format Creation/Identification– The format in which the scenario is presented is 

critical to the success of the dialogues. This directly impacts the amount of information that 

the speakers will blend in with the written content along with influencing their engagement 

in the material. 

• Review Existing Scenarios - If available and the current work is a continuation of previous 

efforts, review any existing scenarios and determine what (if any) are relevant to current 

project’s collection goals. This review can include both data collection scenarios and any 

scenarios used to support previous test events. 

• Rework Existing Scenarios - Depending upon the age and nature of the previous scenarios 

along with their general domain, previous scenarios could require changes anywhere from 

minor adjustments to significant rework. It’s also quite possible that some scenarios may no 

longer be applicable in which case they should no longer be considered. 
4

• Create New Scenarios – Each new scenario is based upon information gathered from focus 

groups, individual interviews, media articles, and/or previous scenarios (if available). The 

focus groups and individual interviews should be conducted with subject matter experts who 

belong to the targeted group of technology end-users. 

• Scenario Review - Have a diverse scenario review committee examine each scenario for 

accuracy and relevance. This should include subject matter experts (as described above), 

foreign language cultural experts, data collection administrators, and evaluation designers (if 

identified and available). 

Each of these steps will be elaborated upon the in following subsections. 

Note – some of the scenarios used to support the English/Iraqi-Arabic bilingual data collections can 

be found in APPENDIX A: Example Iraqi Data Collection Scenarios. Example scenarios used to 

support the English/Dari and English/Pashto bilingual data collections can be found in APPENDIX 

B: Example Afghan Data Collection Scenarios. 

2.1. Scenario Creation/Identification 

The Spontaneous scenario format was developed to allow the speakers (both English and foreign 

language) to have reasonable freedom and latitude in their dialogues. The overall format begins 

with the specification of the overall domains. For each domain, multiple English-speaker 

motivations were specified that provided some background and situational information. 

Additionally, each English speaker’s motivation was paired with numerous talking points with the 

intent of giving the English speaker specific topics that they can include in their dialogues, but not 

limit them to specific questions. 

In turn, each foreign language speaker was provided with their own specific background (its 

inclusion is dependent upon the domain) and motivations. For some of the domains, “hides” are 

included with each foreign motivation. The purpose of the “hides” was to provide the FLE with a 

realistic object, piece of equipment or material that the SME would discover throughout the course 

of the scenario. Specifically, these “hides” take the form of the highlighted words written in large 

print on a single sheet of paper, such as SHOVELS AND PICKS. Prior to the start of a scenario, the 

FLE was given the paper with the hide and has a chance to practice their dialogue away from the 

SME. The rehearsal coach decides upon a reasonable place that the “hide” should be found. For 

example, if the “hide” was a bag of money, then it could be decided that the FLE would reveal this 

when the SME specifically states they are going to search the glove box (because a bag of money 

could reasonably fit in there). Likewise, the SME would be told by the dialogue coach that they are 

specifically to state (in their dialogue) that they are searching the glove box (knowing that 

something will be revealed then). However, the SME does not know the nature of the “hide” until 

it’s revealed in the scenario. This enables the SME to be more spontaneous in their response to the 

“hide” and realistically alter their line of questioning according to what was just found. This format 

requires the military speakers to include their own experiences, but still enables the evaluation team 

to get data within specific domains. 

2.2. Inventory of Existing Scenarios 

It was discovered that there were both similarities and differences between US military interactions 

with Iraqi-Arabic (IA) speakers in Iraq as compared to interactions with Dari and Pashto speakers in 
5

Afghanistan. This makes it important to dissect any previously-generated scenarios to see what 

content (if any) is still relevant. Based upon the Spontaneous scenario format and the nature of a 

previous effort’s scenarios, it’s possible that the same domains could be reused where only the SME 

and FLE motivations would need to revised and/or updated. It’s also possible that the previous 

effort’s domains no longer apply where new scenarios need to be generated. 

2.3. Topic Identification 

The primary source of information for identifying Afghan (or Iraqi) scenario ideas stemmed from 

discussions/informal interviews conducted with US service personnel at numerous military bases 

throughout the country. Evaluation team members visited multiple military installations where they 

conversed with US servicemen and women about their experiences overseas in Afghanistan (or 

Iraq). Focus groups consisted of enlisted personnel and officers who have had interactions with the 

local population. It was determined that the most successful focus groups were those that were split 

between officers/enlisted and enlisted in various Military Occupation Specialties (MOSs). For 

example, at one military base, three separate focus groups were conducted. The first group 

contained Non-commissioned Officers (NCOs) who performed infantry tactical functions, the 

second group contained Hospital Corpsmen Third Class (HM3s) who discussed their medical 

engagements, and the third group contained other NCOs whose primary functions included leader 

engagements. Another example featured two focus groups where one included NCOs and the other 

included 1st Lieutenants. 

Specifically, the groups were asked to describe their interactions with Afghan (or Iraqi) speakers 

including those with civilians, government officials, and foreign police/military personnel (relevant 

to their specific military function). Additionally, it was noted which interactions were frequently 

supported by interpreters along with those situations that regularly had little to no access to 

bilingual speakers. Since many of military personnel had previous deployments to Iraq, they 

highlighted the similarities and differences between operating within these two countries. 

Additionally, it was also noted where (and in what situations) the military encountered Darispeaking Afghans as compared to Pashto-speaking Afghans. The compilation of our notes allowed 

us to determine which domains and which motivations should be added to the relevant pre-existing 

scenarios and how the pre-existing scenarios should be specifically updated. 

In addition to capturing these personnel experiences, additional topics were identified (and 

reinforced) by examining numerous military websites including (www.mnf-iraqi.com which is now 

www.usf-iraq.com) monthly Army newsletters (such as Tien Bien Times) and Marine Corps news 

bulletins that reported news and experiences of Soldiers and Marines in theatre. Likewise, major 

online newspapers including www.washingtonpost.com and www.nytimes.com, were explored for 

articles. Additional information was gathered from several military documents detailing lessons 

learned from recent experiences in Afghanistan. 

2.4. Scenario Writing and Review 

The scenario writing process began with organizing the notes from the Soldier/Marine 

interactions/training observations and the articles referenced from the Internet. This information 

was then used to evolve the IA data collection scenarios into Afghan-specific data collection 

scenarios. Before the scenarios were finalized, they were subject to a review process. This was 
6

enabled through a selective email distribution list. The personnel included several members of the 

following groups who were tasked with addressing specific questions: 

• Military personnel – Is the scenario relevant and accurate from a military perspective? 

• Foreign language/culture experts – Is the scenario relevant and accurate from an Afghan (or 

Iraqi) perspective? 

• Data collection/transcription/translation experts – Will this scenario work from a data 

gathering perspective? Are there issues with this scenario that would make the speaker(s) 

uncomfortable and/or put them in danger? 

• IET personnel – Will this scenario work from an evaluation perspective? 

After receiving feedback, the scenario author incorporated the suggested changes, redistributed the 

scenarios to the group and the scenarios were finalized within several days. The scenarios were 

ready for use after finalization. 

3. Data Collection 

Bilingual scenario recordings were collected by NIST-led IET personnel in California in order to 

gather training and evaluation data. The data collected consisted of conversational audio between 2-

way SME/FLE pairs (conversations between a SME and FLE using an interpreter). Since late 2007, 

NIST has collected nearly 500 h of bilingual data across over 1000 scenarios total across 

English/Pashto, English/Dari, and English/Iraqi Arabic pairs. The details of these collections can be 

found in APPENDIX C: Previous NIST Collection Output. The data collection process is presented 

in detail in the following subsections. 

3.1. Data Collection Site Selection 

NIST selected a recording studio to host the data collections based upon the following 

requirements: 

• Be in close proximity to duty station(s) of US Marines and/or Soldiers 

• Be in close proximity to the desired foreign language-speaking community 

• Be available to do recordings on Saturdays and Sundays, since many of the participants have 

regular jobs that would prevent them from being present during the work week 

• Provide three distinct functional areas: 

o Noise-proof recording areas large enough to accommodate a SME, FLE, and interpreter. 

Each recording area was complemented by a corresponding audio engineering room 

where the Quality Assuror (QA) and recording engineer could see (either through twoway video or direct line-of-sight) and talk to the speakers through their headphones. 

o An area where a SME, FLE, and interpreter could practice with a rehearsal coach prior 

to recording. 

o A break area where the SMEs and FLEs could relax when they were not rehearsing or 

recording. 

• Have at least three recording studios and be capable of supporting simultaneous recording 

sessions where each studio’s operations would not interfere with each other. 

• Have both the equipment and expertise to fulfill the noise masking and Wizard of Oz

requirements (discussed later in this document). 
7

• Provide qualified recording engineers to capture and export the necessary audio mixes. 

• Provide an office to serve as the overall coordinator’s base of operations. 

Also, NIST supplied its own microphones (AKG Model C420) to maintain consistent audio quality 

across multiple speakers and recording sessions. These microphones were selected for the following 

reasons: 

• They had a cardioid polar pattern which “prefers” sounds arriving from in front of it (from the 

user’s mouth). This minimizes the chance of the microphone picking up speech from other 

speakers or any ambient noise. 

• They featured a head-worn design with a behind-the-neck headband. This allows the speakers to 

freely move their head where the microphone always stays in the same position relative to the 

speaker’s mouth. The other benefit to this feature is that the speakers have their hands free to 

use the Wizard of Oz Setup (discussed in the following section). 

3.2. Noise Masking and Wizard of Oz Setup 

Noise masking was used to prevent the FLE from understanding the English spoken by the SME. 

The masking signal is triggered by the speech of any of the two persons (SME or FLE) and is routed 

to the headphones of the other person. The system diagram (see Figure 1) gives a general idea how 

the system is set up. In effect, when the SME speaks then the interpreter hears clearly, but the FLE 

gets the triggered signal, which exactly masks the SME's speech, utterance by utterance. When 

he/she does not speak, then masking is not triggered. Reverse Chechen (Chechen played in reverse 

with all the pauses deleted) provides a continuous voice for the masking signal (note that this is in 

lieu of the white noise specified in Figure 1). No problems with the Lombard effect were 

experienced as people used the natural conversational voice level when they spoke as the three 

participants (SME, FLE, interpreter) were standing at a comfortable distance. The natural flow of 

the interpreted dialogue thus seemed flawless as if no electronic equipment were present. It is 

important to note that the noise-masking can either be generated using separate noise-gate hardware 

or can be produced solely through the selected studio’s audio software. The exact implementation 

will be dependent upon the studio’s specific capabilities. 
8

Figure 1: Data Collection Noise Masking Diagram 

Once the noise masking setup was in place, the conversation flow of the speakers was addressed. 

The conversation is supposed to flow SME -> Interpreter -> FLE ->Interpreter -> SME -> 

Interpreter ->... where the SME and the FLE never speak immediately after one another and the 

speakers do not interrupt each other. It was also desired that the SME and the FLE speak more 

directly with one another (be more engaging) as opposed to directing their speech towards the 

interpreter. To ensure that this speaker flow remained consistent, that multiple speakers were not 

talking at the same time and the SME and the FLE better engage one another, the NIST team 

developed a Wizard of Oz-Inspired implementation for each recording studio. Each speaker was 

able to switch on/off a light to indicate to the other speakers when they are talking. Additionally, a 

curtain was placed between the interpreter and the SME/FLE to enhance their direct conversation 

with one another. Figure 2 presents the conceptual layout of the setup. 
9

Figure 2: Wizard of Oz-Inspired Implementation to Support the Data Collections 

The further details regarding the Wizard of Oz setup can be found in APPENDIX D: Wizard of Oz 

– Speech Flow and Implementation. 

3.3. Participants 

For each weekend collection event, NIST secured nine military personnel to act as SMEs and 16 

bilingual foreign language speakers where eight acted as interpreters and eight acted as FLEs. These 

per weekend personnel numbers were selected in order to maximize the amount of data hours 

collected and maximize the variety of speaker voices while minimize individual speaker down-time 

and costs. New SMEs and FLEs were targeted for each weekend collection with the only repeats 

being two to three outstanding interpreters. The motivation behind repeating some interpreters was 

to generate some continuity between data collection events and to give the inexperienced 

interpreters the opportunity to learn from those that have previous collection experience. 

The recruited SMEs comprised a range of backgrounds, deployments (primarily Afghanistan with 

most also having served in Iraq), and MOS. It was important to note their specific training and 

experiences prior to the collections so they could be matched up the appropriate scenario domains 

for each SME. The information the SME recruiters collected included the following: 

• Rank 

• MOS (description) 

• Service 

• Job Title 

• Current Unit 

• No. of OIF deployments 

• No. of OEF deployments 

• Date/s in Iraq 

• Billets (jobs) in Iraq 

SME FLE

INTERPRETER

Curtain

SME Light FLE Light

Interpreter Light

NOTES:

• Each light is to be controlled by it’s namesake (i.e. the SME light is controlled by the SME using a push-to-talk 

button, etc.)

• Only the SME and FLE can see the Interpreter’s light and only the Interpreter can see the SME & FLE lights

• Chairs are shown above to represent the position of the speakers. All participants stood during the collections.
10

• Experience with Iraqis 

• Date/s in Afghanistan 

• Billets (jobs) in 

Afghanistan 

• Experiences with Afghanis

SME screening included collecting all of the pertinent information listed above. Bilingual foreign 

language speakers were screened via a telephone interview by a foreign language expert to ensure 

that their background experience and language capabilities were acceptable. Foreign language 

speakers who had relevant experiences but limited English ability were assigned as FLEs. Also, 

those foreign language speakers that did not appear to perform well during dialogue improvisation 

(due to a lack of domain knowledge of the dialogue topic or were not comfortable role-playing) 

were assigned to be interpreters. 

Besides SMEs and FLEs, there were other essential data collection personnel present at these 

weekend events. These included three Quality Assurance (QA) personnel, two to three Rehearsal 

Coaches, four Recording Engineers, and one Overall Coordinator. These roles will be discussed in 

greater depth below. 

• QA (one per studio) - This person monitors all verbal exchanges while the recording was taking 

place, and interrupts if problems occurred, such as: 

o Drifting off the topic 

o Using words/concepts that were too technical or too difficult which weren’t consistent 

with the needs of the program 

o Interrupting a speaker before he/she has finished talking 

o Rehashing the same discussion topics over and over 

o Inappropriate interpreter response (interpreter was supposed to speak in first person as if 

he himself is the English- and Dari- speaker, not to use styles like “He said he is pleased 

to meet you”) 

If a QA detects any issues during the scenario, their first action should be to hold up the 

appropriate sign (see APPENDIX E: 1st Morning Briefing Points) for the speaker(s) to see so the 

QA does not have to verbally interrupt the conversation. If the problem persists and holding up 

signs does not solve the issue, the QA should then verbally break into the conversation (they 

should alert the recording engineer of this intent so that the engineer pauses the recording) to 

inform the speakers on the issue. 

• Rehearsal Coach (three required on Saturdays where only two are needed on Sundays) - During 

the rehearsals, these individuals assist the speakers in understanding their motivations. They 

then conduct high-level rehearsals (making an effort to minimize their involvement in the 

conversation) to ensure that the participants fully understood the roles they were playing and 

had enough information to produce a successful dialogue. 

• Recording Engineer (one per studio + one spare engineer) - Each studio is staffed by a recording 

engineer (provided by the recording studio), whose responsibilities included assuring that 

participants were wearing microphones and headsets correctly, speaker volume and noise levels 

were calibrated, and files were saved and named according to specific naming conventions. At 

the end of each recording, the Recording Engineer outputs two speaker wave file mixes (one 

mix contained the SME on the left channel and the FLE on the right channel while the other mix 

contained the SME and FLE on the left channel and the interpreter on the right channel). Each 

of these output mixes has a purpose. The two-speaker mix mentioned above has benefit to the 

research teams since they receive data from the SME and the FLE on separate audio channels. 

The three-speaker mix has both benefit to the research teams, the transcription/translation 
11

service provider and the evaluation team, since the entire conversation can be easily followed 

and understood (since the interpreter is included). 

After these files are created, they are uploaded to the studio’s server where the files were 

organized by the spare recording engineer and stored until downloaded to IET drives. Besides 

verifying and organizing each studio’s data, the spare recording engineer provided short breaks 

to the studio engineers so they could get something to eat, use the restroom, etc. To ensure that 

all recording engineers at all studio facilities performed their tasks consistently, an audio 

recording specialist from the IET trained them, oversees their activities, and checks their 

deliverables during the first few data collections. After that, the Overall Coordinator assumed 

these IET responsibilities. 

• Overall Coordinator - This role included acts as liaison to the manager of the recording studio 

for all business-related matters and providing instructions to participants at the beginning of the 

day, which includes a walk-through of the recording facility. The Overall Coordinator also 

handles the scheduling duties. This includes implementing an efficient flow of participants from 

the waiting area to rehearsal areas to recording areas that required an established schedule at the 

beginning of each recording day. They monitor the availability of rehearsal rooms (and 

rehearsal coaches); when a given FLE-SME-Interpreter team finished rehearsing, they vacate 

the rehearsal room to wait for a recording studio to become available, and the coordinator sent a 

new FLE-SME-Interpreter team to begin rehearsing. Maximum efficiency is achieved by 

diligently monitoring both the availability of rooms and the whereabouts of participants. 

3.4. 1st Morning Kickoff 

The 1st morning of a data collection event is critical in terms of ensuring that everyone including 

SMEs, FLEs, interpreters, evaluation personnel and studio staff are aware of their responsibilities 

throughout the weekend. This initial morning brief can last anywhere from 45 min to 75 min 

depending upon the amount of questions asked. The talking points for the morning brief can be 

found in APPENDIX E: 1st Morning Briefing Points. 

3.5. Workflow 

Since there were three studios used during each data collection event, the work-flow was designed 

to minimize studio downtime. There were always three speaker groups (each group consisted of a 

SME, FLE, and interpreter) in rehearsal at any given instant to ensure that when a studio became 

available, it was immediately utilized. This also covered the extreme case when all three studios 

became available at the same time. Figure 3 presents the workflow at a high level. 
12

Figure 3: Workflow for Recording Sessions 

Once the kickoff meeting concluded, the OC assigned speaker groupings with scenarios and sent 

them back to the rehearsal room. Specifically, the OC used Sticky Notes where a single note 

contained all of the necessary information for a group to conduct a scenario: SME #, FLE #, 

INTERPRETER #, and Scenario Code (alpha-numeric that designated Domain/SME 

Motivation/FLE Motivation). The SME took the Sticky Note from the OC and took his assigned 

FLE and INTERPRETER to rehearsal. 

Once in the rehearsal room, the speakers were given their own motivation (the INTERPRETER was 

given a copy of the FLE motivation) while their ability to see their counterpart’s motivation was 

strictly scenario dependent. For those scenarios where the speakers are assigned roles where they 

are collaborating with one another, conducting a training session and/or gather information, the 

speakers could see each other’s motivations since they’ll rehearse their scenarios together. Those 

scenarios where it’s desirable to maintain maximum spontaneity and the speakers’ roles have little 

to no information regarding the person they are about to converse should require the speakers to (1) 

rehearse separately and (2) not be informed of their counterpart’s motivation. After the speakers 

have practiced parts of their dialogue, everyone is aware of the key vocabulary that could be used, 

and a studio is available, the three enter the sound booth for their dialogue. It’s up to the rehearsal 

coaches to monitor the overall situation in the rehearsal room to see which group(s) is ready for the 

next studio opening and which group(s) requires some assistance. Also, it’s important to strongly 

encourage the speakers to take notes on their individual motivation sheets. This minimizes the 

chances of the speakers forgetting conversation topics and dialogues ending quickly. 

After a speaker group returned to the break area following their recording, they were re-grouped 

such that the SME would interact with a different FLE/interpreter pair during their next scenario 

collection. The FLE’s and interpreters maintained their same pairing throughout the weekend (since 

not all FLE’s could be interpreters and vice-versa). The reason FLE and interpreter pairings were 

maintained was to further ensure the speakers were comfortable in their dialogues and allow them to 

build their own rapport to facilitate smooth translations. An example schedule and rotation can be 

found in Table 2. Note that the Scenario #, SME, and TERP, FLE information are provided to each 
13

speaking trio as they are summoned to rehearsal. Once they finish their recording and go on break, 

the OC notes the studio they used. 

Table 2: Example Schedule and Rotation 

SCENARIO # SME TERP, FLE STUDIO

A23 1 2, 1 A

F13 2 4, 5 B

E61 4 10, 13 C

B11 3 8, 3 C

D31 5 6, 7 A

D13 7 12, 11 B

C31 8 14, 9 B

D11 9 16, 15 C

B41 10 2, 1 A

C43 6 4, 5 B

F32 1 6, 7 A

F21 2 10, 13 B

F22 5 12, 11 C

A13 4 14, 9 C

C22 7 8, 3 B

E41 8 2, 1 A

E52 3 4, 5 C

D22 10 16, 15 B

C12 6 12, 11 A

C43 9 10, 13 A

B12 5 6, 7 B

3.6. Subsequent Morning Kickoffs 

After the first day of collection, the following morning(s) briefs should be much shorter than the 

previous day. The only discussion points for the following morning(s) include keeping everyone 

excited and energized about this next day of collection and discussing any areas and/or situations 

that should be improved. Beyond that, the SMEs and FLEs should be familiar enough with the data 

collection protocols that the only thing participants are waiting on is the OC to inform them of their 

pairing and scenario assignment. 

3.7. File Naming Convention and Post-Collection Delivery 

Because the recording engineers create the two specified waveform audio format (.wav) file mixes 

for each scenario, they are labeled according to their identifying information. Figure 4 presents the 

specific naming convention that the NIST IET has applied to the audio files they have collected. 

The audio data was output as wave format at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit resolution. 
14

Figure 4: Data Collection Audio File - Naming Convention 

Once the recording engineer output the necessary sound mixes and uploaded them to a central ftp 

server, they were packaged and the external transcription/translation service provider was alerted 

that the files were ready for ftp transfer. 

3.8. Transcription/Translation 

Once the external transcription/translation service provider downloaded all of the audio files via ftp, 

they transcribed and translated the conversations in addition to creating a lexicon of the foreign 

language words. An example of guidelines used in past efforts can be APPENDIX F: Example 

Transcription/Translation Guidelines. On average, the transcription and translation of a weekend 

collection took between two to four months to complete. This process included: 

1. Bilingual personnel transcribe the conversations according to the guidelines. 

2. Quality assurance personnel review the transcriptions for their accuracy and conformation to the 

guidelines. 

3. Bilingual personnel translate the transcriptions into the other languages (for example, English -> 

IA and IA -> English). 

4. Quality assurance personnel review the translations against the transcriptions and/or audio files 

for accuracy and completeness. 

Additionally, the words captured in each weekend collection are funneled into the creation of the 

lexicon. There are numerous factors that affect the estimated delivery schedule of the transcriptions 

and translations including: 

• When in the effort the data is captured and processed - earlier collections tend to take longer 

since the transcription/translation team is still getting up to speed while later collections are 

processed at a quicker pace). 

• The specific foreign language that is being processed – each transcription/translation service 

provider has different capabilities in different languages and therefore has personnel with 

varying expertise. 

NISTDR_B32_sM12iM06fF27_032209_sif

Abbrev of organization 

that performed the 

collection

Abbrev of language – DR = Dari, 

PS = Pashto, IA = Iraqi Arabic

Letter of scenario domain –

A = Vehicle Checkpoints, B = Facilities 

Inspection, C = Civil Affairs, D = Medical, 

E = Combined Training, F = Combined 

Operations

# of corresponding English Speaker 

(SME) Motivation

# of corresponding Foreign Language 

Speaker (FLE) Motivation s = SME

Gender of SME –

(M)ale or (F)emale

SME #

i = Interpreter

Gender of interpreter

Interpreter #

f = FLE Gender of FLE FLE #

Date = mm/dd/yy

Audio Mix 

Type – sif = 

SME, 

Interpreter, 

FLE vs. sf = 

SME and 

FLE, only
15

• Amount and quality of data collected during that particular weekend – the more data collected, 

the longer it takes to process. Likewise, if some of the speakers talk too quickly, stutters, 

mumble, etc, then it will take the transcription/translation personnel longer to process this data. 

The transcriptions and translations are output in .tdf file format and contain the following 

information: 

• File (Column A) - Presents the file name (using the convention described above). 

• Channel (Column B) – Presents the channel # of the speaker. 

o 0 = SME speaking English 

o 1 = FLE speaking foreign language 

o 2 = Interpreter speaking English 

o 3 = Interpreter speaking foreign language 

• Start (Column C) – Time (in seconds) that the speaker began their utterance. 

• End (Column D) – Time (in seconds) that the speaker concluded their utterance. 

• Speaker (Column E) – Speaker’s information according to the naming convention above. 

• Speaker Type (Column F) – Gender of the speaker. 

• Speaker Dialect (Column G) – Dialect of the particular speaker. Provided for each FLE by the 

data collection team. 

• Transcription or Translation (Column H) – Utterance of the corresponding speaker. 

• Section (Column I) – Language specific – defined in guidelines 

• Turn (Column J) – Language specific – defined in guidelines 

• Segment (Column K) – Language specific – defined in guidelines 

• Section Type (Column L) – Language specific – defined in guidelines 

• Su Type (Column M) – Language specific – defined in guidelines 

• Speaker Role (Column N) – interviewer (role of the SME), interpreter, or respondent (role of the 

FLE). 

3.9. Data Usage 

Typically, a majority (if not all) of the output data from the collections, including audio, 

transcription and translation files, is provided to the technology developers so that they may train 

their systems on the collected languages and dialogues. In most cases, some of this data is held back 

from the technology developers by the evaluation team to test the technologies’ speech-to-speech 

translation capabilities. This forms what is known as the representative set where a small percentage 

that is indicative of the overall data is solely kept by the evaluation team for testing purposes. 

4. Cost 

The numbers in this section are provided for estimation purposes only. The costs that another group 

may incur could be significantly lower or higher than the costs listed below. 

Table 3 shows the cost a weekend bilingual collection, as described in the previous sections. In the 

estimates, we are assuming a yield of 35 h of audio data over the weekend. These estimates do not 

include the cost of scenario creation or equipment purchases (e.g., for the Wizard of Oz setup), 

which are often one-time fees and are not associated with individual data collections. 
16

Table 3: Cost Per Data Collection 

Item Cost Notes

Studio Rental per Weekend 8,000.00 $ 3 recording booths, all studio personnel

Administration Cost 15,000.00 $ data collection administration team travel and time, assumes two people

SME personnel 16,000.00 $ travel, lodging, and hourly fee for nine SMEs

FLE personnel 25,000.00 $ travel, lodging, and hourly fee for eight FLEs, eight interpreters, and three QAs

Recruiting fee 4,000.00 $ for SMEs and FLEs

Transcription 50,000.00 $ assumes 35 hours of audio @ $1,390 per audio hour

Translation 37,000.00 $ assumes 170,000 words @ 0.22 cents per word

Lexicon Development 15,000.00 $ assumes approx. 17,000 unique words @ 0.88 center per word

Total 170,000.00 $ 

5. Conclusion 

The data collection process, including scenario development and data transcription/translation, has 

been led and implemented by NIST since 2007. This document has presented the NIST IET’s best 

practices after many individual processes have been developed and refined through numerous 

collection efforts. These methods and techniques have been used successfully to collect and process 

large amounts of speech-to-speech data. 

 
17

APPENDIX A: Example Iraqi Data Collection Scenarios 

A – TRAFFIC CONTROL POINT/VEHICLE CHECKPOINT

 SME Motivation 1 – NO SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY You are manning the checkpoint and have 

been advised that there has been no suspicious activity of note in the area. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Intended Destination 

b) Personal Information 

c) Vehicle Occupants (if any) 

d) Vehicle State 

e) Vehicle Contents 

FLE Background (applies to all) – You are driving in your vehicle approaching an Americancontrolled checkpoint in a city/area South of Baghdad. 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You have just left your house and are on your way to work. You are 

supportive of the American presence and appreciate the security they provide to your town. 

NOTHING FOUND or SHOVELS AND PICKS or VIDEO CAMERA 

o FLE Motivation 2 – You have just received a call that your father is very ill and you are 

rushing to his house immediately. You have a neutral attitude towards the American 

presence. You do not care for the American checkpoints and have always seen them as a 

big waste of time. 150 POUNDS of FERTILIZER or MEDICAL SUPPLIES – BOTTLES 

FULL OF PILLS or MOTOROLA TALK-ABOUT RADIOS

o FLE Motivation 3 – You dislike the Americans being here and have some friends that are 

insurgents. You are transporting a large sum of money on their behalf. You were not aware 

that this checkpoint was active and are hoping to make it through without them finding the 

money. $10,000 of US DOLLARS or $750 of US DOLLARS or EMPTY HIDDEN STORAGE 

COMPARTMENT UNDER BACKSEATS

o FLE Motivation 4 – You are an active member of a local insurgent cell and are preparing for 

your next attack on the Americans. You are smuggling wires and timers to another 

insurgents house. You realize that the Americans may find these items but are hoping to 

convince them that you work for a local electronics store. WIRES AND TIMERS or LAMP 

CORD or 5 WASHING MACHINE TIMERS

 SME Motivation 2 – IED HOTSPOT You are manning a checkpoint in the interior of Iraq that is 

an IED hotbed. You have been advised to thoroughly search all vehicles and screen all 

personnel passing through. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Intended Destination 

b) Knowledge of Recent IED Activity 

c) Knowledge of Suspected Insurgents 

d) Vehicle Occupants 

e) Vehicle Contents 

 
18

FLE Background (applies to all) – You are driving in your vehicle approaching an American 

controlled checkpoint in a city/area West of Baghdad (not near any foreign borders). 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are on your way to your grandfather’s house for dinner. You do not 

like the Americans occupying your homeland, but only believe in non-violent means of 

protest (you do not support the insurgency). SUITCASES OF CLOTHES or BOXES OF 

BOOTS or 6 ROLLS OF DUCT TAPE

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are a mechanic working at a local auto repair shop. You have just 

left work for the day and are anxious to get home after your long day. You are glad that the 

Americans are in your country because they have rebuilt much of your neighborhood that 

Saddam’s men have destroyed in the past. CUTTING TORCH or POWER DRILL AND 

SAW or BOX OF RADIO PARTS

o FLE Motivation 3 – You are on your way home from work as a guard at a nearby prison. 

You routinely take your pistol home with you to protect your family. You know you are not 

supposed to do this, but your commander turns a blind eye to it since he sometimes does it, 

too. You have a neutral attitude towards the Americans. PISTOL or EMPTY PISTOL 

MAGAZINE THAT SMELLS LIKE POWDER or TRASH BAG FULL OF BLUE UNIFORM 

SHIRTS 

B - FACILITIES INSPECTION 

 SME Motivation 1 – POLICE STATION You are meeting with the chief of police to inspect the 

station under his command. You are very concerned about the morale of the officers and have 

heard rumors of possible equipment theft from the station. 

TALKING POINTS 

a) Greetings/Pleasantries 

b) Morale/State of Police Force 

c) Condition of Building 

d) Equipment/Weapons Status 

e) Emergency Vehicle Status 

f) Issues with Theft 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are the local police chief who is meeting with American forces to 

brief them on the status of your station. Lately, not all of the officers have been showing up 

for work and have noticed that some weapons and ammunition has gone missing over the 

past few weeks. You know this doesn’t look good for you but you just want to make your 

neighborhood/town safe and can’t do anything about it but keep trying to recruit and train 

more police. If possible, you would like to get replacement supplies (specifically, weapons, 

ammunition, helmets, and body armor) to outfit your men. HELMETS AND ARMOR 

MISSING

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are the local police chief who is meeting with the American forces 

to give them a tour of your facility. Although not all of the officers showed up for work today, 

you believe they are happy with their job because they are well-paid. You are concerned 

that the American forces may ask about the recent disappearance of equipment because 

you have taken some of the weapons and ammunition home from the armory. You are in 

need of new parts to support your police vehicles or would like to purchase new vehicles for 

your force. PISTOLS MISSING

 SME Motivation 2 – POWER PLANT You are meeting with the head of operations of the local 

power/electrical plant to get a status report on the facility. You are very concerned about its 

security and want to verify that measures are in place to protect it from the insurgents. 
19

TALKING POINTS

a) Greetings/Pleasantries 

b) Facility Status 

c) Equipment Needs 

d) Security Concerns 

e) Personnel Status 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are the head of the local power/electrical plant. Although your 

facility is relatively new (the Americans rebuilt it last year after it was damaged in the war), 

you believe it is still somewhat vulnerable to insurgent attacks. You have contracted out for 

extra security guards, but you deem them unreliable (they have been caught sleeping on 

the job) and would like to obtain the latest technology (flood lights, cameras, motion 

sensors, etc.) to enhance your security. 

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are the head of the local power/electrical plant. Your facility is at 

least 20 years old and would benefit from some current technological upgrades. Security is 

a major concern for you. You have recently fired your contracted security guards because 

they have abandoned their posts numerous times. You want to know what the Americans 

can offer/provide you (both in personnel and equipment) with respect to security. 

 SME Motivation 3 – WATER TREATMENT You are meeting with the head of the brand new 

local water treatment facility to verify its status (it should be fully operational). You want to know 

if it is functioning according to specification (properly treating the sewer water) and if its current 

workforce is sufficient. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Greetings/Pleasantries 

b) Personnel Status/Needs 

c) Equipment Status/Needs 

d) Current Security Measures 

e) Outstanding Issues 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are the head of the new local water treatment facility and are 

receiving some American forces who want a status report. Your facility has been running 

smoothly since it was first brought online several months ago. However, your workforce is 

unreliable and does not always show up for work. Since the Americans still offer financial 

support for the workers you want to see if you can offer them more money as incentive for 

them to show up. 

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are the head of the new local water treatment facility and receiving 

some American forces who want a status report. Over the past few weeks your facility has 

suffered numerous breakdowns and has not been working as it should. You are unsure 

whether it is due to faulty equipment (some generators and pumps have broken) or 

sabotage (you have heard rumors that the insurgents may target your facility and that a 

former worker at the plant has joined forces with them, i.e. they now know less obvious 

ways to sabotage the plant such as putting objects in the in-flow). Security is a big concern 

that you have. 
20

APPENDIX B: Example Afghan Data Collection Scenarios 

C – CIVIL AFFAIRS 

 SME Motivation 1 – CIVIL AFFAIRS DESK - You are manning a civil affairs desk that deals 

with the complaints/requests of the Afghans off of the street. You are responsible for getting as 

much information about the situation/complaint as possible from the Afghan. At the end of your 

discussions, you provide the Afghan with a case reference number and inform them that they 

should check back with you in a week or so after you have had time to investigate their claim. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Request Situation Explanation 

b) Requested Compensation (jewelry, weapons, money, return of people, etc.) 

c) Verify Story by Requesting Additional Information/Re-asking Questions (Ensure that the 

story remains consistent and is not fabricated) 

o FLE Motivation 1 – American forces searched your house the other day and broke your 

door frame when they entered. You are deeply upset by this intrusion and see this as an 

opportunity to have the rest of your house rebuilt after it was damaged years ago by the 

Russians. You have just entered the local civil affairs office and are going to request that 

the Americans not only pay for a new door frame, but also for additional items including a 

new door, several walls, and a portion of your roof. 

o FLE Motivation 2 – American forces searched your farm the other day and confiscated a 

stockpile of weapons you had been storing in your barn. Specifically, they took several AK47’s, some magazines, and one RPK. You have just come down to the local civil affairs 

office with a receipt the Sergeant provided you when he took the weapons. Although these 

all belong to you and you are aware that there are limits on the number of weapons you can 

possess, you will demand to have them back. You have accumulated these weapons over 

the years for protection from the Taliban and need to get them back immediately since the 

local police do not provide adequate security. 

o FLE Motivation 3 – American forces searched your house the other day and took your 

brother from the house. The Americans claimed he is a suspect in some local criminal 

activity and that they took him for questioning. You have just come down to the local civil 

affairs office to find out where he is and when he will be released. You are confident that 

your brother is not involved with any criminals and that he is innocent. You want him 

released as soon as possible. 

 SME Motivation 2 – SWET SURVEY - You are going door to door in a local neighborhood to 

determine the population’s quality of life. You also want to inform the residents that you and 

your team will be frequently patrolling the area to enhance their security, improve their 

community, etc. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Greetings 

b) Family Demographics (Head of HouseHold Data, Wife/Wives, Children, Other Family Living 

in House) 

c) Quality of Life Assessment - Utilities (Water, Trash, Electricity) 

d) Town Authority Figures and Their Impact (Village Elder, Mullah, Malik, etc.) 

e) Criminal Activity (if any) 

f) Outstanding Issues 

 
21

o FLE Motivation 1 – A group of Soldiers/Marines is approaching your house. You have seen 

them go door to door in your neighborhood during the past hour. You are unsure what they 

want, but are hoping they can help you with electricity problems. The local service has been 

unstable for the past month and your backup generator is very old. Other than that, you 

have no complaints. Your wife and children are very happy and healthy. However, the 

children’s school has yet to be repaired after being damaged by the Taliban several years 

ago. 

o FLE Motivation 2 – A group of Soldiers/Marines is approaching your house. You have seen 

them go door to door in your neighborhood during the past hour. You are eager to welcome 

them into your home. You would like to see what they can do to help you in getting your 

trash removed on a regular basis. You know that the sub-governor is in charge of hiring 

people to remove the trash, but believe he is corrupt and not doing his job. The trash has 

been piling up all over the neighborhood and some of your kids have been getting sick. 

o FLE Motivation 3 – A group of Soldiers/Marines is approaching your house. You have seen 

them go door to door in your neighborhood during the past hour. You do not know what 

they want, but you are glad they are patrolling because you suspect your neighbor across 

the street is an insurgent. You have seen many men come and go from his house carrying 

wooden crates (some with wires hanging out of them) several nights ago. You have kept 

your house in good condition (all of the utilities work most of the time) and are only 

concerned about this neighbor. 

 SME Motivation 3 – CENSUS - You are going door to door in a local neighborhood conducting 

census operations. The goal of this mission is to understand the makeup of the local families to 

better serve the needs of the population. 

TALKING POINTS

a) Greetings 

b) Family Demographics (Head of HouseHold Data, Wife/Wives, Children) 

c) Home Demographics (No. of people living in house, No. of middle-aged males, Crops 

grown, etc) 

d) Town Information (Village name, elder/tribal leader, water source, mosque, type of 

buildings, etc) 

e) Education (Highest Education Completed, Location of School(s) Attended, Dates of 

Schooling, Wife’s Education, Children’s Education, etc) 

f) Employment (Current Job, Length of Time at Job, Location, Responsibilities, Previous 

Work, etc) 

g) Knowledge of Suspicious or Criminal Activity 

o FLE Motivation 1 – A group of Soldiers/Marines is approaching your house and it appears 

they have been asking questions to other people in the neighborhood. You have a shop in 

the market where you sell motorcycle and car parts. In your spare time, you also repair 

broken vehicles since you are well-known in the village as a mechanic. You never received 

any formal training, rather you learned from your father. In turn, you teach your teenage 

sons about vehicles and hope they will became great mechanics like yourself. 

o FLE Motivation 2 – A group of Soldiers/Marines is approaching your house and it appears 

they have been asking questions to other people in the neighborhood. You are supportive 

of the US Military since they have been fighting the Taliban. This has been very beneficial 

since one of the crops you grow is poppy and the Taliban have been taxing your harvests 

for many years. You expect your family to work on the farm because it’s your livelihood. 

Each week you take your crops (including poppy along with some fruits and vegetables) to 

the bizarre to sell so you can buy food and supplies for your family. 
22

F – COMBINED OPERATIONS 

 SME Motivation 1 – PLANNING A RAID - You are meeting with a member of the ANA/ANP to 

plan a raid (foreign language speaker will provide details on location and intent of raid). Your 

goal in this meeting is to ensure that the officer is competent to lead/execute this operation 

(level of US assistant during operation will be agreed upon with foreign language speaker). 

TALKING POINTS

a) Objective of the mission (make arrests, seize materials, etc.) 

b) Concept of the operation (route taken to the house, who will go into the house, who will 

provide security, route taken back, what will be done with detainees and/or contraband) 

c) Perimeter / containment area (establishing 360 degree security) 

d) Key terrain features (buildings, hills, dead space, bottlenecks, / danger areas, etc.) 

e) Arrest and detention procedures 

f) Evidence handling procedures 

g) Expected response / level of resistance 

h) Force and materials required for the operation (unit size, special skills, weapons, restraints, 

etc.) 

i) Mission timeline (high level - expected duration) 

j) Potential collateral damage (civilians, property, etc.) 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a raid on a heavily-walled compound that the Taliban has been 

using as a bomb factory. Your men have gathered intelligence that this is the meeting spot 

for the local insurgent cell and where IEDs are assembled. In addition to containing IED 

materials including diesel fuel and fertilizer, your intelligence also says that the occupants 

may be armed with AK-47s and RPGs. You would like the Americans’ help in planning this 

raid so that you capture as many insurgents as you can without getting any of your men 

injured. You will be asking questions related to the planning and execution of a raid on this 

location.

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a raid on a gas station/mechanic shop. You suspect that the shop 

is being used to manufacture IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and supporting 

materials for the insurgency. One of your men has seen copper shavings, cutting torches, 

welding equipment, excessive amounts of wire, etc. while having his car inspected there. 

You will be asking questions related to the planning and execution of a raid on this location.

o FLE Motivation 3 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a raid on an abandoned house that is a suspected storage and/or 

transfer point for illegal goods (speaker may select from weapons, drugs, IED materials, 

etc. at their choosing). Your men have observed a group of young males going in and out of 

this house for the past few days, none of whom are related to the previous occupants. The 

neighbors have reported frequent night-time activity (speaker can describe reported 

activity). You will be asking questions related to the planning and execution of a raid on this 

location.

o FLE Motivation 4 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a raid on an industrial complex situated within a heavily populated 

urban area. You have intelligence that a warehouse within the complex is being used to 

store stolen (black market) chemicals for use in the construction of explosives (foreign 

language speaker will provide details of intelligence reports and surveillance photographs).

You will be asking questions related to the planning and execution of a raid on this location. 

 
23

 SME Motivation 2 – CORDON AND KNOCK/SEARCH - You are meeting with a member of 

the ANA/ANP to plan a cordon and knock/search (foreign language speaker will provide details, 

including location, of the operation). Your goal is to ensure that the Afghan officer and his men 

understand the mission and are capable of carrying it out (level of US assistant during 

operation will be agreed upon with foreign language speaker). 

TALKING POINTS

a) Objective of the mission (warn citizens of a problem, gather intelligence, search for 

weapons or enemies, etc.) 

b) Available Intelligence (foreign language speaker will provide a range of information)

c) Search procedures for homes and businesses (ROE, security aspect, etc.) 

d) Arrest / detention procedures 

e) Perimeter / containment area 

f) Key terrain features (buildings, hills, dead space, bottlenecks / danger areas, etc.) 

g) Force structure required for the operation (unit size, special skills required, etc.) 

h) Expected response of residents (who is friendly, who is fearful, etc.) 

i) Evacuation procedures for nearby residents (where to take them temporarily, supplying 

them with food and water, transportation, if necessary etc.). 

o FLE Motivation 1 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a cordon and search for a known Taliban leader. You have 

received reports from another ANA unit that the suspect was recognized at a nearby traffic 

checkpoint, but escaped. You are able to provide information from residents and/or 

neighbors of the search area, and results of conversations with the checkpoint personnel 

who made the report. Your intent is to jointly plan the search with the US forces, although 

your men will be the ones to carry out this mission.

o FLE Motivation 2 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a cordon and search for weapons and ammunition that have been 

reported missing from the local Afghan outpost. You have received a tip from a local citizen 

that the weapons have been stored in several caves at the base of a mountain just on the 

outskirts of town. You want to act quickly believing they will attempt to smuggle them out of 

the area very soon (foreign language speaker will provide details of the surrounding area, 

reliability of the tip, etc.). You are unsure if insurgents are presently in the cave with the 

weapons, so you would like to request the assistance of the American forces for the 

operation.

o FLE Motivation 3 – You are a member of the Afghan National Army who is meeting with 

American Forces to plan a cordon and knock on a local metal shop. You have received 

multiple anonymous tips that the metal shop has been supplying local criminals with IED 

materials including steel pipes and scrap metal although the shop itself is known not to 

contain any explosive materials. The goal of the operation is to question the owner of the 

shop without arousing suspicion to get information about his customers. You will ultimately 

arrest him once you have identified the criminals. You and your men are very familiar with 

the neighborhood, so you would like them to lead the operation with the Americans in a 

support role. 
24

APPENDIX C: Previous NIST Collection Output 

2009 NIST Pashto Collections

DATE

2009 - April 25-26 49.79 39.00 24.38 96

2009 - May 30-31 50.03 39.19 21.98 107

2009 - July 24-25 50.31 39.41 26.87 88

Pashto Totals 150.13 117.60 24.41 291

0 0.00

2009 NIST Dari Collections

DATE

2009 - Feb 28-Mar 1 48.39 37.91 20.68 110

2009 - Mar 21-22 48.56 38.04 23.29 98

Dari Totals 96.95 75.94 21.98 208

0 0.00

2008 NIST Iraqi Arabic Collections

DATE

2007 - Dec 8-9 23.04 18.00 16.12 35

2008 - Jan 11-12 41.59 32.58 16.15 121

2008 - Jan 25-26 21.96 17.20 16.13 64

2008 - Feb 9-10 44.52 34.87 17.01 123

2008 - Mar 1-2 23.14 18.13 21.33 51

2008 - Apr 19-20 49.08 38.45 30.35 76

2008 - June 28-29 42.75 33.49 22.58 89

Iraqi Arabic Totals 246.08 192.71 19.95 559

DATA 

(GB)

HOURS 

TOTAL

AVG. 

MIN PER 

SCEN.

DATA 

(GB)

HOURS 

TOTAL

AVG. 

MIN PER 

SCEN.

DATA 

(GB)

HOURS 

TOTAL

AVG. 

MIN PER 

SCEN.

SCEN. 

TOTALS

SCEN. 

TOTALS

SCEN. 

TOTALS

ENGLISH <-> PASHTO

ENGLISH <-> DARI 

ENGLISH <-> IRAQI ARABIC
APPENDIX D: Wizard of Oz – Speech Flow and Implementation 

27

27 

APPENDIX E: 1st Morning Briefing Points 

 THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE TODAY! 

 INTRODUCTION of KEY PERSONNEL... 

o Overall Coordinator (OC) 

o Marine/Soldier Recruiter(s) 

o Foreign Language Expert Recruiter(s) 

o Rehearsal Coach(es) (RC) 

o Additional team personnel 

MFLTS PROGRAM – OVERVIEW

 MFLTS – stands for Machine Foreign Language Translation System 

 PROGRAM GOAL – Development of two-way, free-form, spoken language communication 

technologies to enable US military personnel to communicate with foreign language speakers 

within tactical domains without the need for an interpreter. 

 In order for technologies to be accurately and effectively developed, they must be trained on 

current, relevant dialogues and they must be evaluated against such dialogues, as well. 

 DATA COLLECTION GOAL - Collect tactically-relevant conversations between Englishspeaking US military personnel and speakers of specific foreign languages (note the language of 

the weekend collection) to support system training. 

 Marines and Soldiers playing the role of English speakers are referred to as SMEs during the 

collection 

 Foreign language speakers are referred to as FLEs (for Foreign Language Experts) during the 

collection 

 DATA COLLECTION FLOW 

o For each recording, a SME will be assigned to a FLE/INTERPRETER pair with specific 

SME and FLE motivations (OC will provide these). Specifically, the OC will provide the 

SME with a sticky note of the pertinent information. 

o Upon receiving their assignments, the speakers will go into the training room and be given 

their motivations by a trainer (RC and/or SME recruiters). The SME will show their sticky 

note to the trainer so they can receive the appropriate materials 

o The three speakers will discuss the scenario (unless it’s a checkpoint scenario), practice 

some of the dialogue and ensure that the speakers are aware of any key words that could be 

used 

o For checkpoint scenarios, the speakers will only be together for a minute (or so) so that they 

can all see the Vehicle Settings. After the SME makes a note of these, the SME will go into a 
28

28 

separate room to practice their dialogue. The FLE and the TERP will remain in the rehearsal 

room with their hide. The trainer will determine a suitable location for the hide to be found 

and will let both the SME and the FLE (separately) know where the hide is (so that the SME 

knows what to search and the FLE knows when to reveal the hide). 

o When a studio becomes available and the speakers are next in the queue, they will go into 

the studio and record their dialogue (the SME should hand their sticky note to that studio’s 

recording engineer). Dialogues should be no less than 10 min and no longer than 30 min. 

Each recording will be monitored by Quality Assurance personnel to ensure that the scenario 

is on topic, etc. The QA may interrupt the dialogue at anytime if certain issues (discussed 

below) arise. 

o After the recording is completed, the SME is to retrieve the sticky note from the recording 

engineer and return it to the OC. The SME will confirm the engineer noted which studio 

A/B/C was used. 

o The speakers are to return to the break room and await their next assignment. 

GENERAL 

 Everyone should conduct themselves in a professional manner. 

 No cell phones are allowed in the studios and rehearsal areas. Please leave your phone with the 

OC prior to going back for rehearsal (you may retrieve it from the OC after your session is done 

being recorded) or put it in your car – NO EXCEPTIONS 

 Reminder to everyone – there is no official time for lunch break. Rather you should eat on your 

rotational break after food has arrived. Everyone should expect approximately 10-25 min of 

break time in between their previous recording and their next rehearsal. But on some occasions 

you will be called directly back into the studio. If you grab some food after sitting for 15 min, 

you should reasonably expect that you will be called into another rehearsal before you finish 

eating. 

 Additionally, there are no official times for smoke breaks. If you have to smoke, do so outside 

away from the building entrance and you should do so immediately after your recording session. 

That way, you are back inside the building and in the break area so that the OC can easily find 

you for your next rehearsal. 

 
29

29 

REHEARSAL and RECORDING-SPECIFIC 

 IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BOTH SPEAKERS TO MAINTAIN A 

PRODUCTIVE, SUBSTANTIAL CONVERSATION...THIS STARTS BY HAVING AN 

EFFECTIVE REHEARSAL

o English speaker should inform foreign language speaker of various tactical vocabulary 

that could be used in the scenario so that both the FLE and the INTERPRETER are 

knowledgeable of the word in the target language 

o Both speakers should make notes during rehearsal: 

 English speakers should augment the talking points based upon their own 

experiences 

 Foreign language speakers should also be taking notes on their back story (who they 

are and what they are doing) and specific tactical vocabulary 

1. SMEs and FLEs should always speak in 1st person (I want vs. tell him that I want, etc.). 

2. INTERPRETERs should translate the SME and FLE speech, verbatim. Do not paraphrase, 

condense or exaggerate any dialogue. 

3. All speakers should speak naturally without speaking fast or quickly. 

4. SMEs and FLEs should conduct a reasonable amount of rapport building (no more than 3 min) 

in the beginning of those scenarios where it would reasonably occur. For example, rapport 

building is natural between military officers prior to planning an operation, but is unlikely 

between US military personnel and a person being stopped at a checkpoint. 

5. SMEs and FLEs should avoid Yes and No responses to questions. All responses and utterances 

should contain a ‘substance’ but don’t necessarily have to be long-winded. For example, when 

asked Do you sell your crop in the market?, you should not respond with a simple, yes or no. 

Rather, an acceptable response would be along the lines of Yes, I sell pomegranates and 

watermelons in the market every Tuesday. 

6. SMEs and FLEs are encouraged to be creative in their dialogues, so long as they remain on 

topic within their specific scenario domains and motivations. Do not stay on one specific topic 

for too long. 

7. FLEs will not be able to hear any SME speech due to the noise-masking that will be used in 

their headphones. In the event that the noise-masking is malfunctioning during a dialogue, the 

FLE should only respond to what they are told by the INTERPRETER. 

8. All speakers will use the Wizard-of-Oz pushbutton/light setup so that they know whose turn it is 

to speak so that speakers do not interrupt one another. 
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9. The SME and the FLE should engage one-another in conversation (look at each other) as 

opposed to looking in the direction of the INTERPRETER. They should be standing across from 

one another. 

10. SMEs and FLEs should not speak such that their utterances are too long for the INTERPRETER 

to accurately translate. Additionally, SMEs and FLEs should not have multiple exchanges with 

the INTERPRETER prior to the INTERPRETER translating the utterance to the other speaker 

a. INCORRECT FLOW – SME -> INT -> FLE -> INT -> FLE -> INT -> SME 

b. CORRECT FLOW – SME -> INT -> FLE -> INT -> SME -> INT 

11. FLEs should only speak in their native language during the recordings. Do not respond in 

English or intersperse English words within your native language responses. 

 All QA signs should be shown to all of the speakers so that everyone is knows which rules they 

correspond. The signs include: 

o START – SME should initiate the dialogue 

o WRAP UP – SME and FLE should start to conclude their dialogue (this does NOT mean 

stop immediately, but speakers should finish within the next 1 to 2 min) 

o STOP – Speakers should stop their dialogue 

o 1st Person – See #1 above 

o Complete Translation – See #2 above 

o Speak Naturally – See #3 above 

o SLOW DOWN – See #3 above 

o Avoid “Yes” or “No” – See #5 above 

o MOVE ON – See #6 above 

o Make Eye Contact – See #9 above 

o Don’t Sit Down – See #9 above 

o Stand Up – See #9 above 

o Shorter Sentences – See #10 above 

o NO English – See #11 

 
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APPENDIX F: Example Transcription/Translation Guidelines 

TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION GUIDELINES 

FOR ENGLISH/IRAQI ARABIC 

TRANSCRIPTION FORMAT 

A line number and the time stamp for the line is required for each line of transcription. Extra empty 

lines and line numbers should be prepared so that the translators know where to type their 

translations. The file sent from transcription to translation should look like: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you %noise 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: 

صباح الخير سيدي ممكن أساعدك :(4.001-4.601)[interpreterIAH[0002- Line

Line 0002-[interpreterIAH2EH]: 

إي بلي عندي شوية مشاآل بسيارتي :(4.601-5.233)[respondentIAH[0003- Line

Line 0003-[respondentIAH2EH]: 

Line 0004-[interpreterEH](5.233-5.902): yes I have some problem with my car 

Line 0004-[interpreterEH2IAH]: 

Line 0005-[interviewerEH](5.902-6.61): what is the problem 

Line 0005-[interviewerEH2IAH]: 

The former labels INTV, RESP, and ITPR which may have been used in some data sets to identify 

the speakerRole have respectively become interviewer, respondent, and interpreter. The 

speakerRole suffixes EH and IAH indicate the language (English or Iraqi Arabic and that the 

speaker is human. Correspondingly, ES and IAS would indicate that the speaker is a system. 

There should be a beginning and end time-stamp per speaker turn for multi-speaker 

transcription/translation and per utterance for single-speaker short recordings. All beginning and 

end timestamps should appear at the start of an utterance within () brackets, separated by a hyphen 

and followed by a colon and whitespace. There must be at least one digit (tenths of a second) to the 

right of the decimal point; hundredths of a second is encouraged if meaningful. 

Line 0001-[interpreterEH] (3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you %noise 

Start times of the timestamps must appear in non-decreasing order. The final time-stamp of an 

utterance should not overlap with the first time-stamp of the next utterance unless there is true 

overlapping speech. Timestamps can never indicate that a speaker overlaps with himself/herself. 

The example below would be considered unacceptable unless the noise were marked as overlapping 

with the “yes”. 

Line 0001-[interpreterEH] (3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you %noise 

Line 0002-[respondentEH] (4.000-4.902): yes I have some problem with my car 

 
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DISCOURSE CONVENTIONS 

Turns 

The basic transcription unit is the turn - a single act of communication by one individual bounded 

either by the limits of the transcript or by other turns within the transcript. Each turn begins on a 

new line of the transcript, preceded by a label to identify the speaker and a time stamp. If any 

speaker speaks multiple sentences in a very long turn, try to break them into smaller segments at 

reasonable logical break points. For example: 

good morning sir I think you know Corporal Bailey from the other day he suggested we meet 

and discuss how we might solve your problem 

 

The above text should be broken up like this: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): good morning sir. 

Line 0002-[interviewerEH](4.001-5.002): I think you know Corporal Bailey from the other 

day. 

Line 0003-[interviewerEH](5.002-6.005): he suggested we meet and discuss how we might 

solve your problem. 

It is anticipated that anytime the turn includes a mix of statement SU and question SU types, the 

transcription will separate (at least) those SUs of differing SU_type into separate lines of the 

transcript, including corresponding timestamps for those SUs. Correspondingly, a line of the 

transcript is not necessarily an entire turn. 

The audio recordings include at least 2 speakers - an interviewer and a respondent. The following 

codes are required to mark the beginning of each speaker turn. 

Speakers 

When the interviewer speaks English mark the beginning with <interviewerEH>. 

When the interviewer speaks Arabic mark the beginning with <interviewerIAH>. 

When the respondent speaks English mark the beginning with <respondentEH>. 

When the respondent speaks Arabic mark the beginning with <respondentIAH> 

If the audio includes a system interviewer or respondent. 

When the system interviewer speaks English mark with <interviewerES>. 

When the system interviewer speaks Arabic mark with <interviewerIAS> 

When the system respondent speaks English mark with <respondentES>. 

When the system respondent speaks Arabic mark with <respondentIAS> 

If the audio includes an interpreter: 

When the interpreter speaks English mark the beginning with <interpreterEH> 

When the interpreter speaks Arabic mark the beginning with <interpreterIAH> 

Overlap 

English Tags: <overlap> and </overlap> 

 </نهاية_تداخل> and> بداية_تداخل> :Tags Arabic
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Mark the sections where multiple speakers speak over each other with <overlap> at the beginning 

and </overlap> at the end, and transcribe all overlapping speech as accurately as possible. These 

tags will surround the strings of words that are involved in the overlap. 

Line 0014-[interviewerEH] (18.2-19.9): what church <overlap> does </overlap> Ali attend 

Line 0015-[respondentEH] (18.9-19.0): <overlap> mosque </overlap> 

Silence 

English Tag: %silence 

Arabic Tag: انقطاع% 

Mark long pauses and gaps ( > 1 second) within a sentence unit with %silence. It is not necessary to 

timestamp the silence tag. 

Spoken Letters and Acronyms @ 

All alphas should be transcribed using capital letters. Alphas or alpha strings (not acronyms) should 

be separated by a whitespace and preceded by an underscore 

e.g., we expect _W to address the troops 

that's Dana _D _A _N _A 

 

Strings of alphas which form acronyms should be joined by underscores 

e. g. C_I_A , F_B_I 

Plural spoken letter constructions should be transcribed using s (no apostrophe): 

e.g., these I_Ds are invalid 

 the M_R_Es are not popular 

 more I_E_Ds can be expected 

 I can find three _Us in Uluru (has one spoken letter) 

Possessive spoken letter constructions will be transcribed using an s with an apostrophe: 

e.g., this I_D’s expiration data is past 

these M_R_Es’ contents vary (note position of apostrophe for plural possessive) 

Acronyms that are pronounced as words should be transcribed as full words and marked with the @ 

symbol 

e.g., @NASA 

@NATO 

 @ناتو

Arabic, spoken letters are pronounced and transcribed as separate individual words. The Arabic 

letters for English letters ‘j’ and ‘n’ should not be written as ج and ن but as full words جيم and نون. 
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Letters in non-Arabic borrowed acronyms should be transcribed as separate words but joined with 

an underscore to align them with English acronym marking. 

e.g., سي_بي_أي for ‘ABC’ 

Unintelligible speech (()) 

If you are unsure of a portion of the transcription, enclose it in double parentheses. For example, if 

you think a speaker said "looks like this," but are unsure, transcribe it as ((looks like this)). If 

something is completely unintelligible, transcribe it as (()). 

Mispronunciations + 

If speakers obviously mispronounce a word such as saying "anenome" instead of "anemone," 

transcribe the word correctly and mark it with the plus symbol 

e.g., +anemone 

Fragments - 

Partial words or fragments are indicated with a hyphen. If someone says 'thir-thirty', the 

corresponding transcription would be thir- thirty. Please be sure to leave a blank space after the "-" 

in the above example. 

Restarts -- 

Speaker restarts are indicated with a double dash --. This annotation should be used when a speaker 

stops short, cutting him/herself off, before continuing with the utterance. Please study the following 

examples: 

brAmj -- brnAmj tEArfy yEny -- برامج 

يعني ما -- ما بيه آثير kvyr byh mA -- mA yEny

>nA mA d>qdm -- mA d>qdm twjyhy توجيهي دأقدم ما -- دأقدم ما أنا

و- -- وبعدين مرات mrAt wbEdyn -- -w

هم يعني ه- -- هاي هي hy hAy -- -h yEny hm

لكان أح- -- أحسن إذا آان تقدر tqdr kAn A <*Hsn >-- -H >lkAn

mn E$- -- mn >kvr mn E$ryn snp سنة عشرين أآثرمن من -- -عش من

myp w>rbEyn $hr- -- $hry? ? شهري -- -شهر وأربعين مية

ySyr byh >$yA' mA k- -- mA knt tqdr tkwn تكون تقدر آنت -- -ك ما أشياء بيه يصير

lmA Alwld bt- -- bySyr Emrh wAHd wE$ryn snp سنة وعشرين واحد عمره ديصير -- -دت الولد لما

Interjections and filled pauses (%AH , %UM, etc) 

 English Arabic 

Fillers with a vowel sound and no nasal (uh, ah, eh) %AH آه% 

Fillers with a nasal sound (um, uhm, hm, mm) %UM أم% 

Positive interjections (uh huh, mm hmm,) %UH-HUH آها% 

Negative interjections %UH-UH أهوه% 

Transcribe yeah, yep, and nope if that is what is said. Spell OK as okay. 

Proper Names ^ 

Proper names are to be labeled with the caret ^ symbol. This symbol is used in front of each word 

part of the proper name. If the name is comprised of more than one word, the entire name should be 

enclosed in single parentheses 
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e.g., (هندي ^سامية^) (^Samia ^Hindi) 

 (Mubarak ^President^) (^الرئيس ^مبارك)

The caret ^ is only used with name entities and name locations - mostly to signal that they could 

have a variable transcription/transliteration. The names of days, months, and holidays are 

considered normal nouns and not marked in Arabic. 

Note: The previous constraint “Do not use the caret for common nouns that are part of a title or 

surname” has been removed as it causes confusion for transcribers. All names and titles in a proper 

name will be marked with a caret. 

For English, all proper nouns should be transcribed with initial capital letters as per normal spelling 

conventions. The caret and single parentheses should also be used to mark names and locations to 

align with the above conventions. Following are some further examples of correct markup for 

proper names 

eg (^Missus ^Scurr) 

(^Toys ^_R ^Us) 

 (^President ^George ^_W ^Bush) 

 (^Johanna ^Edwards ^Junior) 

 (^Sir ^Georg ^Solti) 

 (^Henry ^Kissinger) P_H_D 

 

Language Switching/Foreign words 

English tag %foreign 

Arabic tag أجنبي% 

Occasionally, a speaker may switch back and forth between two languages (such as English and 

Arabic) for a short period of time or may use a term from another language. Portions of speech in 

another language are annotated to indicate the language and wherever possible the words that are 

spoken in that language transcribed. The language name should appear in all capital letters, and the 

transcription should be connected with underscores (in place of spaces), exactly as in the following 

example. 

e.g., %FRENCH_merci_beaucoup 

If the annotator does not know the name of the language or what is being said, he/she should use the 

%foreign tag in its place. 

ORTHOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS 

a. Punctuation: Use full stops and question marks along with accompanying timestamps to mark 

logical break points when transcribing speaker turns. Also retain any punctuation that is part of 

the standard spelling of a word (for example, o'clock, I'll, don't, and it's). 
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36 

b. Don't mark the beginning of sentences with a capital letter. Do capitalize the pronoun "I" and 

proper names,eg. ^Adam, ^Berkeley, and (^New ^York) 

c. Words will be represented in accordance with standard orthographic conventions (as found in a 

dictionary), unless the speaker’s pronunciation of a word is substantially different (e.g. “going 

to” pronounced “gonna,” or “want to” pronounced “wanna.”) In these cases, the transcription 

should imitate the pronunciation. Contractions should be transcribed in the conventional 

contraction form. 

d. Transcribe everything that was said as words or letters --- don't use numerals. For example, the 

year 1997 should be spelled out nineteen ninety seven, if it is pronounced in the usual way as 

"19" and "97." The same number could be transcribed as one thousand nine hundred and 

ninety seven or as nineteen hundred and ninety seven if this is what the speaker said. 

Transcription must represent what was actually said. If the speaker pronounces a zero like the 

letter "O" use the spelling oh to represent this pronunciation in numbers, eg. if the speaker 

pronounces zero as "oh" in a street address like 1901 Center St., it should be transcribed as 

nineteen oh one (^Center ^Street) 

NON-SPEECH ACOUSTIC EVENTS 

The following tags should be used to transcribe non-speech sounds 

Acoustic event English Tag Arabic Tag 

breath noise and lipsmacks %breath تنفس% 

laughter %laugh ضحك% 

cough, throat clear %cough سعال% 

sneezing %sneeze عطس% 

clicks and other intermittent noise %int مستقطع_إزعاج% 

beg. of continuous noise, speech, music <noise> <ضجيج_بداية <

end of continuous noise, speech, music </noise> <ضجيج_نهاية/ <

Note: If laughter or coughing extends over time, just mark the starting point. However if it crosses 

over into a new utterance it will need to be marked again at the start of each new utterance. 

NIST notes that background speech that is significantly loud will interfere with ASR and should be 

separately annotated — but this problem is not likely in the Transtac data. 
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IRAQI ARABIC TRANSCRIPTION 

General spelling Note: Modern Standard Arabic (=MSA) 

Adhere as closely as possible to unvocalized MSA spelling and word segmentation in all 

cases. 

e.g. اللهاو not و اللها for ‘wa Al-l~ah’ 

When in doubt about the spelling of a word or name, annotators should contact paper or online web 

references (dictionaries, atlases, etc.) 

The following example illustrates the application of these principles: the Iraqi utterance /?agul:ič/ 

(“I tell you” fem.sg.) will be transcribed as MSA لك أقل unvocalized, spelled as two words, using 

accepted MSA orthography. There are three notable exceptions: 

• If the word is listed as a high-frequency colloquial word (see below, HIGH FREQUENCY 

IRAQI WORDS) then it should be spelled as indicated in the list and no attempt should be made to 

render it in MSA. 

• If the word is a colloquial verb whose morphology deviates substantially from that of its MSA 

equivalent, then it should be written as indicated in the conjugation paradigms of colloquial verbs. 

(see below Perfect Verb Paradigms and Imperfect Verb Paradigms). 

• Nunation will be transcribed when it is recorded in speech. (see below Short vowels, diacritics, 

and Nunation) 

Contractions 

Contractions are extremely rare in Arabic. Annotators should limit their use to cases where they are 

actually produced by the speaker. Annotators must take care to transcribe exactly what the speaker 

says using standard orthography 

e.g., نص for نصف’ half’ 

Non-standard contractions should be spelled out in full. There are no hyphenated words in Arabic 

and annotators should consult a dictionary before using a hyphen. Compounds are written as single 

words, as in برمائي or قرطوسي

A good example of a contraction that exists in the Iraqi Arabic form is /has~a/ for /ha+Al+sAEah/. 

Suggested written form for that word will be هسا instead of the commonly used form هسه can be 

connected to a current but less frequent variant هسع with the deletion of the final consonant. There is 

evidence for this form in Tunisian Arabic where the word فيسع’ quickly’ is extremely frequent 

 .(في ساعة from(

An important annotation decision needs to be made when it comes to choosing whether the word 

under scrutiny is a ‘made-up’ word, a misused word, or a non-standard dialect term. 
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Word compounds and Multiwords 

Annotators should use the standard conventions of segmented and non-segmented words in MSA 

when it comes to the use of affixes and pronouns with nouns or verbs (including participles) and 

separately, prepositions with whichever words follow them. 

e.g., لي صار) 2 separate words) not صارلي) one word) 

^عبداالله not^ عبد ^االله

Regional Variant Spellings 

Most foreign words and place names already have established MSA spellings (Washington واشنطن, 

Los Angeles أنجلوس لوس(, but in cases where the MSA spelling has regional variants, follow the Iraqi 

spelling. 

e.g., "garage" (Iraqi: آراج -- contrast with Egyptian: جراج (

"congress" (Iraqi: آونغرس -- contrast with Egyptian: آونجرس (

Words that are not attested in MSA should be transcribed as expected in MSA, but according to 

Iraqi orthography. Note that although many computers are able to display "extended" Arabic 

characters, such as the Persian letters /p/ پ, /č/ چ, and /g/ گ, few systems provide the user with an 

easy way to actually type these characters on the keyboard. So, although these letters are potentially 

available for representing foreign sounds, the convention in MSA orthography is to substitute the 

corresponding and easily-available Arabic letters instead. Therefore, according to Iraqi practice, 

e.g., for /p/ use ب)e.g., "Pam" بام (

 for /č/ use تش)e.g., "Chet" تشيت (

for /g/ use غ)e.g., "Gilbert" غلبرت (

Unsure Spelling of Proper Name ^^ 

In transcribing foreign names, vowels are often conventionally represented in the script using the 

long glide (vocalic/consonantal) letters و ,ي and the ‘alif’ ا to represent the non-Arabic vocalic 

range [ i , e , a , o , u ] 

e.g., ولسون ^for ‘Wilson’ 

ماري ^for ‘Mary’ 

When annotators encounter a name whose spelling they are not sure of, they should make their best 

guess and transcribe it with a double caret ^ ^ . 

e.g., شيراك ^^for ‘Chirak’ 

 
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Interdialectal variation (DIALECT word) 

Sometimes annotators borrow from other Arabic dialects. In this case, the source dialect should be 

tagged: The following Arabic Dialects have been included so far 

ALG EGP GLF IRQ LEB JOR MOR PAL SAU SYR

%سوري %سعودي %فلسطيني %مغربي %أردني %لبناني %عراقي %خليجي %مصري %جزائري_

%مصري_آويس .eg

MSA and IA phonological differences 

The following regular phonological differences between MSA and IA do not justify departing from 

MSA orthography when transcribing the colloquial form: 

• MSA velar /q/ → IA voiced velar stop /g/. 

Examples: قال) MSA /qa:l/, IA /ga:l/) 

• MSA velar stop /k/ → IA palato-alveolar affricate /č/. 

Examples: آلب) MSA /kalb/, IA /čalib/) 

Ta marbuta 

Ta marbuta should be written with the two dots (ةـ (whether pronounced /a/ or /t/ 

Short vowels, diacritics, and Nunation 

Do not transcribe the short vowels /a/, /u/, /i/, or the diacritics indicating zero-vowel ("sukun") and 

gemination ("shadda"). When Nunation ("tanwin") is recorded in speech it should be transcribed. 

The most common examples all involve use of "fatHatan" (e.g., /?ahlan wa-sahlan/ًوسهلا ًأهلا(, 

although some uses of "kasratan" are recorded in educated or elevated speech (e.g., /?ila Had:in 

ma:/ما ٍحد إلى(. Note that the "fatHatan" may occur without an alif chair: 

(e.g., /xa:S:atan/ًخاصة (

Glottal stop (hamza) 

All glottal stops to be written according to transcription/translation provider’s Hamza Rules below. 

Description - Initial Hamza Insert Hamza 

1st person singular present tense 

eg. >aktub, >arsim YES 

Plural nouns starting with alif eg. >aEmaA YES 

Pronouns eg. <intuwA, <inta, .....etc YES 

Digits eg. >abaEap,....etc YES 

Comparatives eg. >akbar, >ajmal, >aHlaY YES 
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Perfect tense starting with alif + kasra & its 

corresponding noun 

eg. AistifEal, AistafEaAl, AistiEmal, AistaEmaAl 

NO 

Perfect tense starting with alif + fatha & its 

corresponding noun eg. >aElan, <iElaAn 

YES 

Imperatives starting with initial alif eg. <ijlis YES 

Prepositions starting with alif eg. <ilaY YES 

Medial Hamza 

Medial hamza pronounced as ‘yaA’ when spelt with 

hamza in MSA eg. qaA}map, maA}lap 

(Not to be confused with words without hamza in 

standard grammar eg. SaAyir) 

YES 

Medial hamza omitted eg. yiTam~an, muwnap NO 

Medial alif with hamza not pronounced 

eg. raAs, yaAxu* 

(If hamza is pronounced, spell it eg. yis>al) 

 NO 

Final Hamza 

Final hamza not pronounced 

eg. $aA', masaA', balaA', ....etc YES 

Final hamza on chair pronounced as ‘yaA’ 

eg. $aATi}, maTaAfi}, haAdi}...etc. 

(Except for when it is a proper noun eg. haAdiy) 

YES 

Verbal prefixes and suffixes 

Colloquial verbs follow MSA paradigms, but with modifications to the underlying tri-consonantal 

radicals and with the addition of purely colloquial clitics. 

The colloquial Perfect Verb follows MSA suffixation orthography except for: 

• the MSA 2nd pers. fem. sg. marker /-ti/ is written تي in colloquial Arabic (note: this parallels the 

colloquial orthography of the pronoun /?inti/ إنتي(. 

شنو سويتي البارحة ؟ :Example

• the MSA 2nd pers. masc. pl. subject marker /-tum/ is shortened to /-tu/ in colloquial and written توا 

(this parallels the orthography of the Imperfect يكتبوا(. 

وبن رحتوا وين إجيتوا ؟ :Example

The colloquial Perfect Verb follows MSA stem orthography except for the following: 
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• MSA doubled verbs are treated as finally-weak verbs in colloquial. 

Examples: /HaT:e:t/ حطيت, /Zal:e:t/ ظليت 

• MSA verbs with hamza as third radical are treated as finally-weak verbs in colloquial. 

Example: /gare:t/ قريت) MSA /qara?tu/ قرأت (Note: this rule is identical to the earlier-cited rule of 

MSA glottal stop → /y/ or vocalic length in various environments 

 

• Hollow MSA verbs with hamza as third radical are resyllabified in IA in the conjugation of the 

perfect. 

Example: /?iğa/ إجا) MSA /ğa:?a/ جاء(, /?iğu:/ إجوا) MSA /ğa:?u:/ جاؤوا (

PERFECT VERB PARADIGMS 

هو بات شاف قرا إجا

هم باتوا شافوا قروا إجوا

هي باتت شافت قرت إجت

إنت بتت شفت قريت إجيت

إنتي بتي شفتي قريتي إجيتي

إنتوا باتوا شفتوا قريتوا إجيتوا

أنا بتت شفت قريت إجيت

إحنا بتنا شفنا قرينا إجينا

The colloquial Imperfect Verb follows MSA orthography except for the following: 

• the colloquial verb particle /d-/ is prefixed to the imperfect verb subject marker prefixes y-, t-, n-, 

and A- (the concatenation sequence is as follows: colloquial verb particle /d-/ + MSA subject 

marker /y-,t-,n-,A-/ + imperfect verb stem). 

 دأعرف , دنعرف , دتعرف , ديعرف :Examples

IMPERFECT VERB PARADIGMS 

هو ديكتب ديشوف ديقرا ديجي

هم ديكتبون ديشوفون ديقرون ديجون

هي دتكتب دتشوف دتقرا دتجي

إنت دتكتب دتشوف دتقرا دتجي

إنتي دتكتبين دتشوفين دتقرين دتجين

إنتوا دتكتبون دتشوفون دتقرون دتجون

أنا دأآتب دأشوف دأقرا دأجي

إحنا دنكتب دنشوف دنقرا دنجي

Pronominal suffixes and verbal objects (prepositional phrases and direct objects) 

MSA orthography should be followed in all cases. Note, especially, the following: 

• The 3rd pers. masc. sg. possessive pronoun should be written هـ, and not وـ. For example, /kita:bo/ 

should be written آتابه, and not آتابو (
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• Verbal prepositional phrase objects should be written as in MSA (i.e., not cliticized). For example, 

/gultil:ak/ should be written لك قلت, and not قلتلك or قلتللك. 

Pronominal suffixes and active participles 

Unlike MSA, IA active particles may take pronominal suffixes. Note the following: 

الكتاب بي معلومات قيمة Not الكتاب بيه معلومات قيمة .,g.e

Numerals 

All numerals should be written out as complete words. Numerals from 11 to 19 show a form of 

word contraction in most Arabic dialects. 

إدعش> idE$ ‘eleven’ 

إثنعش< vnE$ ‘twelve’ 

خمسطعش xumuSTE$ ‘fifteen 

Except for the numerals 11-19 (see below), follow MSA orthography (or parallel MSA forms) in all 

cases. Note, especially, the following examples: 

Iraqi 

Arabic 

Number 

 11 إدعش

 12 إثنعش

 13 تلتطعش

 14 أرباطعش

 15 خمسطعش

 16 ستطعش

 17 سباطعش

 18 ثمنطعش

 19 تساطعش

 3000 ثلاثة آلاف

 4000 أربعة آلاف

 5000 خمسة آلاف

 6000 ستة آلاف

 7000 سبعة آلاف

 8000 ثمانية آلاف

 9000 تسعة آلاف

 10,000 عشرة آلاف
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Days of the week Months of the year 

 January آانون الثاني / يناير / الواحد Monday الإثنين

 February شباط / فبراير / الثاني Tuesday الثلاثاء

 March آذار / مارس / الثالث Wednesday الأربعاء

 April نيسان / أبريل / الرابع Thursday الخميس

 May آيار / مايو / الخامس Friday الجمعة

 June حزيران / مايو / السادس Saturday السبت

 July تموز / يوليو / السابع Sunday الأحد

 August آب / أغسطس / الثامن 

 September أيلول / سبتمبر / التاسع 

تشرين الأول / أآتوبر / 

العاشر

October 

تشرين الثاني / نوفمبر / 

الإدعش

November 

آانون الأول / ديسمبر / 

الإثنعش

December 

IRAQI ARABIC/ENGLISH TRANSLATION: This is based on the document “TransTac 

Data Steering Committee (DSC), English/Iraqi Arabic, Version 5, April 19, 2005” 

Contents: 

1. Guidelines for Preparing Transcripts for Translation 

2. Guidelines for Translators 

3. Guidelines for Checking and Distributing Translations 

4. Guidelines for Preparing Data for Translators 

Transcripts should be prepared before being sent to translators. [Note: The material in this section 

has made its way into “Babylon Transcription Conventions, Updated: April 7, 2005”]. 

1.1 Line Numbers

The audio recordings include at least 2 speakers: an interviewer and a respondent. 

Line numbers and time-stamps should be prepared so that the translators know where to type their 

translations. The file sent to translators should look like this: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you <noise> ? 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: 

 صباح الخير يا سيدي أي خدمة ؟ :(4.001-4.601)[interpreterIAH[0002- Line

Line 0002-[interpreterIAH2EH]: 

 يا صباح النور االله يخليكم اآو مشكلة مع سيارتي . :(4.601-5.233)[respondentIAH[0003- Line

Line 0003-[respondentIAH2EH]: 

Line 0004-[interpreterEH](5.233-5.902): good morning I have some problem with my car . 

Line 0004-[interpreterEH2IAH]: 

Line 0005-[interviewerEH](5.902-6.61): what is the problem ? 

شنو المشكلة ؟ :[IAH2interviewerEH[0005- Line

 
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1.2 Breaking Long Segments

Long segments in transcriptions will be translated into similarly long segments. These long 

segment pairs can be hard for machines to learn from. Segments longer than roughly 25 words 

should be broken into smaller segments, at logical break points, before being sent for translation. If 

you see a transcript fragment like this: 

good morning sir I think you know (^Corporal ^Bailey) from the other day he suggested we meet 

and discuss how we might solve your problem 

 

The above text should be broken up like this: 

good morning sir .

I think you know (^Corporal ^Bailey) from the other day . 

he suggested we meet and discuss how we might solve your problem . 

2. Guidelines for Translators

2.1 What the Source Text Looks Like 

The transcripts of recorded conversations will have line numbers and speaker information on each 

line, so you can tell which speaker said what sentence. For example: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you <noise> ? 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: 

صباح الخير يا سيدي أي خدمة . :(4.601-5.233)[respondentIAH[0003- Line

Line 0003-[respondentIAH2EH]: 

Line 0005-[interviewerEH](5.902-6.61): what is the problem ? 

Line 0005-[interviewerEH2IAH]: 

Note that transcripts include at least 2 speakers: an interviewer and a respondent. 

The transcript may also include segments spoken by an interpreter. The interpreter text will also be 

translated. 

2.2 Where to Type Translations

You should write the translation on the line below the source utterance: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): good morning sir may I help you ? 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: type your translation here 

صباح الخير يا سيدي أي خدمة ؟ :(4.001-4.601)[interpreterIAH[0002- Line

Line 0002-[interpreterIAH2EH]: type your translation here

يا صباح النور االله يخليكم اآو مشكلة مع سيارتي . :(4.601-5.233)[respondentIAH[0003- Line

Line 0003-[respondentIAH2EH]: type your translation here 

If the source segment is English, you should translate into Iraqi Arabic. If the source is Iraqi 

Arabic, you should translate into English. A single document may contain mixed source material 
45

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(some English utterances, some Iraqi Arabic). We have put in tags like “EH2IAH” (“English-toIraqi-Arabic”) to remind you of the translation direction. 

2.3 Style of Translation

The goal of these translations is to take the source text -- which was originally spoken, not written -- 

and translate it, producing a result that sounds as if it were originally spoken in the target language. 

The translation must of course convey the meaning correctly, and should also sound conversational 

if you read it aloud. 

Important note for English-to-Iraqi-Arabic translation: Translate into Iraqi dialect, not Modern 

Standard Arabic (MSA). Try to resist the urge to use MSA words, and think instead how you 

would expect to hear the thought expressed in spoken Iraqi. 

Try to translate as literally as possible, but without sacrificing fluency or naturalness. For example, 

there are many ways to translate “You were hit by a bullet.” The preferred translation is one that is 

closest to “You were hit by a bullet” (rather than “a bullet hit you” or “it was a bullet that hit you”). 

Try to maintain the same speaking style (or register) as the source. For example, if the source is 

polite, the translation should maintain the same level of politeness. If the source is rude or angry, 

the translation should be rude or angry. However, please do not type curse words in your 

translations, even if they appear in the source. 

Because the source text is an unedited transcription of spoken conversations, it may sometimes be 

hard to read, and may make more sense if you read it aloud. You will see that the source text 

sometimes reflects the kinds of “mistakes” people say when they're speaking aloud. For example, 

“Uh no I'm um I think he's uh um his home is over there.” In this case, the speaker pauses (“uh”, 

“um”) and restarts the sentence three times, changing what he's planning to say (“I'm, I think he's, 

his home is over there”). Your translations will also have this “spoken-sounding” flavor, somewhat 

different from what you produce when you translate prose. 

2.4 Spelling Target-Language Words

It is very important for you to follow the writing conventions we supply, at all times. Ordinarily, 

there is a lot of variation in how words are spelled, when a word is written as a single word or 

broken up with one or more spaces, and so on. Ordinarily, this variation doesn't matter very much 

because a human being reading the text will be able to figure out what is meant, and will not be too 

confused about different spellings and where words are broken up. 

However, for our purposes, any variability will create a lot more work and cost a lot more, because 

the text will be read by computers. The computer does not understand that different spellings may 

mean the same word, and that a “word” may or may not have a space in the middle. It is therefore 

extremely important to be as consistent as possible in how things are written, and to proofread very 

carefully. 

• We have supplied transcription guidelines on our Iraqi Arabic writing conventions 

(extracted from “Guidelines for Transcribing Iraqi Arabic”). You should use these 

conventions when translating English to Iraqi Arabic. 
46

46 

• We have also supplied transcription guidelines on English writing conventions under the 

section headed ORTHOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS (extracted from “Babylon 

Transcription Conventions, Updated: April 7, 2005”). You should use these conventions 

when translating Iraqi Arabic to English. 

• While translations do not require transcription tags, alpha strings which comprise an 

acronym should be joined by an underscore as per the transcription conventions for both 

Arabic and English. eg. I_B_M 

Please ask us if you have any questions about writing conventions. 

2.5 Punctuation and Case

You will notice that the source texts only contain periods and question marks. Your translations 

should likewise not include any other punctuation. 

Even though punctuation such as commas and semi-colons would make a sentence easier for a 

human to read, it usually makes it harder for a computer to read, and these translations will all be 

processed by computer. 

Use normal upper- and lower-case for typing English (e.g., “Bush” for the person, but “bush” for 

the plant). The only exception for the first word of the sentence – treat it like any other word. That 

is, don’t capitalize it just because it comes first. For example, these are correct: “John came here” 

and “I came here” (“John” and “I” are always capitalized in your translations) but “you came here” 

(“you” is never capitalized in your translations). 

2.6 Angle Brackets and Percentage signs < > %

Angle brackets < > and percentage signs % are used in the English transcripts to enclose non-speech 

things, like background noises %noise, the speaker hesitating and saying %AH or %UM, the 

speaker breathing especially noticeably %breath, and so on. You will also see tags for marking 

overlapping speech, such as <overlap> and </overlap>. Don’t translate any of these items. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): %breath he just %AH needs to go <overlap> home 

</overlap> . 

 هو بس لازم يرجع للبيت . :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

2.7 Parentheses (())

Parentheses (()) are used when the person writing the transcript couldn't hear exactly what the 

speaker was saying. The words in parentheses are the writer's best guess at what the speaker said. 

Translate these as if there were no parentheses. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): please take this ((medicine)) today . 

خذ هاي الادوية اليوم . :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

2.8 Broken Words and Restarts

A dash - is used when the English speaker didn't say the whole word. Do not translate broken 

words. 
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Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): he just wa- -- wants to go home 

هو بس يريد يروح للبيت :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

It also happens fairly often that someone starts to say a word, then changes his or her 

mind about what s/he wants to say. The speaker may “restart” the sentence. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): he just wa- -- he just needs to go home 

هو بس هو بس لازم يروح للبيت :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

(Note again that broken words should never be translated). 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): I I just know him by Bill 

 آ- آني بس أعرفه باسم بيل :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

This indicates some hesitation, change of mind, or a particular style on the part of the speaker, and 

the translations should reflect this hesitation or style. If a word or phrase appears twice (like “he 

just” or “I”, above), try to translate it twice. If that is impossible, try to imitate the hesitation and restarting in the target language. 

Sometimes an utterance may split across multiple lines in English in a way that doesn't make sense 

syntactically in the source language. Translate these fragments on separate lines; do not combine 

lines or change line numbers. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): I'm going to look at %AH

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: أشوف هسا

Line 0002-[interviewerEH](4.601-5.233): your arm . 

Line 0002-[interviewerEH2IAH]: . ذراعك

Line 0003-[interviewerEH](5.902-6.611): okay go ahead . 

Line 0003-[interviewerEH2IAH]: . تفضل طب

2.9 Numbers

You will notice in the source texts that all numbers are “sounded out” using words. Please make 

sure you also “sound out” number translations. Do not type Arabic or Western numerals. 

 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): I was born in nineteen sixty five . 

انولدت في عام ألف وتسعمية و خمسة و ستين . :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

2.10 Proper Names

Sometimes proper names are hard to translate. If no ready translation springs to mind, then 

transliterate the name as best you can, and put the original word in brackets [ ] just after the 

transliteration. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH ](3.211-4.001): I need to talk to my friend (^Corporal ^Bailey) . 

 .[Bailey [آني لازم أحكي مع صاحبي اسمه العريف بايلي :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

However, translate well-known person and place names (e.g., George Bush, John, Baghdad, Kabul) 

as they are written normally in the target language: 
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Line 0001-[interviewerEH ](3.211-4.001): ^John says that (^George ^Bush) is visiting ^Baghdad . 

يقول جون إنه جورج بوش ديزور بغداد . :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

Some proper names may be translated partly by sound, and partly by meaning. Strive for the most 

natural translation: 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): I come from (^Southern ^California) . 

آني جاي من آاليفورنيا الجنوبي . :[IAH2interviewerEH[0001- Line

If you use acronyms that are sounded out letter-by-letter, please be sure to follow the writing 

convention guidelines, joining the letters with an underscore _ 

 آني مع الجيش الإمريكي . :(4.601-5.233)[respondentIA[0003- Line

Line 0003-[respondentIAH2EH]: I am with the U_S Army . 

2.11 Context

Always consider the context when translating. For instance, the English word “okay” appears 

numerous times. It could mean several things in Iraqi Arabic. Make it close to authentic Iraqi 

Arabic as much as possible. 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): okay thank you . 

Line 0001-[interviewerEH2IAH]: ً. شكرا زين

Line 0002-[interviewerEH](3.211-4.001): okay . 

Line 0002-[interviewerEH2IAH]: . تمام

Line 0003-[interviewerEH](5.902-6.61): okay so now what’s your -- what’s your child’s name sir ? 

زين هسا قل لي يا سيدي شاسم بنتك ؟ :[IAH2interviewerEH[0003- Line

2.12 Checking

It is very important to proofread and spell check every file. 

3. Guidelines for Checking and Distributing Translations 

Research and development sites need parallel texts in a form that they can use directly. A final pass 

over translators’ work will reduce duplicated effort. 

3.1 Spell Checking and Proofreading

Translations should be proofread, postedited, and spell-checked by a native speaker of the target 

language who is familiar with this document and the goals of the TransTac program. 

This is necessarily an interactive process. Early in the process, you will find systematic problems in 

the translations. Please take these problems back to the translators and explain them, so that future 

translations will require less postediting. 

3.2 Text-Only Format

Translations should be distributed in text-only format, not in Word format. 

Distributed files should consist of source line, translation line -- then repeat. The total number of 

lines in a distributed file should be divisible by two (2). 
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49 

New translation data should be appended to previous distributions, i.e., any new distribution should 

contain all program translation data. 

3.3 Character Encoding

Both English and Iraqi Arabic text should be distributed in UTF-8 encoding. 

HIGH FREQUENCY IRAQI WORDS 

Iraqi Standard 

Arabic 

MSA Equivalent 

أنتظر أتاني

لهذا أثاري

عديم الأخلاق أخلاق سز

عديم الأخلاق أدب سز

أربعة عشر أرباطعش

إذاً أشو

عفا أفا

يوجد أآو

صيغة استهلال الكلام في ألو

التلفون

أواه أيباخ

إثنا عشر إثنعش

إحدى عشر إدعش

توي ستوني

تجول إفتر

لهم/لها/له/لكم/لك/لن لهم/لها/له/لكم/لك/لنا

آخر لاخ

أخرى لخ

نظر باوع

سارق بايق

غداً باآر

سرق باق

قطة بزونة

ضرب بسط

بلوى بلاية
50

50 

بدأ بلش

ربما بلكي

زورق / قارب بلم

نعم بلي

أنبوب بوري

بأي بيا

جدتي بيبي

جدة بيبية

ستة عشر ستطعش

مزح تشاقى

ثلاثة عشر تلتطعش

رز تمن

عصاً توثية

توي توني

ثمانية عشر ثمنطعش

زجاج جام

جالب جايب

سيجارة جكارة

سجائر جكاير

ظننت حسبالي

ملعقة خاشوآة

ابتزاز خاوة

دخل خش

أنف خشم

ضيوف خطار

مسكين خطية

دع / خلي خل

ضع / دع خلي

مزاج خلق

ةسمخ_رشع خمسطعش

دع / خلي خن
51

51 

إذاً خو

آريم خواردة

إذاً خوب

إذاً خوباً

جيد خوش

بعث / أرسل دز

معضلة / دوار دوخة

رمى ذب

هؤلاء ذولا

هؤلاءك ذولاك

رجل رجال

سوف رح

وبخ رزل

ليت ريت

فطور ريوق

هطل / هطول مطر زخ

 غزير

أفخاذ زرور

ذآر / رجل زلمة

طيب / حسناً زين

عادة سولة

مداس / نعل شحاطة

علبة آبريت شخاطة

قبعة شفقة

مزاح شقى

ماذا شكو

آيف شلون

رمى شمر

ما هو شنو

ما هي شني

آيف شون

للقدر / بكم شقد

هدوء / سكون صنطة
52

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ذنب صوج

ضجرة ضوجة

مقلاة طاوة

ضرب طخ

فرقعة طرقاعة

آرة طوبة

بعدها عادين

صرخ عاط

ظن عباله

ظننت عبالي

لأن عبن

على أساس عأساس

لأجل علمود

يا ليت علواه

على أي شيء علويش

لأي شيء عليش

على من عليمن

بعدها عودين

صارخ عايط

إذاً عيل

ضفدع عكرك

بعض فد

فداء فدوة

جفل فز

إمتلأ قبط

غطاء قبغ

معطف قبوط

سرير قريولة

إبري قط

حذاء قندرة

علبة قوطية

إبريق آتلي
53

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أجرة آروة

محتال / نصاب آلاوجي

آل ساعة آلسع

جداً آلش

خزانة ملابس آنتور

للساعة لسا

نشل لغف

لماذا لويش

يوجد ماآولا

خاص مال

خاصة مالة

خاصتك مالتك

أحد محدلا

مبعثر مخربط

من هنا منا

من هناك مناك

مزآوم منشول

من منو

لكن / أليس مو

بوظة موطة

طاولة ميز

إنفلونزا نشلة

نصف نص

هذا هاذ

هذا القدر هالقد

هذه هي هاهي

ذلك هاي

تلك هايه

ذاك هذاك

هؤلاء هذول

هذه الساعة هسا

توي هستوني
54

54 

أهلاً هلو

همآذلك / أيضاً

أيضاً هماتين

أيضاً همين

آثيراً هوايا

جمهرة هوسة

هكذا هيكي

رغبة واهس

يرسل ودي

ويلك ولك

ويلكم ولكم

مع ويا

معي وياي

أين وين

ياقة ياخة

أتى إجا

يرعب يخرع

يخطف يخمط

يتدحرج يتدهدر

يلائم يرهم

يبري يقط

يلغي يكنسل

عند / بجوار يم

يهرس يمرد

يمزق يمعط

بجوارك يمك

يعطي ينطي

يرسل يودي

يفحص يتشيك

درجة باية

مرحومة بنكة

طريقة / وسيلة جارة
55

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مطرقة جاآوج

شاي شاي

سرير جرباية

شوآة طعام جطل

بالإضافة إلى آمالة

أنبوبة جوب

آيس آوشر

آيس من الخيش آونية