Date Format | IndianScribes

Date format in transcription can be confusing because the spoken form is often different from the written form, plus there are many different date formats – official and unofficial – used around the world.

If you’re looking for clear guidelines, the best sources of information are the standard Style Guides for writing. These guides are very detailed and cover all possible combinations of days, months, and years.

Of course transcription is different from writing because what we transcribe is dictated, literally, by speakers on a recording, yet the rules make things much easier.

We’ve listed the most common style guides at the end of the post for your reference, but for this post we’ll use the most popular one, the AP Style Guide, which was created by Associated Press and is used by Journalists worldwide. (Please note that the AP Style Guide uses the American date format. For UK and European format, please refer to the list at the end of this post.)

This post covers date formats for:

Decades & Centuries
Months
Months with Years
Months with Days
Months in Tabular Format
Month, Day, and Year
Day of the Week, Month, Day, and Year
Date Ranges

Transcribing Decades & Centuries

Type the full year in Arabic numbers with an s at the end (without an apostrophe).

Examples: 1920s | ’20s | 1700s

Transcribing Months

Spell out the month with the first letter capitalized.

For e.g. January, February, March etc.

Transcribing Months with Years

Spell out the month with the year, without a comma in between.

For e.g. January 2018 or February 1952

Transcribing Months with Days

Type the month and then the day in Arabic numbers without a comma in between.

Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. and spell out the rest.

For e.g. Sep. 4 or April 8

Transcribing Month, Day, and Year

Type the month, then the day in Arabic numbers (without st, nd, rd, or th), then the year.

Place a comma after the day.

Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. and spell out the rest.

For e.g. Aug. 19, 2018 or March 3, 1832, etc.

Transcribing Day of the Week, Month, Day, and Year

Spell out the day of the week, then the month, then day in Arabic numbers (without st, nd, rd, or th), and then the year.

Place a comma after the day of the week and after the day.

Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. and spell out the rest.

For e.g. Thursday, July 4, 2015 | Monday, Oct. 22, 1932

Note: In all cases, the first letter of the month and day should be capitalized.

Tip: If the speaker just says the date in numerals without a month or year, you can type it as such. For e.g. I get my salary on the 1st of every month or She will visit her grandma on Friday the 7th.

Transcribing Months inside Tables

In tables, use three-letter forms of the months without a period at the end.

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

Transcribing Date Ranges

For date ranges with the same month, type the month, then the range of days in Arabic numbers (without st, nd, rd, or th).

Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. and spell out the rest.

For e.g. Feb. 13-14, 2018 or June 7-23 or Nov. 1, 1932 to Jan. 15, 1933

Those are the common date formats based on the AP Style Guide. Remember, these are only guidelines. In case of verbatim transcription, you would most likely type exactly what the speaker said, no matter what the style guide says. If you have a doubt, check with your client or guide.

In intelligent verbatim transcription you have more freedom to change dates to the correct format but as far as possible, don’t change what the speaker said for the sake of following rules.