IPA Transcriber Help

How much text can I transcribe?

Up to 10,000 characters and 2,500 words or other items at a time. Longer text is refused as a whole and kept in the box; nothing is cut.

Which systems can I choose?

General American and British RP-style, when this build includes them. A system that is not available is shown as such; the tool never falls back to the other one.

Messages and codes

E_INPUT_EMPTY

There is no word or item to review. Type or paste at least one English word, then choose Transcribe.

E_INPUT_LIMIT

The text is over 10,000 characters or 2,500 items. Nothing was removed; shorten or split the text, then choose Transcribe.

E_UNSUPPORTED_TEXT

The text contains control or direction-override characters, often picked up by copying. Remove them — the text stays in the box — and choose Transcribe.

E_LEXICON_FETCH

The pronunciation data could not be downloaded within 20 seconds. Check the connection and choose Retry; your text is kept.

E_LEXICON_HASH

The downloaded data failed its integrity check, so none of it was used. Choose Retry once; if it fails again, reload the page later.

E_VERSION_MISMATCH

The page and its pronunciation data belong to different versions, usually right after an update. Reload the page.

E_ENGINE_TIMEOUT

Transcribing took longer than 5 seconds and was stopped. Try a shorter text, or choose Retry.

E_ENGINE

Transcription failed. Your text is kept; choose Retry.

Why does a word wait for my choice?

Words such as “read” or “lead” have more than one pronunciation in the data. The tool does not guess from context: choose the right one for each occurrence in the word editor.

Does changing one occurrence change the others?

No. Each occurrence is edited on its own. Undo and Redo step through your word edits; Restore generated puts every word back to the generated result.

Messages and codes

E_IPA_INVALID

The IPA you typed cannot be saved: it has a line break, a slash inside it, angle brackets, a direction control, a mark without a letter, a symbol outside the teaching set or more than 128 symbols. Fix it and choose Save.

E_STALE_RESULT

The text or system changed, so the transcript is out of date. Choose Transcribe, or Restore previous input and result.

What does “Not in this dictionary” mean?

The word is not covered by this system’s data. It does not mean the word has no pronunciation. Open the word and type its IPA, or leave it unresolved; the transcript then stays a draft.

Are numbers and abbreviations read out?

No. Digits, dates and abbreviations are kept as written. Type the reading you need as the word’s IPA, or write it out in words and transcribe again.

Why does my file say DRAFT?

At least one word is unresolved. It appears as ⟦word?⟧ and the status stays DRAFT until you resolve it; the mark cannot be switched off.

Why is there a source note under the IPA?

The pronunciation data comes from third-party sources whose licences require attribution, so every copy and file names them.

Messages and codes

E_EXPORT_CHANGED

The transcript changed while a copy or file was being prepared, so it was cancelled. Try again.

E_EXPORT

The file could not be built. Your transcript is kept; try again.

E_CLIPBOARD

The browser blocked copying. Select the text in the box that appears and copy it yourself, or choose Download TXT.

E_FONT

The IPA font did not load, so symbols use a fallback font. Copied and downloaded text is unchanged. Choose Retry IPA font; printing waits for the font.

E_PRINT_OVERFLOW

One row is taller than a printed page. The preview names the row; shorten its IPA or the title and print again.

Where is my work saved?

Nowhere, unless you choose Save project. That downloads an .ipa.json file to your device, which you can open again with Open project. There is no account and no cloud copy.

Why does an opened project say “Imported snapshot”?

A file can be edited outside this site, so its source labels are not trusted. Transcribe again to use the current data.

Messages and codes

E_PROJECT_SIZE

Project files can be at most 2 MiB. The file was not opened and your current work is unchanged.

E_PROJECT_JSON

The file is not a readable project file (.ipa.json). It was not opened; your current work is unchanged.

E_PROJECT_VERSION

The file uses a project format version this site does not support (only 1.0). It was not opened.

E_PROJECT_SCHEMA

The file does not match the project format or contains unsafe fields. It was not opened.

E_PROJECT_SPAN

The words in the file do not line up with its own text. It was not opened.

E_HANDOFF_EXPIRED

The transcript sent to the worksheet page is older than 5 minutes or was already used. Go back to the transcriber and choose Make worksheet again, or open a saved project on the worksheet page.

E_STORAGE

This browser did not let the page pass the transcript to the worksheet page. Choose Save project, then use Open project on the worksheet page.

What does Read original text do?

It reads your original text, not the IPA, with a voice installed on this device. It never uses an online voice and stops when the text or system changes or you leave the page.

Messages and codes

E_VOICE_UNAVAILABLE

No matching voice is installed on this device, so reading aloud is off. Transcription still works; online voices are never used.

E_VOICE

Reading stopped because the device’s speech engine reported an error. Transcription still works.