This essay reserves the term ‘transcription’ for the generic concept itself, and distinguishes between the following terms: ‘transcribing’ for the activity, ‘transcript’ for the result, and ‘notation’ for the tools of that activity, i.e., the set of signs used to represent selective aspects of spoken discourse graphically. Restricting the coverage to transcription from spoken discourse, its verbal, prosodic, para-and extralinguistic component are discussed. In addition to the well-established transcription system devised by researchers in the Survey of English Usage in London and Lund (see Svartvik & Quirk 1992), which is still widely used especially in northern Europe, there are at least five systems in current use for transcribing spoken discourse: those of John W. Du Bois (1991), Konrad Ehlich (1993), John Gumperz & Norine Berenz (1993), Gail Jefferson (1988), and Brian MacWhinney (1991).