Transcription

In this day and age where everyone consumes and produces recordings, either the audio or video kind, transcripts are an on-demand add-on that makes data gathering for work or for leisure a whole lot better. This saves you time in going through yesterday’s recorded meeting, just because you missed to take note of that deadline you have to beat, or rewinding an old focus group discussion for the sole reason that you failed to jot down one respondent’s last name. In this sense, transcripts provide the option of skipping the tedious process of playbacks, and instead, offer a fast and easy mode of information collation in text format.

What is a Transcriptionist?

This process of converting audio or video recordings to written documents is done by transcriptionists. They are individuals who labor in capturing all spoken dialogues (sometimes, even gestures) as precisely as possible to match the one on tape.

Just like any other profession, transcribers may choose to specialize in a particular field. They may be categorized as a:

• Legal transcriptionist, where most of the files they handle are court hearings, client or organizational meetings, and deposition interviews. A practitioner of law, or otherwise, are expected to know their way around legal jargons and definitions in order to follow the flow of the conversation per assignment.
• Health transcriptionist. Often, they work on dictation files from medical doctors in need of archiving their patient records for the day. These transcribers may also work on various market research interviews or focus group discussions that are centered on science or biotech advancements. In order to produce client-ready files under this category, one must be thorough in getting all medical terminologies and procedures right.
• IT transcriptionist. These individuals translate recordings into text that concern technology in its broadest sense. Those specializing in IT transcripts may find themselves typing out an international conference discussing machine learning or corporate meetings targeting brand development. Truly, it’s a no-brainer that these transcribers are tech-savvy and are up-to-date with the technological advancements there is in the market.
• Business transcriptionist, where they take note of recordings ranging from the topics of finance, marketing, and economics. They mostly labor on producing written versions of business meetings and reports. Not only do these transcriptionists know a company’s structure from the ground and up, but they are also familiar with the way these various industries run.
• General transcriptionist. They work on recordings about anything under the sun. This bunch may be transcribing an episode from a renowned television show to a newly-released podcast by a start-up company. Without really knowing what assignments they might get next, general transcribers take the time in educating themselves briefly about the topic at hand and researching all important details that might be mentioned in the recording.

How to be a Certified Transcriptionist?

Transcription work is no walk in the park. One must possess certain skillsets in order to fit the role and work on requests as seamless as possible. Moreover, learning how to generate accurate transcriptions is also essential. Those interested for the position must:

• Have strong listening skills. There is no one formula for a recording. They may vary in length, quality, and type. Whether it be a crystal clear in-depth interview of only five minutes long or a very muffled focus group discussion running for two solid hours, a good transcriber should be able to translate the recording into its text version as accurately as possible.
• Have good research skills. Unless one sticks to their specialization religiously, a transcriptionist may work on files ranging from the topics of medicine, entertainment, and marketing, among many others. With this, research becomes vital in catching heavy jargons, as well as proper nouns mentioned in the recording. After all, being able to type out every dialogue is only good if the transcript is of high accuracy.
• Have keen attention to details. Clients may request for verbatim transcripts. This type requires every single utterance transcribed – from all the uhms and ahhs, to the repetitive kind like ofs and sort ofs. No matter how difficult the recording is, how fast the speakers may talk, or how noisy the background is, an excellent transcriptionist should be able to take note of what’s being discussed in the audio or video file – no more, no less.
• Observe proper grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Client-ready transcripts are not only precise to the core but they should also be typed out neatly and correctly. When working with written documents, it is a no-brainer that practicing proper mechanics is a must.
• Be diligent and patient. As mentioned earlier, converting recordings to written reports is not that easy. Rewinding the audio again and again, only to catch that one sentence the speaker said, can be frustrating at times. Laboring over a three-hour long meeting that comes with multiple crosstalks among its participants can be overwhelming too. With all these issues tied to transcription work, one must be hard-working and patient enough to come up with clean and complete transcripts.
• Be able to beat the deadline. Transcripts, much like any other report or project, are to be delivered on a deadline. Efficient transcribers make it a point to work on their files and be able to submit them at a timely manner, withstanding every issue they may encounter, without sacrificing the transcript’s quality.

Apart from particular skillsets, working on transcriptions requires a couple of equipment and tools to get the job done. Here are a few essential items to kick-start a transcription career:

• Good pair of earphones. With listening being the key effort in this industry, it is only right to invest on a set of high quality earphones. When working on difficult recordings, trust that an excellent pair can give you an extra boost in your transcription labor.
• Transcription software. Instead of opening and closing the default audio or video player on your computer to play or pause the recording, feel free to download a transcription software to make transcribing a lot easier. Express Scribe is a good example as it allows the use of hot keys or foot pedal, which makes controlling the recording easier — the options play, pause, rewind, or fast forward are just a tap away.
• Reliable internet connection. Now, more than ever, internet is automatically essential when working. Collecting the recording for transcription and then sending the accomplished document back to the client may be done through the web. As for the work itself, fact checking may be acquired in just a split second, all thanks to Google. Having a reliable internet connection now becomes a need more than just a want, more so if you’re transcribing at the comforts of your home.

While there are no standard qualifications required in becoming a professional transcriptionist, there are various associations that provide certifications to individuals who are interested in mastering the field of transcriptions.

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), for instance, certifies Registered Professional Reporters (RPR). Unlike regular legal transcribers, RPRs are assigned to handle court reports solely. As most things legal contain heavy sensitive and confidential matters, some states consider additional licensure and training vital to those working on court transcripts.

Meanwhile, for the medical field, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) is one organization that offers training courses to prepare those interested in making health transcriptions a profession. Aside from being equipped with modules and webinars, AHDI also grants Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) and Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist (CHDS) examinations that may be considered strong add-ons to a veteran’s or a beginner’s transcription credential.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking of starting a career out of transcriptions, now is the perfect time to do it! Pursuing the general transcription route, to begin with, is the best way to go. With audio and video recordings about all sorts readily available on the internet, transcribing online is a good exercise to becoming an efficient and effective transcriber. After all, practice makes perfect, right?

Practicing law is more than attending corporate meetings on a daily basis and walking through court hearings one after another. These are just the tip of the iceberg for common law firms. Even the big screen depicts it as the legal profession often associated with hard labors over mountains of paper works – may it be for drafting settlements or reading transcripts for an upcoming case.

By definition, legal transcripts are any spoken legal proceedings or dictions converted into text format. However simple that may seem, these documents play a big role in a variety of industries. Here are some few practices where legal transcriptions come in handy for law firms: 

1. Reviewing depositions. All matters in need of a legal resolution start with a deposition. Depositions are vital for it serves as the stage where parties gather all the necessary information to win a case or to settle a corporate dilemma. These include sworn testaments by individuals involved in the issue. These interrogations are often captured through audio or video recordings. After being mindful of asking the right questions, law practitioners then need to thoroughly analyze the collected data to build a case. If there’s time to spare, they can rewind the recordings to capture details they may have missed during the witness examination. However, since law practitioners are busy people in general, they should opt for an alternative that provides a faster and more accurate route on note taking and reviewing — deposition transcripts. With everything typed out, identifying key notes, dates, and evidences have never been easier!
2. Preparing for trials. Anything can happen in a courtroom. With both parties playing their best cards to a judge or jury, it is only reasonable to study everything to prepare for the next proceeding. A rebuttal in court may branch to a brand new lead and a fresh set of evidences — paving new strategies in potentially winning a case.  Legal transcripts help to easily pinpoint facts and take note of new ones mentioned during the trial. Unless you’re confident in your memory recall skills, having a written version of the proceeding might just save you from missing out on one tiny detail that could turn the tables and result to your victory in court.
3. Taking note of company meetings and conferences. Law firms are no exception from meeting marathons, whether it be to clients or within the organization. Moreover, there are local and international legal conferences being organized here and there that could widen a practitioner’s understanding and appreciation of the field. Transcripts are an effective and efficient method of keeping important records, reviewing meeting notes at leisure, and catching up on missed conferences that are beneficial to the company and its members.
4. Archiving. Much like any other industry, change is constant in the field of law. Deals may be tweaked, dismissed cases may be reopened, and legal advice may be altered. When instances like this happen, an archive saves the firm from going back to square one and redoing everything. Documents such as previous deposition transcripts and old meeting notes can be reevaluated to come up with another resolution.

In a way, legal transcriptions are written evidences of a law firm’s day-to-day activity. With every documented court hearing, client meeting, or company-wide assembly, transcripts are guilty in making filing and searching for particulars easy-breezy.

Video transcriptions have made it easier for people all over the world to understand and utilize media outputs. Not only does it help in increasing a video’s number of viewers but it gives more people the ability to understand it as well. These people include deaf or hard of hearing viewers, people who speak other languages, and those who are in a loud environment. Video transcriptions may contain different elements that can help make it more effective. Among these elements are time codes and timestamps.

Timestamps, in general, are used as time markers embedded in transcripts either in regular intervals or any time a particular event takes place — change of speaker, language, question, etc. These are used to find a specific point in long audio or video outputs. On the other hand, time codes for a video must be frame-accurate so adding the milliseconds are important. This element is commonly used for subtitles and video captions but it has other uses as well. Editors greatly benefit from these time codes as it allows them to use particular scenarios more easily and accurately synchronize subtitles with each scene.

A lot of transcription services offer both features, but the everyday layman may not know the different ways of using time codes or timestamps. When paired together, the two elements can be used to make video transcriptions more effective. Here are some of their uses:

• Uncertain Spelling

There are lots of English words that sound similar so distinguishing them from each other can be difficult. The same goes for similar sounding names that are spelled differently. This certain type of timestamp can be used if the transcriber isn’t sure of a particular word’s spelling. An example of this is shown below.

Eg. I met with [Stephen 02:43:01] last week to discuss about our current goals. — The spelling of this word is uncertain since “Stephen” can also sound like “Steven”.

• Garbled Words

In transcribing, there are cases where it’s difficult to make out what the speaker is saying, especially when there’s too much external noise. In these situations, stating which parts have inaudible words can be useful as this helps the client identify which words can’t be understood. It also gives the transcriptionist a way to note inaudible sounds rather than just guessing what word it was.

Eg. Our meeting will be held at [inaudible 00:27:16] tomorrow morning.

• Overlapping Speakers

During meetings, speakers overlapping with each other is common especially when there are a lot of participants. This timestamp can be used to identify who is talking at a specific interval. Most transcribing services simply mark the segment as [crosstalk] and then state the next parts that can be heard with the corresponding speaker.

• Speaker Change

A discussion doesn’t always have just one host — there are times when each topic is handled by different speakers. In order to identify this change, timestamps can be used every time a new host is heard to avoid confusion.

Eg.

[00:00] JM: What was your first impression when you used the product for the first time?

[00:09] DV: Well…honestly, at first, I was a bit skeptical since the product was a lot cheaper than normal so I didn’t really want to use it but I’m glad I did.

Transcribing video outputs can be difficult since they need to coincide with the video content. However, knowing the different uses of time codes and timestamps and how to effectively utilize them will greatly aid in producing quality video transcriptions that meets client satisfaction.

Source: https://earnsmartonlineclass.com/time-stamping-in-transcription-know-when-and-how-to-use-them/

There is a little-known French martial song dating back to the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era whose beginning stanza goes like this:

J’aime l’oignon frît à l’huile,
J’aime l’oignon quand il est bon,
J’aime l’oignon frît à l’huile,
J’aime l’oignon, j’aime l’oignon. 

The words may seem, to non-speakers of French, to be flowing with the elegance and grace that is commonly associated by many with the official language of France. However, when translated into English, one of the most widely-spoken languages, the song quite quickly loses that elegance and grace and becomes something of a riddle for people unfamiliar with the song’s origins:

I love onion fried with oil,
I love the onion when it’s good,
I love onion fried with oil,
I love onion, I love onion.

What was once an elegant-sounding marching song now becomes a rather weird one (without the proper context, that is, for those with a penchant for reading French martial history will know why the song’s lyrics is such).

The above example illustrates why the understanding of foreign language is important, and why companies still continue to look for foreign language transcriptions services. After all, how are non-speakers of French to know that the song is basically talking about someone pouring out their love of onion without having someone translate it for them?

Some of the other benefits of having foreign language transcription include:

It facilitates the exchange of ideas

History is replete with examples of books and pamphlets and other kinds of text which originated from a certain country, painstakingly translated by an individual or group of individuals into different languages, and whose consumption by the greater mass enabled by these translations triggered massive societal changes. A famous example would be Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, which took the Catholic world by storm and ushered the Reformation and Protestantism, or Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which gave rise to communism and whose influence remains today in many schools of thought.

In the same vein, although perhaps not as societally-changing, translation and subsequent transcription of audio and/or video from its original language to another language allows the ideas of the participants to be recorded for posterity in another country or place, thus letting ideas freely flow from one country to another, from one individual to another, and from one culture to another.

Data is not limited to one place

People from one country can only give you so much data, and someday, the flow of fresh ideas from them will dry up or become negligible so as to be somewhat useless. The use of foreign language transcriptions rectifies this problem, for it allows people to gather fresh data from different countries.

It allows for larger and far-reaching decisions

Someone with access to a wider demographic because of foreign language transcriptions has the opportunity to really make sweeping changes to their structure or product line or whatnot, changes that can and will affect them and their target audience for generations to come. Because ideas for improvement are flowing not from one place but from many others, the company or individual is given the chance to review the data coming from all of the places and compile them into a record that can then be used to target certain demographics, such as all young men in the world, or all married women in the globe. This data can also be used in negotiating with potential customers or partners.

It facilitates the reaching of hearts and minds of people

Many people across the globe may not bother or may simply not have the time or resources to learn a new language, and thus remain monolingual. A company or person looking to connect and talk to those people at a personal or intimate level must be able to communicate with them in the language that they know. Foreign language transcription and translation of audio/video lets them bridge that gap of monolingualism, and successfully communicate what they want people to learn.

In a world where digital translation is easily available, and the number of people who are speaking English, arguably the most important language around, is ever-increasing, it is easy to doubt the importance of translating text. Nevertheless, there are no signs that every single person on the planet will adopt English as their only language. Translation is important, and this will no doubt be the case further into the future.