Mar
3
How can you tell if you would make a good transcription typist?
Looking for transcription services? Visit Sterling Transcription, the premier UK transcription company.
Nearly everyone can type, but not everyone has the skills required to be a good transcription typist. Although being a typist may seem easy in theory, in reality it is hard work, and in particular transcription typists need a broad skill set which can take years to develop.
So what do transcription typists do exactly, and what does it take to be a good one?
To put it simply, transcription typists produce accurate, word-for-word transcripts of recorded speech. The subject matter can be wide and varied, ranging from recordings of market research interviews, to police interrogations, media conferences, press releases, AGMs, and of course medical and legal dictations.
In order to type transcripts on such varied subject matter, a good transcription typist has to be someone who possesses broad general knowledge and keeps up-to-date on current affairs. But obviously a typist can’t know everything, particularly when the recordings they’re transcribing might be on topics as diverse and complicated as efficient data centre design, patents for new scientific inventions, or preventing the spread of the Potato spindle tuber viroid (just a few of the topics that our typists have to deal with!). So, in addition to having good general knowledge, typists need to be able to find out about the things they don’t know – in other words, they need to be able to research. Transcription typists must be proficient Googlers who can locate even the most obscure terminology and speaker names.
Sounds difficult, right? Well, it can get even more complex. Imagine transcribing an audio file about preventing the spread of Potato spindle tuber viroid, where there are multiple speakers, the constant hum of an air conditioner in the background, and the main speaker has a thick German accent. This is where listening skills are crucially important. A good transcription typist needs to be able understand and transcribe files with poor audio quality or where the speakers have difficult accents. This is probably why some of our best transcription typists are people with a good ear in general – for example, people who play a musical instrument or speak a number of languages.
So we’ve touched on general knowledge, research skills and a good ear. But how else can you tell if you’d make a good transcription typist? Well, frankly, you’d probably be a bit of a grammar freak. If you know what a comma splice is, and the sight of one makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, then chances are you would make a good typist. This is because transcription typists need to have a highly developed understanding of grammar, punctuation and spelling, and understand how these language features can convey or change a speaker’s intended meaning.
Last, but certainly not least, transcription typists need to know their way around a computer. They need to be able to use the internet as a research tool, communicate with colleagues using email and instant messaging programs, create and edit documents using Microsoft Word, as well as download, install and set up new programs.
As you can see, it takes a lot of different skills to be a good transcription typist. Although it may sound challenging, it can also be extremely rewarding. So if you’re a fast touch typist, with a good ear for audio, broad general knowledge, a highly developed understanding of the English language, and great computer literacy and research skills, then transcription typing might be the career for you!