What Is Transcription?

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Transcription, or transcribing, is the process of converting an audio or video recording, like an MP3 file, into text format, like a Microsoft Word document. A transcriptionist (or transcriber) is a person who listens to recorded speech and types it into a document.

Transcriptionists may be employed in-house (for instance, in a medical or legal office), or they may work remotely from home as freelancers or independent contractors.

Some transcriptionists also work in the related areas of data entry or subtitling, captioning, and translation.

Why is transcription necessary?

Vast amounts of digital audio and video content are produced daily, and much of it needs to be transcribed by humans. VR software usually isn’t suitable for the task, since it can’t parse low-quality audio, distinguish between speakers, or understand context.

Common uses for audio and video transcription include:

• Record-keeping. Companies need to keep written records of company meetings, client calls, earnings calls, etc. This information often comes in useful later – for instance, in creating an operations plan, or in a lawsuit, when it’s necessary to prove who said what. Similarly, transcripts are often used for archival purposes, as in the case of oral histories.
• Data extraction. It’s more efficient to reference and extract useful information from a text document than an audio or video file. For example, transcripts are commonly used in qualitative research, market research, and media interviews.
• Accessibility. Transcripts and closed captions make films, TV shows, YouTube videos, radio programs, webcasts, and podcasts more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing as well as non-native speakers. In some cases, companies and organizations are required by law to make their content accessible to the public.
• SEO. Unlike audio and video content, text is crawlable and indexable by search engines like Google. Therefore, transcripts can help webpages with audio and video rank higher for relevant keywords, driving qualified website traffic. Also, hyperlinks can be added within transcripts to help boost other pages on a website.
• Content marketing. Creating content is time-consuming and expensive. Transcripts can be easily repurposed into blog content, social media posts, ebooks, and courses.
• User experience. Many people don’t have time to watch a video or listen to a program and would prefer to skim or search a transcript. (And some environments don’t always allow for easy listening, such as waiting rooms, libraries, trains, and offices.) Nowadays, many video courses include searchable or interactive transcripts of course content for the convenience of users.

Who needs transcription work done?

Transcription is time-consuming work. Often, it makes more sense for companies to outsource transcription than to assign it to someone on staff.

Companies and professionals in many industries use transcriptionists, including:

• Business/corporate
• Academic
• Media
• Entertainment
• Medical
• Legal
• Law enforcement
• Insurance
• Financial
• Market research
• Government
• Non-profit
• Religious
• Research

What are the main types of transcription work?

Transcriptionists usually specialize in one or more of the following areas: medical, legal, or general transcription.

Medical transcriptionists transcribe medical reports containing protected health information (PHI), which is any information that can be used to identify a person.

Legal transcriptionists transcribe a range of material for legal professionals, ranging from court hearings to general correspondence. A legal transcriptionist differs from a court reporter in that court reporters use a stenotype machine to transcribe live court proceedings, whereas legal transcriptionists transcribe audio recordings with word processing software.

General transcriptionists transcribe “general” material – i.e., anything that doesn’t fall under the medical or legal categories. This includes business, academic, entertainment, and media transcription, among others.

What does a transcriptionist do?

A transcriptionist’s job is to listen to recorded dictations and accurately “translate” them into text format, such as a Microsoft Word document.

(To see what this looks like in practice, view a sample transcript.)

Transcriptionists transcribe all kinds of audio and video material: interviews, meetings, podcasts, qualitative research, films, TV shows, panels, seminars, focus groups, conference calls, sermons, webcasts, webinars, earnings calls, lectures – the list is endless.

They may also do text-to-text transcription, such as transcribing from a JPEG or PDF file to a Microsoft Word document.

Nowadays, especially in the medical transcription industry, a transcriptionist’s job description may also include VR editing – that is, editing documents that were auto-transcribed using a voice recognition engine. Medical transcriptionists who also do VR editing are often called medical editors or health documentation specialists.

Professional transcriptionists use special equipment to help them transcribe more efficiently. In addition to a computer with a fast Internet connection and word-processing software, most transcribers use digital transcription software and a foot pedal. These allow the transcriptionist to control audio and video playback with their toes, freeing up their fingers for typing.

Using software like Express Scribe and The FTW Transcriber, transcriptionists can insert timestamps, clean up poor-quality recordings, and bookmark spots in the audio for later reference.

Many transcriptionists also use a transcription headset designed to make poor-quality audio sound clearer.

Nowadays, transcriptionists work primarily with digital audio and video. They transfer digital files using a variety of methods, including email, FTP, Dropbox and Google Drive, and proprietary client software.

In addition to transcribing speech, transcriptionists notate the transcript with typical markup such as speaker labels, [unclear] and [overtalking] tags, and timecodes. (Learn how to “write” a transcript.) They may transcribe in clean verbatim style – that is, lightly edited for better readability – or in true verbatim style, which captures um’s, uh’s, stutters, and other nonessential filler speech.

Transcriptionists often use specific document templates or style guides for different clients. For instance, one client may require transcriptionists to adhere to AP style, while another may have an in-house style guide.

How to get started in transcription

If you’re just starting to explore transcription as a career, I’ve put together a series of free resources to get you on the fast track to success:

• How to become a transcriptionist, find work, and avoid scams
• 75+ work-from-home transcription jobs
• My favorite transcription tips and resources, including the best software, foot pedals, and headphones for beginner transcriptionists

And if you’re interested in online work in general, you might enjoy my post about the best part-time home-based jobs.

Are you interested in doing transcription work from home? What are your biggest questions about transcription? Leave a comment!