What attributes help with becoming successful at audio transcription?
To become a good transcriber, you don’t require any degree or diploma. You don’t even have to be certified by any certification body, online or physical. There are no special skills that you have to acquire after years of studying, because the process of transcribing an audio file is pretty simple. You just listen to an audio file and type what you hear. The job of the proofreader then is to check and edit what you typed. Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Or does it? In this post we’ll look at the things you can do to improve your skills as a transcriber and become better at a job which you would be more than likely be pursuing as your career, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article. 
1. More exposure to English: This is an obvious one. People who transition from working at call centers, BPOs etc. have a much easier time with transcription, simply because in their previous job they have spent hours, days, weeks talking and resolving issues of people from different parts of the world, mostly Americans, Canadians, Australians and Britishers (I mentioned these countries because they’re the ones usually employing offshore call centers). It also depends on the culture or where you grew up, like if you had a lot of exposure to English when growing up, for example, English/Hollywood movies, TV series, sitcoms, English music, English discussion forums, English schools etc. All of that helps in the overall understanding and fluency with the language, and is very helpful when dealing with tough accents or fast speakers or tackling a difficult topic.
2. Better feedback for beginners: As a transcriber, you really don’t have much control in this area. This depends on the proofreaders or mentors at your workplace and how well they can support you and give constructive feedback. As far as formatting, grammar and punctuations go, feedback is extremely crucial, because if the transcriber doesn’t get good feedback, that could make or break their career as a successful transcriber.
3. Being handy with search engines: Everybody knows how to Google something they need to know about or read about it extensively on Wikipedia, but there are lots of tips and tricks which can save crucial time and make the difference between an okay transcriber and a good one. Lots of times transcribers just take, what they think they heard, as granted, without searching, and this can lead to some really silly mistakes, which with a little more attention could have been avoided. Learning Google shortcuts and tips and tricks is a great way to improve your transcription skills.
4. Typing Speed: This is another very obvious one. A job that requires 99% typing of course would require you to be fast. There are other transcription aids such as foot pedals etc., and coupled with that if you are adept at 10-finger typing at around or more than 60 WPM, you can make good money with very little effort.
5. Use common sense: I have told this to a lot of transcribers in my time working as a proofreader, please use common sense. There’s no point in just typing like a robot without trying to make sense of what you’re typing. Transcription is not such an easy job where you just put the audio on and start typing. Before you begin or while you’re transcribing, you need to be aware of the subject topic, a little bit about the speaker if possible, what company, country, city they belong to, etc. All this hardly takes a few minutes, but can make a huge difference in the accuracy and quality of a transcript.
Hopefully these pointers help new transcribers just entering the business hoping to make a decent living for themselves. We’ll be adding more to this topic in the future. Until then, stay frosty.
Our affordable rates for audio transcription
Upload audio for transcription and get a quote
Email us for quotes and details: service@scriptosphere.com
ScriptoSphere Audio Transcription Services