What is transcription?
Ever listen to a podcast on a website, only to find a word-for-word – text version of the podcast, on that website?
That is what is referred to as transcription. The podcast creator, in this case, transcribed the podcast and typed out word for word, what was said.
It is the process of creating a “text-only” version, of an audio or video file.
Think of all the audio and video content that businesses create :
- Meetings
- Conferences
- Training
- Sales calls
- Investor meetings
- And more…
For each of these, you can see how transcription can be used to document important information. Information to be shared with stakeholders, customers, regulatory bodies, or internally.
And, as it often happens, businesses lack in-house transcriptionist expertise, that’s trained to deliver high-quality business transcripts. The need to outsource transcription to specialist transcriptionists exists.
Most common transcription types
We’ve found that these are the 5 most common transcription services types:
1. Legal transcriptions
Is the process of creating legal documents from video and/or audio recordings. This is done by legal transcriptionists, whose job is to create correctly formatted – legal documents.
2. Medical transcription
Happens in the medical field, and involves a number of healthcare professionals such as nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel. Medical transcriptionists are responsible for listening to dictated notes (by medical providers) and writing detailed medical documents, that help to record a person’s medical history.
3. Business transcription
Is the transcribing of business content that companies generate, into text documents that can be used later. This usually includes training materials, marketing content, conferences, sales calls, market research, etc.
4. Media transcription
The transcription of media content includes the podcasts, radio shows, documentaries, and TV shows we watch – being transcribed into text documents.
Media transcription can help the content get found, and seen by a large percentage of people. Transcribing helps search engines match your content to keywords people are searching for, increasing search engine visibility for a creator’s content.
What kinds of audio can be transcribed?
The three types of transcriptions that are commonly used include verbatim ( typing what you hear, word for word!), Edited transcription ( editing for conciseness, clarity, and readability!), and intelligent verbatim transcription ( editing for clarity!).
At Afrolingo, we accept audio and video files in any format of your choosing. You can also decide on the type of transcription you want.
It should be noted however that not all audio files are created equal. The extent to which some audio recordings are complex will depend on the following criteria:
- Number of speakers
- Quality of audio
- Presence of multilingual conversations
- Ease of distinguishing between voices
- Rapidity of speech
- Accents and fluency of non-native speakers
- And switching between languages and dialects
Our focus on quality and professionalism will always ensure we create industry-standard transcripts that exceed your expectations.
Why you should outsource transcription services?
If you’re thinking, “I’ll just transcribe my audio and video files myself, it’s easier that way”. We advise you to stop and reconsider.
There is a reason why transcription is usually outsourced to a professional language services provider.
Firstly:
There are industries that require specialists, and highly trained transcriptionists, who specialize in a specific industry. For example, medical transcriptionists.
Secondly:
Building an internal team, with in-house capabilities for transcription may have unintended effects, such as unplanned costs, slow turnaround times, and potentially distracting staff from important work they should be doing.
Thirdly:
Companies such as Afrolingo Transcription and Interpretation company have specialist processes in place, that we’ve tested over many years, to ensure we produce the highest standard transcription work in the industry.
4 use cases for transcription in business
- Customer service calls
Call centers can use transcription to document interactions between employees and customers; to reference for later use.
2. External communications
Transcripts can be used to produce public-facing materials. Excerpts from content can be added to emails, invoices, and used for other documentation purposes.
3. Marketing
Transcripts increase your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts through the use of targeted keywords and search terms. Also, transcripts can be repurposed into different marketing materials, such as blogs, social media videos and posts, etc.
4. Interviews
Interview transcripts are useful as reference materials for company training, onboarding guides, and HR policies, among other uses.
You’ve made it all the way here…
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.
It was created to offer valuable insights that you can share with your colleagues and co-workers.
We are Afrolingo A professional translation and language services company in South Africa.
We use our knowledge of:
- Translation
- Transcription
- Interpretation
- Software localization
- Mobile localization
- Desktop publishing
- And website publishing
To create localized content and messaging that connects your brand to African audiences, to drive profitable action.
