FREELANCER #4 : An Essential Guide For Transcriptionist

Transcriptionist (Transcriber) :

 A profession which focuses on converting an speech (live or recorded) into a written document or in an electronics format, so that the event can be carefully documented for future references. A Transcriptionist is a person who transcribes, hence transcriptionist are also called as transcribers.

But due to digitisation transcribers are technically associated with a tool, often a software, which transcribes audio file to text, rather than considering as a individual who transcribes the work.  

Mostly, transcribers are in huge demand in law firm, government agencies, business(insurance), medical purpose or in colleges.

For instance, we have all seen captions below YouTube video. YouTube has a inbuilt  auto-transcribe tool for for its content creators, but the accuracy isn't great; hence this services is not advisable. So most video creators prefer to hire a freelance transcriptionist for adding caption to their videos.

Another place where transcriber are quite dominant is at court proceedings. All the legal proceeding in courtroom are transcribed by a court reporter also called as stenographers. Stenographers use a device called stereotype which enables the stenographer to write in shorthand and a computer to capture real time proceedings.

Many of the readers may have some doubts or misconceptions regarding speech recognition technology automating this field of work. I would like to bring to their notice that speech recognising technology has been in market now for almost 2 decades still it has not been successful in achieving the level of accuracy which this job demands. Whenever a multiple speaker are been dealt with, this system actually doesn't works. So I would just ignore the myth of technology snatching off our wages.

In initial phase of development, i.e around 1970s, transcriptionist required to be on location of work  and needed advanced skill set such as short hand writing, but with the technological advancement portable recording devices such as tape cassettes and audio/video recorder were developed. This opened a new alternative as the work can be easily be transferred, so working from the offices or from any other location became realistic for transcribers. The transcription work became much easier due to pause and replay option from these audio players. So now these jobs can be easily performed from the very comforts of home.

Types of Transcription Jobs 

General Transcriptionist : Business institutions such as insurances and banking, Media agencies such as YouTube and news agencies comes under general category. Transcriptionist listen to audio file and create a written or electronic report. Sometimes audio file needs to be extracted from video file using softwares before beginning the work.

Medical Transcriptionist : Transcribers working for medical agencies requires to familiar themselves with medical terminologies and standard for conduct i.e create a particular report. So specific course may have to be undertaken become applying for this jobs. Work of a medical transcribers is convert physicians and other healthcare professionals recorded reports in written reports.

Legal Transcriptionist : Similar to medical transcriptionist these transcribers have to familiarise with legal term. Legal transcriptionist create documents of legal proceeding. They may also have review and proofread the document which was created by speech recognition technology.

How does it works?

Professionals hire freelance transcriptionist and provide them with dictation(recordings), generally audio formats but sometime AV format is also given, through mail or post services. Transcriptionist uses devices such as cassette player or digital audio player, listens to the machines through headset and notes downs the matter. Headsets are often used for avoiding surrounding distractions. Based on the work experience a transcriber may make some corrections such as grammatical error in speech. After producing the accurate document and proofreading, the transcriber send back the work to the company via mail or post. 

Earning :

Generally freelancer transcriber earns around $5 - $20 /hr.

Full time medical transcriptionist make around  US $ 26500 (Rs 242018/yr)
Recognised & Trusted Sites providing Freelance Transcription jobs are : transcribeme , Upwork , Freelancer

General skills Requirement:

Good language command(English)

Excellent typing skill

Good Listening skills

Time and Stress management

Organising and Record maintaining skills

Proofreading skills

Mostly industry hire transcriber who are able for write minimum 60 words/minute speed. 

Depending on the transcription work you are upto, you may need to undergo some course to get acquit to some terms and the particular procedures. This mainly applies to transcribers who works for legal and medical services.

Conclusion :

The growth in multimedia and internet has creates a huge opportunity for freelancing jobs especially for transcriptionist. Even with low skill, one can earn high just from their comforts of the home. People who have much spare time at their disposal especially who are retired and wishes to have an additional income should definitively try this one out. I recommend it.

Also Check Out : FREELANCER #2 : An Essential Guide To Data Entry Operators