Transcription can help people with hearing impairments or who are non-native speakers better understand audio and video content. It also improves accessibility for users and helps meet legal requirements. Practically any type of media can be transcribed into a written transcript. Transcription equipment can improve comprehension and increase productivity, whether for legal depositions, film production, or business meetings.
Verbatim
If you must capture every word, sound, and expression in a recording or video, verbatim transcription is ideal. This method of transcribing is perfect for legal proceedings, medical (recording of patient-doctor conversations), and academic research. It’s also a popular choice for podcast production because it captures the original content in its entirety. Verbatim transcription can be more difficult to read than other types, as it includes filler words (ums, uhs, and you knows), stutters, false starts, and irrelevant repetitions.
It is important to consider who the audience will be and how the transcript will be used before deciding on a transcription style. For example, if you are looking to transcribe a film interview for post-production editing, then a full verbatim transcript may be necessary, but this might not be the case if you are transcribing an audio-only business meeting that will be published online.
Intelligent verbatim transcription, which is a form of edited transcription, removes non-essential sounds and words like stuttering, repeating words or sentences, laughter and pauses, and non-verbal communication. It also eliminates distracting or unnecessary sounds, such as coughing, background noise, and mumbles. It also omits filler words, slang, and irrelevant content such as off-topic comments or non-standard vocabulary such as ain’t, irregardless, dunno, and supposably.
The goal of Intelligent Verbatim transcription is to produce a more readable transcript without losing the accuracy of the original audio or video file. Journalists, academics, and students often prefer it.
Linguistics is the study of human language, including its development and acquisition and the way that people use it. Linguistics experts can choose from any of the four transcription types depending on their subject matter and audience. For example, a lecturer who lectures in British English to an American audience would need a full verbatim transcription to convey the exact content of their speech, while a student who wants to write about spoken languages could benefit from a phonetic transcript because it allows them to see how words are pronounced. This can be particularly helpful when learning a new language.
Clean Read
If you require a word-for-word transcript, clean-read transcription is the right option. This type of transcription captures the exact words spoken, including all pauses and filler words like “uh” and “um.” This is also the only transcription service that will include run-on sentences, false starts, and all background noise. While this kind of transcription isn’t suitable for most projects, it can be useful when the subject matter calls for an exact transcript, or you are using the transcript for legal purposes.
This transcription style can be used to transcribe interviews, focus groups, presentations, or any other business communication that needs to be written in a formal manner. This transcription type aims to be as close to the original audio file as possible while being edited to remove false starts, repetitions, and grammatical errors. This style is ideal for business documents, meetings, legal proceedings, and market research studies.
Edited transcription is the most popular of the four types of transcription as it provides a clear and easy-to-read document. It is less formal than verbatim transcription and is typically reserved for law, medical, and business publications. It is also used in film production to transcribe audio files for post-production editing.
It is more cost-effective than full verbatim transcription as it still captures the exact words spoken but eliminates all pauses and filler words and any background noise or humming sounds. It is a good choice for interviews, business meetings, and market research studies, as it ensures that the exact information is captured and published.
While it can be difficult to determine which transcription type to use, the specific instructions that each client gives will play a big role in how to proceed with each project. The purpose of a particular transcription can also impact which transcription type is chosen, for example, a transcript of a film shoot may need to be word for word to aid in post-production editing, while business communications are often more formal and could call for edited or intelligent verbatim transcription.
Phonetic
The type of transcription required for a specific purpose depends on the medium and audience. For example, video interviews are often transcribed for blogs and news articles. However, documentaries and films require edited or intelligent transcription due to the more formal tone of these materials. The type of transcription also differs between legal and medical documents that need to be standardized and written materials that need to be converted into a text-only format for deaf or hard-of-hearing audiences.
The different types of transcription can be used in a variety of business applications to increase accessibility. Businesses that record audio content for use in webinars and online videos can benefit from a clean read transcript to make the content more appealing to their audience. In addition, the availability of written transcripts can improve comprehension for those with ADD/ADHD or auditory processing disorders.
Edited transcription offers a more professional, accurate version of spoken material. It removes grammatical errors, slang, and filler words like ah, uh, and um and adjusts pauses for clarity.
This transcript type is ideal for business settings, presentations, and the legal and medical industries.
Intelligent transcription offers a middle ground between edited and verbatim. This transcript type lightly edits the audio, removing non-standard words such as ain’t, irregardless, dunno, and supposably, editing repetitive words and phrases, stuttering, and general noises such as coughing. Incomplete sentences and ramblings are also omitted, as is non-relevant information that could distract from the overall discussion.
Phonetic transcription uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to transcribe sounds consistently and standardized. This method notes each sound a speaker makes using symbols and includes variations such as aspiration, nasalization, and tone. This method is especially useful for people who learn foreign languages, linguists, and speech pathologists. It can be particularly useful for describing the characteristics of a particular accent or dialect. The transcriber can be more detailed, using diacritics, numbers, superscripts, subscripts, and symbols to differentiate between sounds and their corresponding letters. It can even include clicks and tones, allowing the transcript to be as close to the original sound as possible.
Edited
When it comes to transcribing, many skills can improve your performance. These include good time management, the ability to focus for long periods of time, and the ability to listen closely to audio recordings. These skills can be acquired through consistent practice, which is critical to becoming a competent transcriptionist. In addition to these, there are some general tips that you can follow to help make your transcription work more efficient and productive.
Edited transcription, also known as clean verbatim transcription, aims to present the content of a conversation in a clear and readable format. Its goal is to transcribe only the speaker’s actual words and ignore grammatical issues like incomplete sentences, slang, and filler words. This kind of transcription is useful when the meaning of a speech is more important than the way it is delivered.
This type of transcription is also used for legal proceedings and medical documents and is often preferred in certain scripted media, such as TV shows with a set storyline. In order to transcribe accurately, a transcriber must be able to hear every word of the recording and capture all reactions and responses, including throat clearings, sighs, and laughter. Additionally, the transcriptionist must be able to record and transcribe all pauses in a conversation and indicate when background noise or other sound effects are heard.
It’s also possible to transcribe legal documents with full verbatim transcription, which is the most thorough and comprehensive form of transcription. This type of transcription is useful when the accuracy of the spoken word is important, such as when a transcript needs to be legally binding. However, it’s not useful for non-legal transcription, as it can be too distracting to read and will likely confuse the audience.
Transcriptionists need to be able to manage their workload effectively. This includes scheduling out projects and determining how much time each task will take. Transcriptionists can use to-do
lists and project management apps to stay organized and track their progress, ultimately saving them time in the long run.