Be a General Audio Transcriptionist
Now that I have accomplished what God had set out for me to do in terms of professional advancement, I am now given this opportunity to share to all the step-by-step guide on how to become an audio transcriber.
Now, let me define an audio transcriber for those people who are uninitiated on this emerging career/profession.
An audio transcriber is the person who turns the dictation of another person into text, simply put he is the individual who types in what he hears the dictator is saying or what he thinks the dictator is trying to convey.
Now, this may seem super simple to the uninitiated, but believe me it's not.
So many people before you have had this notion and found out the hard way.
Consider this, there are pitfalls in transcription, especially when trying to understand what the dictator is trying to say.
The dictator may convey debt, but you may hear him pronounce it death, since debt and death is phonetically similar when uttered by the dictator, and there are many more words out there in the English language that are similar sounding but have different meaning.
In essence, there are three things that you have to enhance or learn when you delve into this profession, and they are as follows; typing skill, hearing acuity and English language proficiency.
In general, these three the most common skills you need to develop when you want to develop another income stream or 'sideline', as Filipinos are wont to call it.
Let's dig deeper into these three skills further.
Typing skill can be developed by practicing typing, of course.
Now, there are many websites there that has free programs where you can learn typing from.
From there, you can download a trial program.
There is one program that I used when I embarked on my quest for professional development.
When you found one to your liking, just allot one hour a day everyday for you to master the keys without even looking at the keyboard.
This is easier said than done, believe me, but it can be done, you just have to be patient about it.
Without patience, many people become frustrated.
I guess, this true in almost all areas of our lives as well.
So patience, that's what you need if you want to develop your typing skills and be successful in this endeavor.
Now, we go into hearing acuity.
Well, this one you really have to develop because your ears may play a joke on you if you don't take this seriously.
This is the sum of all your knowledge and skill in analyzing and understanding the context of the sentence and giving justice to what the speaker wants to convey.
Now, to give you an example, and this example would really give you a laugh when you really think about it.
Let's say there is a caller from a collection agency.
They usually give their company name and what service they offer, but some transcriber transcribe it as this, "This is so and so company.
We are a death collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.
" Now, what the caller actually wants to say is, "This is so and so company.
We are a debt collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.
" Ha-ha-ha! You see what I mean when the transcriber commit this homophonic error.
It changes the meaning of what the caller wants to say, and there are many more of these.
This does not end here.
There are many examples out there, especially in the medical transcription, legal transcription, and even business transcription genre.
So my advice to would-be transcribers, hear it carefully, type what you hear but make sure that you analyze and understand what the caller or dictator wants to convey.
English language proficiency, now, this one is really up to you.
The English language foundation you learned in school will definitely come in handy here like correct grammar, sentence structure, spelling and other related English language skills.
I will not delve into this for obvious reasons.
There are several websites that you can go to and learn from if you do not have this skill yet, just type in English language tutorial as a keyword to any browser, and you will be pointed in the right direction.
So these are the main ingredients on how to become a good general audio transcriptionist.
As an additional information, if you have these skills, you can go offer your skills to whomever wants to avail of your transcription service.
You can start your own transcription provider business and earn for yourself another income stream that can help you earn extra cash/dollars.
Now, let me define an audio transcriber for those people who are uninitiated on this emerging career/profession.
An audio transcriber is the person who turns the dictation of another person into text, simply put he is the individual who types in what he hears the dictator is saying or what he thinks the dictator is trying to convey.
Now, this may seem super simple to the uninitiated, but believe me it's not.
So many people before you have had this notion and found out the hard way.
Consider this, there are pitfalls in transcription, especially when trying to understand what the dictator is trying to say.
The dictator may convey debt, but you may hear him pronounce it death, since debt and death is phonetically similar when uttered by the dictator, and there are many more words out there in the English language that are similar sounding but have different meaning.
In essence, there are three things that you have to enhance or learn when you delve into this profession, and they are as follows; typing skill, hearing acuity and English language proficiency.
In general, these three the most common skills you need to develop when you want to develop another income stream or 'sideline', as Filipinos are wont to call it.
Let's dig deeper into these three skills further.
Typing skill can be developed by practicing typing, of course.
Now, there are many websites there that has free programs where you can learn typing from.
From there, you can download a trial program.
There is one program that I used when I embarked on my quest for professional development.
When you found one to your liking, just allot one hour a day everyday for you to master the keys without even looking at the keyboard.
This is easier said than done, believe me, but it can be done, you just have to be patient about it.
Without patience, many people become frustrated.
I guess, this true in almost all areas of our lives as well.
So patience, that's what you need if you want to develop your typing skills and be successful in this endeavor.
Now, we go into hearing acuity.
Well, this one you really have to develop because your ears may play a joke on you if you don't take this seriously.
This is the sum of all your knowledge and skill in analyzing and understanding the context of the sentence and giving justice to what the speaker wants to convey.
Now, to give you an example, and this example would really give you a laugh when you really think about it.
Let's say there is a caller from a collection agency.
They usually give their company name and what service they offer, but some transcriber transcribe it as this, "This is so and so company.
We are a death collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.
" Now, what the caller actually wants to say is, "This is so and so company.
We are a debt collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.
" Ha-ha-ha! You see what I mean when the transcriber commit this homophonic error.
It changes the meaning of what the caller wants to say, and there are many more of these.
This does not end here.
There are many examples out there, especially in the medical transcription, legal transcription, and even business transcription genre.
So my advice to would-be transcribers, hear it carefully, type what you hear but make sure that you analyze and understand what the caller or dictator wants to convey.
English language proficiency, now, this one is really up to you.
The English language foundation you learned in school will definitely come in handy here like correct grammar, sentence structure, spelling and other related English language skills.
I will not delve into this for obvious reasons.
There are several websites that you can go to and learn from if you do not have this skill yet, just type in English language tutorial as a keyword to any browser, and you will be pointed in the right direction.
So these are the main ingredients on how to become a good general audio transcriptionist.
As an additional information, if you have these skills, you can go offer your skills to whomever wants to avail of your transcription service.
You can start your own transcription provider business and earn for yourself another income stream that can help you earn extra cash/dollars.