Transcriptionists transcribe recorded audio data. Partly using specialized computer software, transcriptionists put original data into written form. The range of data carriers used includes, for example, cassettes and CDs, video tapes, DVDs, as well as MP3 files. The content captured by transcriptionists is used for the purposes of documentation, systematic analysis and evaluation. It can serve achieving different kinds of ends, such as investigative (analysis of a police interrogation), commercial (transcription of interviews for publication in a journal), or scientific (within the scope of conversation analysis, or a social research study).
Exactly what transcriptionists are expected to achieve depends on how elaborated and complex the requested transcription is supposed to be. A simple transcription, for example, solely involves writing down what is said in such a way that the transcription is in line with the standards and norms of written language. Transcriptions in a form customary in the scientific context often take consideration of interactional phenomena of language as well. Those phenomena include characteristics of spoken language such as intonation, abruptions of utterances, pauses, elisions (e.g., it’s, gonna), and assimilations (e.g., ho/p/potato). Depending on the respective transcription, transcriptions need to master the International Phonetic Alphabet as well.
Due to oftentimes inadequate speech recognition software and, above all, the great expenditure of time that goes with the activity of transcribing, many students as well as companies feel encouraged to rely on external assistance. Disturbing ambient noise, dialects, or a poor recording quality may make it necessary to play the audio material on a repeated basis in order to understand and accurately reproduce what is spoken. Anyone who has neither the time nor the high level of concentration needed for this will be pleased to place a lengthy and tedious task such as transcribing into the competent hands of professional transcriptionists.
Work opportunities for freelance transcriptionists are provided by freelance platforms, as well as by writing, text and ghostwriting agencies.
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