General Transcription

General Transcription: 

Similar to media transcription, this deals mainly with the transcription requirements of businesses, corporations and individuals. It can include:

1. Minutes of meetings (Board meeting, shareholders’ meeting, etc.)
2. Classroom lectures
3. School/college dissertations
4. Interviews
5. Conferences and seminars
6. Panel discussion
7. Interviews

Media Transcription

Media Transcription: As the name suggests, media transcription relates to the kind of transcription required for the various forms of news media – TV, radio and online (podcasts).

This kind of transcription involves the following:

•    News
•    Interviews
•    Documentaries
•    Reality shows
•    Panel discussions
•    Debates
•    Press meetings

Media Monitoring: 

A related sector is media monitoring, defined as the act of monitoring the output of the print, online and broadcast media. Media monitoring services provide summaries– generally limited to 2-3 lines – that are uploaded on to the client’s website. The person browsing the website can read the summaries and then decide if the complete version of the news or interview or discussion is relevant to his/her interests. Media monitoring can be conducted for a variety of reasons, including political, commercial, scientific, etc.

Legal Transcription

Legal Transcription:

Legal transcription is similar to medical transcription, except that it usually involves legal documents or case details. The dictation is usually handled by a lawyer/attorney or their paralegal and requires specialized knowledge of terms used in the field.

Legal transcription is not the same as court reporting. Court reporting is a form of real-time transcription, meaning words are transcribed as they are spoken live—not from a recording. Court reporters must undergo certification, legal transcriptionists don’t have to.

The format of these reports is usually as follows:

•    About the client
•    Issue/Problem facing the client
•    Circumstances surrounding the issue/problem (or) Details of the accident
•    Evidence
•    Witnesses, if any
•    Opinion/Recommendation

Legal transcription can be broadly divided into the following categories:

a.    Consultation (first visit)
b.    Follow-up visits (second or subsequent visit)
c.    Interviews
d.    Letters
e.    Memos
f.    Agreements
g.    Pleadings
h.    Depositions
i.    Client statements

Medical Transcription

Medical Transcription in Detail:

Medical transcription is the act of transcribing or typing a doctor’s report on his/her patients from dictated audio files into written text (usually electronically, i.e. on a computer). Whenever a medical professional – doctor, nurse or other healthcare personnel – sees a patient, he/she maintains a record of certain important aspects of the patient’s health.

This usually consists of:

1.       Current issue(s) the patient is presenting with;
2.       History of present illness;
3.       Medications he/she is on;
4.       Prior surgeries or problems (if any);
5.       Details of physical examination performed;
6.       Laboratory values for any test(s) performed; and
7.       Conclusion or diagnosis.

These medical records are usually of four types:

a.    Consultation (first visit)
b.    Follow-up/Clinical visits (second or subsequent visit)
c.    Operative procedures (surgeries)
d.    Letters to other doctors recommending a patient for consultation or          second opinion.

Types of Transcription

Transcription can be divided into four main categories.

1)    Medical Transcription

2)    Legal Transcription

3)    Media Transcription

4)    General Transcription

What is Transcription?

What is transcription?

Transcription simply means converting speech into a written or electronic text document. Transcription services are often provided for business, legal, or medical purposes. The most common type of transcription is from a spoken language source into text, i.e., speech to text (usually on a computer, though it could also be on paper).

For a transcription service, different individuals and organizations have different methods of pricing. This can be per line, per word, per minute, or per hour - varying from individual to individual and industry to industry. Transcription is among the fastest growing jobs around the world.

In the beginning, transcription used to be done by secretaries who used to take notes in short-hand and then work on typewriters for long hours to get a report ready. With the advancement of technology, the same work is now done at a fraction of the price and within a much shorter period of time. The availability of highly sophisticated recording equipment ensures that multiple files can be created, stored and sent for transcription purposes.

Nowadays, many companies also offer their employees the luxury of providing these services from the comfort of their homes.

Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are highly sought after by countries USA, Canada, UK, Australia as sources of cheaper transcription services that also ensure good quality and quick turnaround times.