Core Differences Between Transcription Services And Copy Typing
Before hiring any transcription service provider or a copy typing service provider, you should know the basic difference between the two.
Apparently, both the services seem to be quite similar, but actually there are substantial differences between the two, which eventually makes transcription services costlier than copy typing.
After reading this article your evaluation process will be much easier and you will be clear on whom you should choose for your typing problems.
Basic Difference Between Audio & Copy Typing Let's look at the copy typing first.
Copy typing actually refers to the conversion of an already written document into a properly Typed Word document.
Already written document could be some hand written document or some typed document on a typewriter.
How easy it is to read the document, actually decides the cost of typing services.
An easy document that doesn't require any editing or interpretation will be cheaper, as compared to a complicated or difficult to understand document.
Thus, copy typing is merely a retyping of a sometimes easy and sometimes difficult document.
Transcription is however, a conversion of an audio recording into a typed document.
An audio recording could be an audio tape, video, DVD or audio digital recording, which of course, raises many concerns.
Let's have a look at them:
In copy typing you just have to rewrite a document whereas, in transcription an expert has to listen to the recording first and then transcribe it (which is four times greater than the recording time).
And a poorly recorded transcript will even make a situation worse.
Thus, when you hire a transcriptionist you do not just pay for an easy typing, rather you pay for the time and effort that he is going to invest in your project.
Skills Disparity The skills required for a copy typing labor would be good typing speed, good reading and rewriting skills or in some cases a good understanding of different sentence structures.
Transcription on the other hand requires multiple skills.
In fact, many transcriptionists specialize in a particular field so that they are well acquainted with the technicalities, like medical transcription, legal transcription, etc.
But that doesn't imply that the rest of the transcription jobs are easy to carry out.
The remaining ones are generalists and work on less technical audio tapes such as research interviews and market research focus groups, video or telephone conferences, seminars and conferences.
No matter how experienced a transcriptionist is, he will find some new words to type every time and thus will need some assistance from the employer and some research from Google or other sources.
In short, a transcriptionist's job requires specialized skills, qualification, experience and patience to convert an audio tape into a written form as compared to straight forward copy typing with no formalities of editing or formatting.
Apparently, both the services seem to be quite similar, but actually there are substantial differences between the two, which eventually makes transcription services costlier than copy typing.
After reading this article your evaluation process will be much easier and you will be clear on whom you should choose for your typing problems.
Basic Difference Between Audio & Copy Typing Let's look at the copy typing first.
Copy typing actually refers to the conversion of an already written document into a properly Typed Word document.
Already written document could be some hand written document or some typed document on a typewriter.
How easy it is to read the document, actually decides the cost of typing services.
An easy document that doesn't require any editing or interpretation will be cheaper, as compared to a complicated or difficult to understand document.
Thus, copy typing is merely a retyping of a sometimes easy and sometimes difficult document.
Transcription is however, a conversion of an audio recording into a typed document.
An audio recording could be an audio tape, video, DVD or audio digital recording, which of course, raises many concerns.
Let's have a look at them:
- The comprehensibility of the content: Many a times a transcriptionist comes across content that is too technical or speech which is not at all clear.
This makes a transcriptionist's job much tougher than a copier who just has to type the material as it was handed over. - Understanding different accents: As USA or many other European countries are now homelands for people with different nationalities and backgrounds.
Sometimes the speaker has a very heavy accent which leaves a transcriptionist in a confused and chaotic situation.
Even an experienced transcriptionist is at times stuck on few words delivered with an unfamiliar accent. - The quality of the recording: Another factor that makes the job of a transcriptionist a harder job to do is the standard of recording.
Employers generally do not pay attention to the equipment used to record the transcripts and thus the audio tape that is to be typed has lots of background noise and poor voice quality.
To avoid such situations, some transcription agencies offer more sophisticated equipment to record the audio tapes, which (obviously) further increases the rates charged by them. - Various demands made by the employer: Different employers expect different kinds of format.
Some want a verbatim transcription (word for word with all "ums and errs"), some want to include speech patterns and fillers ("you know", "know what I mean" or "kind of") as well and some are concerned about the secrecy of the material provided.
Most of the time, however, transcriptionists maintain secrecy and work with full trust and confidence. - Number of speakers: Audio typing sometimes becomes more difficult if the audio recording has more than one speaker speaking.
This is very common with the recordings of interviews, focus groups or large board meetings etc.
In copy typing you just have to rewrite a document whereas, in transcription an expert has to listen to the recording first and then transcribe it (which is four times greater than the recording time).
And a poorly recorded transcript will even make a situation worse.
Thus, when you hire a transcriptionist you do not just pay for an easy typing, rather you pay for the time and effort that he is going to invest in your project.
Skills Disparity The skills required for a copy typing labor would be good typing speed, good reading and rewriting skills or in some cases a good understanding of different sentence structures.
Transcription on the other hand requires multiple skills.
In fact, many transcriptionists specialize in a particular field so that they are well acquainted with the technicalities, like medical transcription, legal transcription, etc.
But that doesn't imply that the rest of the transcription jobs are easy to carry out.
The remaining ones are generalists and work on less technical audio tapes such as research interviews and market research focus groups, video or telephone conferences, seminars and conferences.
No matter how experienced a transcriptionist is, he will find some new words to type every time and thus will need some assistance from the employer and some research from Google or other sources.
In short, a transcriptionist's job requires specialized skills, qualification, experience and patience to convert an audio tape into a written form as compared to straight forward copy typing with no formalities of editing or formatting.
