Transcribing is listening to recorded speech and typing what’s said on the audio or video, turning it into a document.
A transcriptionist (also called a transcriber) working in any industry must have good listening and English skills and make sure that the transcript makes sense. Some transcription jobs require more experience, specialized training and higher typing speed than others.
Which type of transcription work is right for you depends on your experience, skills, interest and personal preferences. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you want to work from home as an independent contractor or as an employee in an office job?
- What kind of industry would you like to work in? Would you prefer working in the medical or legal industry? Or would you like to work with businesses and individuals?
- Do you have any experience in the medical field, legal field or some particular type of business?
- Are you willing to learn specialized terminology and take specialized training?
So, what’s the difference between medical transcription, legal transcription and general transcription?
Below is a quick overview of three types of transcription jobs.
1. Medical Transcription Jobs
Medical transcriptionists (MTs) transcribe medical documents and work for the medical industry. They transcribe patient summaries, progress notes and other medical documents and reports.
Required Qualifications: You need specialized training to become a medical transcriptionist and be proficient with medical terminology, procedures and reports.
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2. Legal Transcription Jobs
Legal transcriptionists transcribe legal documents and work for the legal industry. Legal transcription is used by law firms, attorneys, courts and others. Legal transcriptionists transcribe audio and video, including court hearings, depositions, general correspondence and articles for legal journals.
Today many legal transcriptionists are working from home.
Required Qualifications: A legal transcriptionist has to be knowledgeable in legal jargon and documents. You need specialized training to become a legal transcriptionist.
Not sure if legal transcription is right for you?
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3. General Transcription Jobs
General transcriptionists (GTs) transcribe anything that is NOT medical or legal.
General transcriptionists transcribe general and business topics and provide transcription work for a wide variety of businesses, organizations and individuals. The terms business general transcription and business transcription are often interchanged. Business transcription is any transcription needed for a business.
General transcription covers many categories and industries, including business transcription, media transcription, financial transcription and academic transcription. Examples of general and business transcription jobs include transcribing recordings of interviews, meetings, single person dictations, conference calls, seminars, webinars, focus groups, radio shows, television talk shows, police reports, podcasts and a variety of other recordings.
General transcription can be very lucrative and is a lot easier to get into than medical or legal transcription as it does not require knowledge of specialized terminology or years of experience. Most general transcriptionists work from home.
Required Qualifications: There are no official training or license requirements. However, you have to be able to provide accurate transcripts. And taking a specialized general transcription course will speed up the learning course and help you become a successful general transcriptionist.
Equipment: If you are serious about doing transcription from home, check out this complete transcription starter kit at Amazon. The kit includes
Express Scribe Pro transcription software, USB Foot Pedal and USB Transcription Headset!
Not sure if general transcription is right for you?
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Need to brush up on your skills?
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TRANSCRIPTION RESOURCES
- FREE General Transcription Mini-Course.
- Detailed, multi-media General Transcription Course.
- General Transcription Practice Files.
- FREE Legal Transcription Mini-Course.
- Medical Transcription Course.
- Check out this complete transcription starter kit at Amazon.
- Grammarly is the best online spelling and grammar checker to help you edit your transcripts. Grammarly has a free version and a premium version. Check it out here.
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