10 Transcription Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Transcription Career

In this post, I'll discuss how you can avoid common audio and video transcription mistakes and errors that can ruin your transcription career.

Here's what Wikipedia says about transcription errors:

A transcription error is a specific type of data entry error that is commonly made by human operators or by optical character recognition (OCR) programs. Human transcription errors are commonly the result of typographical mistakes; putting one’s fingers in the wrong place while touch typing is the easiest way to make this error.

Here are some common transcription mistakes
often made by transcriptionists:

1. Typing errors (typos & transpositions).
2. Mishearing.
3. Misuse of words.
4. Omission of words or sentences.
5. Lack of consistency.
6. Spelling mistakes.
7. Grammar mistakes.
8. Failure to flag conflicting information (e.g. left/right).
9. Errors made by speech recognition software.
10. Text expander mistakes.

Typing Errors Are Common Transcription Errors

Typing errors happen when you press the wrong key.

E.g. You type “busienss” instead of “business.”

Atomic typos

An atomic typo is a small, one-letter mistake. You type one wrong letter and type a word that exists but that is different from the intended word.

If you're typing a word that exists, the spellchecker will not find the mistake. And the one-letter mistake you made can change the meaning of a sentence. Examples

• accept vs except
• peace vs piece
• abroad vs aboard
• county vs country
• nuclear vs unclear
• Sudan vs sedan

Transpositions 

A transposition error happens when you “transpose” characters or switch places. Transposition can happen with numbers, letters and words. The meaning can change when changing the sequence of characters

Examples

• 1947 vs 1974
• dent vs. tend

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Mishearing is a common transcription mistake

You use the incorrect word because you didn't hear the word correctly. Some letters can sound similar – especially when listening to a recording. Misheard words can change the whole meaning of a sentence.

Examples

• game for name
• sox for box
• The dog was dense (instead of The fog was dense)

You can avoid these types of mistakes by paying attention to the content and by proofreading your transcripts.

Soundalike words/homophones

Some of the most common transcription mistakes are the incorrect use of words that sound the same but have a different meaning. 

Examples

• it's (short for “it is”) and its (possessive)
• you're (short for “you are”) and your (denotes possession)
• they're, their and there
• to, too and two
• ad and add
• wear/where
• here and hear
• would/wood
• lose/loose
• brake/break
• knot/not
• which/witch
• ensure/insure
• affect/effect
• write/right
• compliment/complement

Avoid those mistakes by learning the meaning of sound-alike words and paying attention to the content.

Misspelled names

Names can have many different spellings like An, Anne; Smith, Smyth or Smythe; Kathy or Katie.

You should look up names of well-known people, cities, company names, brand names and others online. You can also ask your client for the spelling of names mentioned in the recording.

Spelling and grammar mistakes

Always spellcheck, grammar check and proofread your transcripts. You can use the spellchecker that's included in Microsoft Word. Grammarly is the best online spelling and grammar checker. It detects grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and style mistakes as you write Word documents, emails, and content on your website or social media.

Text expander mistakes

Experienced transcriptionists know that they can instantly increase their typing and transcription speed with text expanders. And you should use them. But you must be careful when using text expanders and autocorrect features. Autocorrect can automatically correct mistakes but if you hit the wrong keys, it can turn a couple of characters into complete sentences and even paragraphs you didn't mean to use. You can avoid those mistakes by proofreading your transcripts.

See my article: How to instantly increase your speed with text expanders.

Speech recognition mistakes 

Transcription done by speech recognition software will have a larger percentage of errors than transcription done by people.

In medical transcription especially, this has changed medical transcription jobs and created the need for transcription editors. To find out more, read my article, how to become a medical transcription editor.

How to avoid transcription mistakes and errors

Making transcription mistakes can be costly and even be fatal when dealing with medical and legal transcription. So, how can you avoid making errors or at least limit them as much as possible?

• Eliminate background noise.
• Educate your clients about the importance of high-quality recordings.
• Check references and resource materials. Look up any words you're not familiar with. Use reliable resources when conducting research. Check authority sites instead of lesser known sites as not every website provides accurate information.
• If you still don't know the spelling of some words after researching them, ask your client when possible or flag the words.
• Spellcheck. Spellchecking won't catch all mistakes and you also have to proofread. Check Grammarly, the online spelling and grammar checker I recommend.
• Proofread all transcripts thoroughly after they’ve been completed. This is the only way to find typos, inconsistencies and words or numbers that don't make sense in the context.
• Have a different person proofread.
• Listen to the complete recording a second time while checking the transcript.
• Pay attention, use logic and think about the content of the recording.
• Don't use voice recognition programs. Or if you do, proofread the transcript while listening to the recording. Voice recognition programs can't understand the meaning of words. Only human transcribers can know the right word with the right meaning when words sound the same.

Following those recommendations will greatly reduce transcription mistakes.

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.

Disclaimer: If you purchase a product through a referral link, I will get a commission at NO extra cost to you and it helps me to keep providing you with quality information.