Transcription Service And Its Characteristics

What is Transcription Service?

Have you ever been at the nail salon and you are in the chair and look up at the TV and see some day time soap opera playing but the sound was muted? All  you can see are the words flying across as subtitles across the screen? This is an example of Transcription service. However, to put it in more academic terms transcription is the process of switching audio to writing. And the various forms it comes in is very long. So whatever form of transcription services you are looking for, it will be covered here, and provided by Protranslate.

What is the purpose of Transcription Service?

There are many purposes for transcription beyond the use of playing TV in a nail salon so that no one is disturbed by the noise yet simultaneously can follow along with the plot line. One of them being that it makes content like podcasts, radio shows and of course tv shows more accessible to the deaf or people whom are hard of hearing. However, if this is your goal, it means you are providing content to a whole new audience of people and should be taken seriously. Mistakes or typos, or miscommunications can lead to insult. As a certified translation company providing transcription service this is a valuable key to remember. One Protranslate takes very seriously.

How does Transcription work?

Transcription is either categorized as verbatim or clean read. Verbatim is when a transcriber writes word for word text from the audio. This will include every “gasp” or “um” or “cough” or “sneeze”. It may even include speech errors. This is usually used for Television shows or other scripted content were the script and everything in it may be essential to the plot line and was specifically planned. Clean transcription is the opposite. It is eliminating what could be categorized as unnecessary filler words. This is mostly used for interviews, public events, or essentially any unscripted media.

When it comes to clean read, the skill required is very high. The person needs to be able to understand what can filtered out without losing the main and important points of the original audio. An inexperienced person may not realize this and end up cutting out important elements. Protranslate having years of experience in this is capable of taking on the task with the help of expert translator team.

What is the difference between Transcription and Translation?

As described above transcription is the process of listening to an audio and writing down exactly what is being said. This is done in the same language as the original content. So if a podcast is in French, the transcription will also be in French. Translation in its simplest form is transforming written content from one language to another. So lets say a French text into an English text. How do they two relate? Well if a customer has requested a transcription service a transcriber will transform the audio file into a written version. This version will then be in the same language as the original audio. Then this document will be handed over to a translator to have it translated into a different language, and then it will be given to another audio person to re-record the content. So there are a few more steps involved.

The great part of Protranslate is that rather than simply translating the written document, the original audio is also used for translation purposes. This ensures that nothing gets left out or missed that may have been important initially. It ensures the integrity and messaging of the original message is still in tact.

Different Types of Transcription Services

The amount of transcription services are vast. Again, it goes much further than nail salon TV  shows. There are transcription companies offer legal transcription service such as an audio recording of a case in court, there are medical transcription services for doctors who have recorded notes or diagnosis and now needs to be formatted in written word and these are only a few. Luckily, whatever you are looking for transcription services of this kind are provided by Protranslate and conveniently available online.