HOW
DO YOU GET THE BEST QUALITY TRANSCRIPTION?
Remember that the recorder will
pick up background noise, so try and avoid shuffling papers or other noises
while you are dictating.
You can pause the recording if you
are interrupted and then resume when ready without any unnecessary audio being
recorded.
When doing addresses or anything
that may seem unclear then the use of the military alphabet, which is included
below, is a great help and will ensure that you are not misheard, eg if a “b”
may be mistaken for a “p” it is a good idea to use the military alphabet to
make it easy to distinguish which letter you want, (ie “bravo” means “b” and
“papa” means “p”.
If the subject matter you dictate
contains any special terminology, we would work with you to put together a list
of commonly used words, phrases, names etc right from the start. This means we
can set up shortcuts to insert those words rather than having to constantly
look them up, which reduces the chance of errors being made. If the recording
is of a group discussion, each speaker should identify themselves by name
before making comments as otherwise it is not always easy to tell from a recording
who said what. The same rule about reducing background noise is even more
applicable here especially if it is a lunch meeting and there are plates
rattling!! People should avoid interrupting and talking over the top of each
other. There should be structure to the meeting.
HOW
IS DIGITAL TRANSCRIPTION CHARGED FOR?
Conors Admin Services charges by
the audio hour. Speech is always quicker than typing, just like the speed of
light is always quicker than the speed of sound. What this means is that one
hour of dictation usually takes between three to four hours to type up, if the
quality is good, but may take longer if quality is poor. There are ways to
reduce your charges though so you get more value for money, and these are
covered below.
HOW
DO YOU REDUCE TRANSCRIPTION COSTS?
Speak clearly, (ie try not to have
a mouthful of food or to be yawning when you are dictating).Have the recorder
near you rather than across the room from you, but by the same token not
directly in front of your mouth. If you are dictating outside please be aware
that if the wind is blowing into the microphone it makes it hard to hear the
recording, so find a sheltered spot. If the types of documents you are
dictating have certain standard paragraphs or formats in them, these can be set
up on templates. The way this saves time is that you will not have to dictate
these same paragraphs over and over and because they are already on your
template they will not need to be typed again either. Since you are charged for
the amount of time required to type the documents, the less typing there is,
the less it costs you. So just as a very short example, if you always have a standard
opening to your correspondence, your template could say: Thank you for your
letter dated [insert date]. This means you can just dictate, for example, “insert
date of 1 January 2017”. We can set up standard paragraphs for you on templates
for any of the regular information you use. We can provide you with a list of
standard paragraphs (numbered or titled for easy identification), so you simply
dictate, for example, “leave in paragraphs 1 and 2, delete paragraphs 3 and 4”.
MILITARY
ALPHABET
If you know anyone in the armed
forces or have watched any military movies you may have heard some of the “military
alphabet” (also known as NATO phonetic alphabet). “What does this have to do
with digital transcription?” you may ask. The reason why the military uses this
alphabet is to reduce chances of anyone mishearing communications. You can see
how this is useful for digital transcription. Here is an example: If you are
dictating something like a postcode or a reference number, it can be difficult
to pronounce similar-sounding letters clearly enough for a transcriptionist to
distinguish them. You might dictate “PS2000” but it might sound like “BS2000”
or “BF2000”. Instead of sounding like you are singing “Pop goes the Weasel” to
pronounce the “P” clearly or hissing like a snake to pronounce the “S” clearly,
all you need to dictate is “Papa, Sierra, 2000”, for easy distinction. In other
words, just use the list below to find the word corresponding to the letter you
are dictating and say that word instead of the letter. Here is the full
military alphabet:
A: Alpha
B. Bravo
C: Charlie
D: Delta
E: Echo
F: Foxtrot
G: Golf
H: Hotel
I: India
J: Juliet
K: Kilo
L: Lima
M: Mike
N: November
O: Oscar
P: Papa
Q: Quebec
R: Romeo
S: Sierra
T: Tango
U: Uniform
V: Victor
W: Whiskey
X: X-ray
Y: Yankee
Z: Zulu
