The Complete Course in Audio Transcription (For Beginners)
As a general transcriber, you will often names, places, and words or phrases you have never heard before.
You can’t just simply leave them blank or make them up.
ACCURACY is very important in transcription.
What do you do when this happens?
Ask GOOGLE!
How do you perform a Google search?
You have to know the right keywords to type in.
TIP #1:
Listen to the word, and make an intelligent guess of how that word is spelled.
Listen closely to the audio clip, and fill in the blanks. Audio Player
We had rented out one of their restaurants, and we were going to have the five-hour __________ passing and open bar kind of thing for everybody.
If you know the answer without doing a Google search, then great!
If you don’t know the word we’re looking for, then listen again.
What do you hear?
What does it sound like?
It sounds like “orderv,” right?
Let’s search for that word.
Google shows us a few suggestions.
And Google gives us this word.
It has a somewhat difficult spelling. But most likely, that’s the word we’re looking for.
To be certain, let’s see how this word is pronounced.
Does it sound like “orderv“?
Yes, it does sound like it!
The missing word is hors d’oeuvre.
Now, we have to be sure we got the correct word. This leads us to tip number two.
TIP #2:
Look for context clues.
What is the speaker talking about?
Look at the other words within the sentence that will give you clues on what the subject is.
Let’s go back to our example.
We had rented out one of their restaurants, and we were going to have the five-hour hors d’oeuvre passing and open bar kind of thing for everybody.
The clues or keywords we find are restaurant and bar.
An hors d’oeuvre is food served in small portions before the main part of a meal.
Therefore, hors d’oeuvre is correct because the speaker is talking about restaurant and bar. Makes sense?
In summary, when you encounter words you’re not familiar with, remember to listen carefully to the word, make an intelligent guess of how the word is spelled, look for clues or keywords, and when you think you found the word you’re looking for, make sure it fits the sentence.
Be patient when doing a Google search.
Exhaust all possibilities.
Also, remember that keywords or clues can be found not only within a sentence but within a paragraph or even within the whole content of your transcript.
Be smart to look for those when transcribing.
Click Next to do the exercises.
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