Interview refers to the process of word to word documentation of a live or taped audio or video recording. Any types of interview such as business, celebrity, legal etc can be transcribed into written form for reference and future use. When transcribing interviews, the transcriptionist listens to the recording and transcribes it into text format. This is a challenging and time-intensive process that requires concentration, dedication and hard work on the part of the transcriptionist. Before going on to the interesting facts about interview transcription, let us consider two types of popular transcription formats.
Types of Interview transcription
This type of transcription is basically of two types:
- Verbatim transcription: In a true verbatim transcription, every detail in the recording is transcribed into written form; it also includes pauses, non-verbal utterances and even grammatical errors. In a true verbatim transcription, transcriptionists take down everything they hear in the recording including ambient sounds, sound of doors closing and opening, as well as other background noises. They do not correct any false starts or eliminate repetition of words, and do not tidy up unfinished sentences. This type of transcription is useful for legal purposes since verbal signals such as pauses, repetitions, hesitations etc. can imply the actual thought process behind the spoken words.
- Non-verbatim transcription: A non-verbatim transcript eliminates all grammatical errors, non-verbal utterances and even background noises. This type of transcript provides a fundamental meaning of the words spoken and not the word-by-word meaning. A non-verbatim transcriptionist removes all fillers, corrects grammatical mistakes, and eliminates false starts and repetition of words.
Interview Transcription – Interesting Facts
Now here are some interesting facts relevant to interview transcription.
- An individual speaks about 150-170 words per minute, which means that on an average we speak around 10,000 words in an hour.
- A professional transcriptionist can transcribe around 80 to 100 words per minute. For transcribing a one hour interview, 4 – 6 hours are required, whereas focus group transcription with multiple participants requires 8 to 15 hours.
- The accuracy of the transcript depends on the quality of interview recording. Poorly recorded interviews have more mistakes and are often incomplete because of inaudible expressions.
- If you compress audio files when recording (for e.g., recording using mp3 format), the audio quality is likely to decrease, making interview transcription more difficult.
- With modern transcription software that is compatible with word processors, interviews can be transcribed directly into word processor. There is no need any more to use keyboard strokes or foot pedal to control the speed of the audio play.
Hiring interview transcription service will prove advantageous for businesses, academics, media personnel and students among others who need to transcribe interviews. With these services any complicated recording can be transcribed into a clear and unambiguous document without any errors or repetition. They also ensure confidentiality and ensure valuable savings in terms of time and money.
