Blogs & Training

Blogs and Training

One of the tasks that a VA can help a client with is transcription. Want to learn how to transcribe audio and video files? Here is a basic guide on how to get started.

Express Scribe

Download Express Scribe (transcription software). Logo of Scribe is attached below. For Scribe, please find older versions like V 5.55 so that the key I’m going to provide you will work. My key won’t work for newer versions. Feel free to download any other transcription software that you want to use if you don’t want to use Express Scribe.

Download Express Scribe from the link below. This is my installer. Just download straight away. It doesn’t have an available preview.

Register Express Scribe using this registration key: 1093830-upvjcl

LEARN AND HONE

PRACTICE TRANSCRIBING VIDEO OR AUDIO FILES. YOU CAN ALSO TRANSCRIBE YOUTUBE VIDEOS, JUST SO YOU CAN PRACTICE. PRACTICE TRANSCRIBING DIFFERENT ENGLISH-SPEAKING ACCENTS – American, British, Australian, Japanese, etc.

START WITH SHORT VIDEOS AND PROGRESS TO LONGER ONES.

Here’s a transcription course you can watch on YouTube. I haven’t done this course, but I believe this would help.

There are 9 modules to this course and the last module will have the sample audio files and exercises.

SOME TRANSCRIPTION FORMATS

NOTE: Formats will be specified and provided to you by the company that hired you

INTERVIEWS (2 or more speakers and you don’t know the names of the speakers/weren’t provided to you/not mentioned in the video/audio file)

Ex. of format:

Speaker 1: Hi, good morning. Welcome to our show. We have a very interesting topic this morning, so be sure to stay tuned.

Speaker 2: Good morning to all our listeners in the US and Australia. How are you all doing today?

INTERVIEWS (2 or more speakers and the names have been provided to you)

Ex. of format:

Grace Hunt: Hi, good morning. Welcome to our show. We have a very interesting topic this morning, so be sure to stay tuned.

Louis Vargas: Good morning to all our listeners in the US and Australia. How are you all doing today?

CONFERENCES or BOARD MEETINGS ( There will be 5 or more speakers. Each speaker will introduce themselves at the start of their speech. It is up to you to note their voice, how they speak, their accent, etc. so that you will be able to determine them the next time they speak because they will no longer be introducing their names again.

Ex. of format:

Grace Hunt: Hi, good morning. I’m Grace Hunt, CEO of Scents Perfected. I am pleased to be here and meet all of you on this fantastic opportunity.

Louis Vargas: Hello, everyone. I’m Louis Vargas, head of marketing for Spirits and Scents, Inc. It is an honor to meet everyone who I share the same passion with.

Any type of audio or video file that requires you to put in a timestamp. You have to be very familiar with your transcription tool to know where to find the timestamp. You will also be instructed on the intervals of the timestamps. Ex. Start timestamp: 00:00:00 (or whenever that first speaker starts to speak), then succeeding timestamps will be every 2 minutes. So, the next timestamp will be 00:02:00.

Examples of format:

1. When you don’t know the speakers’ names

00:00:02

Speaker 1: Hi, good morning. I’m Grace Hunt, CEO of Scents Perfected. I am pleased to be here and meet all of you on this fantastic opportunity.

00:02:45

Speaker 2: Hello, everyone. I’m Louis Vargas, head of marketing for Spirits and Scents, Inc. It is an honor to meet everyone who I share the same passion with.

2. When you know the speakers’ names

00:00:02

Grace Hunt: Hi, good morning. I’m Grace Hunt, CEO of Scents Perfected. I am pleased to be here and meet all of you on this fantastic opportunity.

00:02:45

Louis Vargas: Hello, everyone. I’m Louis Vargas, head of marketing for Spirits and Scents, Inc. It is an honor to meet everyone who I share the same passion with.