Transcribe me

[ATBhinchers]

Does anyone use this?I'm just about to do the entrance exam and it seems so overly complicated. It also worries me that it says most work is in American english- assuming that's color instead of colour etc when I'm typing it out. I can do that! Is the entrance exam hard or am I over thinking it? Also do you earn much from it if you do it? Thanks!

Sorry there is no real AIBU I'm just posting for traffic.

What is it?

A website you can sign up to and get paid for transcribing sound bites of people speaking for clients.

Ah right. Sorry - I've never heard of it and don't know anyone who does it.

Good luck though!

Ok Thank you

I have used it. I passed all the exams (I did UK En, US En and Aus En) and i can't remember which one was 3 separate tests, but it took bloody ages! I also bought a foot pedal which helped, but honestly, the pay for the amount of work it was was terrible. I still have $20 that I earned sat there because you have to earn over a certain amount before you can withdraw it be I got fed up.with it, so have never actually withdrawn my earnings.

The other thing to consider is that when you press the button for work, it will give you a random 3 minute section which could be from the middle of a conversation so you have no context whatsoever. Sometimes the accents are so strong or the audio is so bad it's really hard to get what they're saying. There are a lot of names etc that are really hard to get. To start with, I was trying to all the excerpts I was sent, but I realised it was mainly the really shit ones that took over an hour for 3 mins of audio, which I think other people were rejecting. You can only reject a certain number before they make you wait a certain amount of time (an hour maybe? I can't remember). And they can reject your work really easily if they're not satisfied. So you've spent an hour for nothing.

All in all, I think there are better transcription jobs out there, but if you're not too fussed for the money initially, it could be good practice. Def get a pedal though (although it will probably take you 2 weeks to earn enough to pay for the pedal ).

Hope that made some sense, happy to.answer more questions if you have them.

Thank you so much for the info. What's a pedal though?!

So it's a special transcription pedal that basically pauses the audio with your foot while you type. It saves you using your mouse to switch between the text box and pausing/playing the audio. Unless you are a super speedy typist, you'll need to pause the audio at various points, plus the audio is so bad in places, you'll need to relisten to it several times. The pedal will also rewind/fast forward about 10 seconds with a different part of the pedal. I've tried transcription without a pedal and it's soooo much harder and more laborious.

You really shouldn't consider doing audio typing if you don't have a foot pedal. You will be much, much slower without a foot pedal.

The US spelling is much more than just colour/color. They use 'l' instead of 'll', they use 'ize' instead of 'ise', they use 'ow' instead of 'ough', curb instead of kerb, jewelry instead of jewellery, there are PAGES of differences. You would need to set your spell check up to check of it, and I doubt you would catch all of them.

GoTranscript I think do a similar thing, where you get 10 minute snippets and they are usually English/English rather than American/English.

If you haven't done any audio transcription before, I don't think you will find the test easy to pass, and most of the companies don't let you resit for them a period of time (1-2 months)

You can also get work through sites like UpWorks, but the pay there is dire until you build up a reputation.

Thank you something to bear in mind. I just wanted to make some extra cash but I'll have to think if this is the best way. For what it's worth I do type really fast but yes I have limited knowledge of American english. I'll check out that other site thanks.

I've PMd you.