The transcription industry offers a lot of exciting, lucrative career opportunities, chiefly because the jobs available within this segment are lucrative and offer a lot of flexibility. However, there are several myths about transcription work itself. Here are some of those myths, dispelled:
Myth #1: It is a widespread belief that transcription work is so easy, anyone can do it. Nothing could be further from the truth: the quality of the audio is rarely perfect, you will often be required to transcribe voice files of people who have heavy accents, transcribe dictations having multiple speakers, etc.
Myth #2: Another common myth is that you need to be a really fast typist: transcription work is not merely providing a written copy of a video or audio file to a client, but the completed work also needs to be proofread and edited multiple times through rigorous quality checks to ensure the client is satisfied with the final copy. Therefore, the transcriber needs to have good grammar, sharp listening skills, language proficiency, along with an impressive vocabulary.
Myth # 3: Speech Recognition Software Can Replace Humans: While the software is great, artificial intelligence cannot substitute human intelligence, and there are many reasons: machines cannot proofread and edit, do formatting, filtering out extraneous words, or even in understanding peculiar accents.
Myth # 4: Transcription is Only for Women: This is no longer true. More and more women are breaking out of the traditional mold, just as there are more men willing to work from home and embrace a career that better serves their needs and interests. Some men also see this as an opportunity to stay home just to be with their kids, while the ambitious ones see this career as a way to realize their dreams.
Myth #5: No training is required: Although general transcription needs lesser training than medical or legal transcription, you'll need to train nevertheless. The work of a general transcriptionist involves many variables that make training essential.
Myth #6: Speech Recognition Technology Will Replace General Transcriptionists: Transcriptions produced by speech recognition technology still do not adhere to any acceptable accuracy levels. Moreover, when multiple speakers are involved in the dictation, this technology is often woefully inadequate in producing accurate transcriptions: therefore the need of human transcribers in performing transcription is necessary now and in foreseeable future.
Myth #7: General Transcriptionists Won't Be Needed Due to Rising Popularity of Videos: On the contrary, the rising popularity of videos has increased the demand for the qualified transcriptionist. Search engines are unable to index videos and any work being done online needs written text to be accompanied by video presentations
A lot of misconceptions prevail regarding medical transcription work. Therefore, if one intends to start a career in this field, it's imperative that some of those myths should be dispelled. Here are some common myths about transcription for medical industry:
Myth #8: Medical transcriptionists can attend to family obligations and work at the same time: Medical transcription work requires a lot of concentration and undivided attention. That's why it isn't recommended to take care of children while working on medical transcriptions.
Myth #9: Medical transcriptionists are just fast typists: While fast typing is an asset, it alone won't guarantee success in this field.
Myth #10: You can do without, or with little training in medical transcription: Unless you are trained formally by an accredited, recognized school, your resume probably won't get screened for an interview.
Myth #11: Medical transcriptionists will be rendered obsolete by speech recognition technology: While this technology can help medical facilities in curbing transcription costs, the results that it produces are often unable to meet the strict quality parameters that only qualified transcriptionists can produce.
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