What is the difference between typing services and transcription services?

When selecting a secretarial service it can be confusing when trying to decide whether you need a transcription service or a typing service. So to make things easier to understand I thought I’d write a post to outline the differences.

Transcription Services

Transcription is the process of turning spoken word (which can be sourced from video or audio files) in to text. This can range from single person dictations (such as recordings of medical dictation or podcasts) to multiple voices (such as video conferences or recordings of focus groups).

A transcriptionist must have a good ear in order to transcribe files accurately and must also be experienced at researching brand names, conditions or technical terms as this is essential to produce transcripts of the highest quality. Certain areas of transcription such as legal, medical and scientific (to name a few) require a certain level of training to ensure that the transcriptionist has a high enough level of knowledge that they can pick up on any obvious factual mistakes in the dialogue. Transcription takes a high level of attention to detail and requires use of perfect grammar, punctuation and spelling in order to produce a good quality transcript.

Typing Services

Providing a typing service is different from transcription service, as the typist will be working from text (such as PDF, printed or hand written). A good typist will be able to provide their clients with various formats and layouts, depending on their needs. They should also ensure that the work that they produce always remains free of grammatical or spelling errors. Typing services are also often used for tasks such as creation of PowerPoint or Keynote presentations, Spreadsheets(such as Excel or Numbers) and various other data entry tasks.
Apart from the fact that transcription involves producing text from audio and typing produces text from visual data, these disaplines can (and do) often overlap. For instance, transcripts (produced from a transcriptionist) can be edited and retyped to produce an article or a blog (from a writer or typist). Books and EBooks can also be produced from transcripts, that can be edited and proofread and finally retyped.
Transcription City will provide you with accurate transcription and typing services. We are happy to answer any questions you may have and are also happy to provide you with a short sample of our work. If you would like to contact us for a quote please drop us an email or instant message at any time. We look forward to hearing from you.