One might think that all there is to transcribing is typing what you hear. That’s a big part, yes, but what do you do when what was said doesn’t make sense? What about if putting a comma in one spot makes the communication different than if you put the comma elsewhere? How do you make a transcript easy to read? Will you put a word in italics if it’s emphasized by the speaker? These are only a few of the questions one could ask. We at Flaming Fingers think it’s much, much more than typing simply the words you hear. We always have in mind that what we type should make sense to the reader. We will add the italics, put the comma in the right place; we’ll put “sic” if the wrong word is used as in “a excellent course.” Our skill at hearing exactly what was said and making it make sense has been perfected over our 30 years. However, if a client wants verbatim transcription, we’ll leave it as “a excellent course.” This isn’t just a job to us. We really want you to have the best we can give.
