When searching for the right transcriptionist, you should consider more than the cost, and turnaround time. True, we all have money and time constraints, but sometimes in an effort to be thrifty, we cost ourselves more of both.
With the Internet, it’s possible to hire inexpensive transcription services to convert the spoken word, (notes – seminars – interviews – podcasts – lectures, etc.), to the written page. In general, the inexpensive services are foreign transcription services (FTS). While it is a cheap alternative, it can necessitate you making many edits before publication. More importantly, it may reduce your personal voice, which can negatively impact your profits.
Your personal voice is how your customers have come to know you and it is what they feel comfortable with. You must carefully consider who will take your spoken words and reduce them to black and white. An FTS may have talented individuals in their stable of transcriptionists, who have a good grasp of the English language, but can they detect nuances? What about colloquialisms? Do they “get it”?
Nuances, colloquialisms, and regional humor are absolutely beyond the scope of foreign transcription services. If you want the words that you speak to appear on paper the way you intended, those inexpensive foreign services are not for you. You will need to employ a domestic service or individual, but – there is another option.
Find an individual that provides transcription services who now lives in a different country, but (and this is a big but), who spent the majority of his or her life/career in your country. You may find these individuals will have lesser monetary demands in their adopted countries; thereby their rates generally are more affordable. And because they were a part of your culture prior to their relocation, they still have the knowledge and understanding of business and your business environment.
The transcriptionist you select is an extension of you. Choose carefully; what may seem like a good deal may cost you in the long run.