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Best online transcription jobs

In this article, we are going to talk about the best transcription jobs you can do from home and earn between 20 to 50 thousand rupees a month.

Imagine just rolling out of bed and going to your computer and that’s your job. You can take breaks whenever you want and you can set your own working hours.

One of the reasons why these jobs are so great is because you get paid weekly. This can help you a lot if you are going through difficult financial times. In the long run, you can also make this your full-time job.

Table of Contents
  • What is Transcribing?
  • Various types of Transcription jobs
  • Best sites to find Transcription jobs
  • Can I use speech to text software?
  • Requirements for Transcription Job

What is Transcribing?

It is a process of converting speech or audio into written text.

In most of the transcription jobs, you will be given an audio file that you will have to listen carefully and write whatever is being said, in text form.

Various types of Transcription jobs

There are basically two broad types of transcription jobs you will find.

General Transcription Job

Here the subject will be very common, like a story, pet care etc. Anyone can do it and no specific subject knowledge is required. Also, it will not be a big disaster if the accuracy is not very high.

Specialized Transcription Job

Some transcription jobs require you to have some minimum knowledge of the subject, e.g. if you are transcribing medical, legal, financial or technical videos. Here, you need high amount of accuracy, which is not possible without knowledge of the subject, as there are many technical terms and jargons involved.

Imagine if you make a mistake in typing the name of a medicine. It can be harmful to someone. Right! That’s why such jobs pay higher than general transcription jobs. If you have a commerce background you may go for financial transcription, engineers may go for technical transcriptions etc.

There’s one more categorization of transcription jobs that you should be aware of.

Sometimes you will be required to zot down everything verbatim, i.e. everything that is being said. Even nonsensical words like ‘umm’ and ‘hmm’. Basically, you need not apply any mind of your own. For example, a transcriber noting down the proceedings of a court or senate etc.

But on the other hand, in some jobs you will be needed to use your mind and knowledge of the subject to leave out unnecessary things and even add proper sub-headings etc. in the text. For example, if your client wants you to convert his video into an article or podcast.

So, now we know what transcribing job is all about.

Now, let’s go ahead and talk about the best sites where you can find transcription jobs.

Best sites to find Transcription jobs

Rev

Rev is one of the most famous sites among transcribers. They offer a wide variety of transcription jobs and pay pretty well.

On this site you can:

  • Transcript audio/video files and label the speakers, while typing what is being said.
  • Become a Captioner, who will not only type what is being said, but will also sync the captions with the audio/video.

transcription jobs

They pay in the range of $0.30 to $1.10 per audio/video minute for English. This amounts to around $20 to $60 per hour, i.e. around Rs. 1200 to Rs. 3600 per hour.

For foreign languages they pay even more. For example, for Hindi their transcription rate is $1.50 per minute of audio/video typed. You get paid on a weekly basis.

Before starting working for them you will need to take a quiz to demonstrate your language skills and then submit a transcription or caption sample. If they find it of good quality, then you can register and start working.

TranscribeMe

TranscribeMe is completely free to sign up. There’s no experience required. However, sometimes their registrations are closed for sometime.

Earnings may range from $15 to $22 per audio hour. The top earners may even earn $2200 a month. But, the average earning of most users is around $250 a month, which still is a great part-time income. You get paid weekly via PayPal. So, you have to have a PayPal account.

You will get an audio file and you’ll have to transcribe that. You will type while listening to it. You may even transcribe short 2-4 minute clips (instead of long audio files). When one clip is complete, you will get another one. There’s no limit on the number of clips that you can transcribe.

It’s not that difficult, but many audios are not just someone speaking clearly. There’s going to be some audio issues that you’ll have to work around - maybe a lot of ‘umms’ and sometimes even static sounds.

They do offer training here. They have a PDF that has some examples of how to deal with bad audio, what should we do in such cases etc.

Apart from Transcribing jobs they have Translation jobs too, just in case you are interested.

Scribie

Scribie have short files, which are less than 10 minutes. But the Transcription Turnaround Time (TAT) for each file is 2 hours, i.e. you have to submit the final transcription of an audio/video file within 2 hours.

Moreover, they do not assign files to you. Rather you get to preview and choose the file that you want to work on.

They have a promotion plan too. After working for sometime as a transcriber, you may get promoted to a Reviewer, Proof-reader and Quality Checker too, based on your performance. You may read more about it here.

Scribie pays around $5 to $25 per audio hour. Moreover, it offers a bonus of five dollars for every three hours that are completed each month. So, if you complete six hours, you’ll get ten dollars. They also pay via PayPal.

There’s also a referral program, where you earn 5% of every transcription order from the referred customer.

You can also refer transcriptionists, and earn 2.5% of their earnings. You can refer as many people as you want. So, there’s no limit to the amount of earnings that you can get. So, if you refer a lot of people and they do a lot of work on this site, you earn 2.5%. It all can definitely add up in the long run.

GoTranscript

GoTranscript is another option you can explore. They are very strict on verifying your identity, so as to ensure that you are not outsourcing the transcription work to someone else. For verification they will send you an SMS to your mobile and will also require your photo.

They have some sort of test, because they want to confirm that you are proficient in whatever language you’re going to be transcribing in. Don’t be scared though. It’s not difficult.

The average monthly earnings with this website is a little bit less. It’s around $150, while the top earner earns around $1200 a month. It’s probably because they pay only upto around $0.60 per audio/video minute. You get paid weekly via PayPal.

Crowdsurf

You will get both simple transcription and caption writing work gigs on Crowdsurf.

To transcribes outside of USA/Canada, they pay around $0.03-$0.20 per minute of audio/video, i.e. $2 to $12 per hour of audio transcribed.

Apart from these websites, there are a few others too that you can explore:

Can I use speech to text software?

Well, there are a few software available in the market that can convert speech into text, including one given by Google itself. However, they are not accurate. That’s why companies still prefer manual transcription, rather than using these speech-to-text software.

Moreover, these speech-to-text software work better when you are speaking to the mic, rather than the audio files that may have some static and background noise. Also, if the speech in the audio is too fast or devoid of appropriate pauses, then the quality of speech-to-text will degrade further.

Requirements for Transcription Job

There’s no experience required, but of course you do need to have some skills and equipment.

Decent listening and typing skills

You need to have some decent listening and typing skills. And by listening skills I mean that, not only should you be comfortable in the language, but also in the subject of the audio/video file to some extent. For example, if you are transcribing a audio file wherein a professor is explaining the pros and cons of various frameworks of JavaScript programming language (Angular, React and Vue), then it will be much easier for you to write that down if you have some coding background. But don’t worry. In most general topics, any sort of subject-knowledge is not that necessary.

If you are transcribing English, then you should be comfortable with various accents too, e.g. American/British/Australian/Indian.

You will need to be accurate, while maintaining some decent speed. If you can type 50-60 words per minute, then you are doing a decent work. It also depends on the quality of the audio file. Sometimes, you will need to listen to the audio again and again. Many of these sites also offer training and coaching for this purpose, and provide guidelines as to how to handle bad quality audio files.

Believe me, it sounds simple, but it’s not. That’s why the amount of work in this field is huge, while the number of good transcribers is way less.

Computer

You need to have a desktop or laptop. It’s easier to work on desktop as it has a wider screen, but with laptop you can change your location. It goes without saying, that you also need to have a decent internet connection.

Good Quality Headphone

You should have a decent quality headphone. They need not be of very high quality though. But good quality headphones do help in cancelling out some background noise and making our task easier. Also, they are kinder on your ears.

If you will be transcribing for 6-7 hours a day, then do consider getting a good quality headphone.

Ergonomic Keyboard

Because you will be typing for long hours, get yourself good quality ergonomic keyboard. It will safeguard you against static injuries in the wrist. Believe me, I have seen many of my friends suffer from excruciating pain in their wrist due to working long hours. Some, even had to get a surgery. Believe me, I am not exaggerating.

Winding Up

Transcription is a great way to make extra money from home. You don’t have to go anywhere. If you want, you can do it from anywhere. You can go to a library, a garden or Starbucks and do this.

Transcribing audio files could also turn into a full-time income for you, if you’re really good at typing and love this work. Because some people do make even lakhs of rupees ($1500 and more) a month in this.

But keep in mind, especially if you are starting out, that one hour of audio file will consume 3 to 4 hours of yours. So, don’t be deceived when these sites say that you will be paid $20 or $30 per hour of audio transcription. It’s not as much as it sounds. What they mean is that, you will be paid that amount per hour of the audio file. The amount of time one takes to do so, will vary from person to person.

If you guys have any questions regarding transcribing work, make sure you leave them in the comments section below.

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