Importance of reference materials

In today’s article, we are going to focus on the importance of reference files in doing client work.

The very first thing a transcriber or editor checks before starting to transcribe or edit a transcript is to check the “Reference Folder”.  This folder contains information about the content of the audio file.  It might be in the form of PowerPoints, snapshots of PowerPoints, PDFs, MS Word, or text files.

Here are some examples of such references.  In case of an interview, the reference document provides the names of the interviewer (person taking the interview) and the interviewee (person being interviewed).  The document might also contain the sequence of the questions being asked or some information about the interviewee like his field of work, associated institutions, or names of associated books or reviews.

Another instance is in the case of a symposium/conference.  The reference material could contain the agenda of the conference, the participating nations/organizations, the various sessions, the names of the titles, information about the moderators and participants, along with PowerPoints of the presentations made in the symposium.

In case of multiple speakers or a meeting, the reference material may contain the minutes of the meeting identifying speakers according to the time stamps on the audio.  For example, “Mr. Saito – 15:26 – We identified…”  This helps identify the voice of Mr. Saito and that he is going to begin his speech with the words. “We identified….”  Such reference in lengthy audio files helps to positively identify speakers throughout the transcript.

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There are many advantages of having reference material while transcribing a file.  The provided reference can give a clue as to the content of the audio file.  The transcriber gets the material to select the title of the transcript, which identifies the content of the transcript.

The content provided in the reference files also helps the transcriber to search the internet for further information about the speakers or the subject of the audio.  It also can help in understanding content in case of speakers of varied accents which are difficult to comprehend.  Reference material can also help with homonyms (similar sounding words) in case the content is medical or technical in nature.

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In case the reference material is not provided, the transcriber may have a lot of difficulty understanding the content of the audio.  Research for speaker names or technical terms in case of medical or highly technical files could also take up a lot of time and affect the quality of the transcript.

All these factors point out to the fact that reference material is indeed an essential tool which helps transcribers and editors save an incredible amount of time and effort which can then be utilized to work on the content of the transcript.  They can then come up with optimum quality, accurate, and unclear-free transcripts.

Member profile(1): Majid

In this topic, we will cover our Cripton staffs; in every issue we close up one staff and interview about how he works at Cripton, what day-to-day challenges he faces here and how he finds Cripton interesting.

The 1^st interviewee is Cripton’s Department Head, Majid (VP- Cripton) who literally manages all staffs working in our team.

Snapshot

Majid (the right-end) at office Rangoli competition)

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He is Cripton’s head, managing all staff in this team. We (two of us Cripton Japanese staff) secretly call him “Majio” (although he already noticed it), he’s like a mascot character and at the same time, the most indispensable element of Cripton. Young and fun-loving leader who is good at integrating the team members and Enjoying. Recently he purchased a car and yet don’t know how to drive.

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Here’s the interview detail….

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1. (Before joining the team) Tel us about how you joined Cripton, past transcription-related experience, what was the different thing you first felt about Cripton?

I joined Cactus after working for several transcription companies. I was recommended by a friend who had said very nice things about Cactus, it’s focus on quality and its dedication to clients. I was very impressed with it when I joined.

After completing 4 years in Cripton, I can say I made a very good decision to join Cactus. The best thing about Cripton is the team and its people. They are extremely dedicated to quality and client commitment yet enjoy each day at work to the fullest. They are so well bonded that we got a special value card recently from our CEO for being the most well-bonded teams in Cactus. Together with the lovely Japanese ladies in this team, they are a pleasure to work with.

I must say what sets Cripton apart from other transcription companies is its ability to handle all subject matters (typically transcription companies are focused on specific subject matter like medical/business/legal); ability to handle all kinds of accents (again not many companies can handle east asian accents like we do); and the scope of services. We’ve not restricted ourselves only to a transcription business unit, but have expanded to cover various aspects of the service chain to try and give our clients a one-stop solution for all their audio/visual transcription related needs.

2. As a part of initial starting member in Cripton, tell us about the 2~3 struggling experience Cripton had had in its early stage and how we had solved.

I must say there are lots of funny stories here. I remember a time when Cripton didn’t have an in-house team and it used to rely on third-party vendors for its work. In one instance, a vendor backed out on its delivery commitment. Guess what, Cripton got it’s star transcribers in our CEO Anurag Goel and a few other senior members of Cactus, who didn’t allow the client deadline to get affected.

Another experience that’s quite fresh in my mind is how we started our narration service. Once a client enquired an audio in American accent. To us, it was a new thing as we didn’t understand that narration was just the opposite of transcription. It was very hard to find American accent in India at the same time we had to try our best to meet client requirements. Guess what, we managed to get one of the American editors in Editage to do the voiceover by arranging for a recording studio. It all looked very funny and exciting but ultimately client was happy with the output.

3. Now that we have become a big team (as compared to a few years back). Has the Cripton’ working atmosphere changed?

Oh yes, this is one of the biggest changes that I’ve ever seen in my professional life. 4 years back Cripton team was a quiet lot, only focusing on work without any interaction between the team members. All the team members were very introvert and shy. However over the years with the addition of some new members to our team, the team dynamics have changed completely.

The team is an exciting bunch of people who are always together and are one close-knit family. No one is spared from a birthday treat come what may. We even won a bay decoration in Cactus and it’s still suprising to belive that the theme was a “discotheque”.

In addition, the current team is very proactive and focused on the client. They are very vocal about their suggestions for improvement and are always ready to come up with newer ideas that can help us to serve the clients better. I must say this is the best team I’ve worked with so far ever in my career.

4. You have visited Japan for the 1st time in Feb this year. How did you find it (Japan scene, people you met, client talk)?

Oh, it was one big culture shock for me. I was amazed at the Japanese focus on quality and customer satisfaction. Every time I used any service I felt like I was given such special treatment.

The language was a problem but I appreciated the people who were so supportive and cooperative. Only thing is you need to ask for help and they would be ready to help.

The clients I met were so warm and friendly. It took me some time to get used to the Japanese punctuality and precision, but in the end it was such a pleasant experience. They appreciated India and knew so many things about India and its heritage which even the younger generation of Indians may not be aware of.

I must say it was a life changing experience and one that I will cherish for a long time.

5. What’s the most exciting part when working at Cripton?

I must say it’s the dynamism and constant pace at which we strive to give nothing but the best. We disagree over client deadlines, we shout at each other when client instructions arrive late and we have to do a job all over again, we grumble over lack of reference material from client, but in the end we ensure that the client always remember the Cripton experience. So I must say it is our focus on client satisfaction and our respect for each other as team members and belief in each other’s ability is the best and the most exciting part of working in Cripton.

6. Tell us where Cripton goes and want it to be after 3 years.

We have lots of expansion plans for Cripton and we want it to have a dominating presence in the localization marketplace. We plan to cover the entire service range in localization and multimedia space, some of the examples are translation, dubbing, subtitling and all other related services.

We want to cover a larger segment of the clients and ensure that the Cripton brand should be able to meet all of our localization and multimedia needs.

7. Anything you want to tell to our clients?

First of all, I want to say thank you for the trust you’ve shown in our services by giving us an opportunity to serve you.

We will strive continuously to meet your requirements and put in our best effort to give you a world-class experience.

Please feel free to share feedback on our services and do keep on reading this newsletter to know more about Cripton. Feel free to tell us if you want any more things that are needed to be added to this newsletter and we would love to have you a say and your participation in our pursuit of client satisfaction.

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(Interview-end)

Why transcripts contain [Unclear]s?

In general, whenever a client submits a job to us for transcription purpose, we make a commitment to the client that the transcript will be delivered with the highest possible quality, which in an ideal condition is a 100% accurate transcript.  But in reality, the transcript that is delivered generally contains some unclears and words that are phonetically written.  In today’s article, we will focus on unclears, the reasons why transcribers are unable to find certain words sometimes, and how it can be minimized.

In our transcript, when the transcriber is unable to find a word or a string of words, he or she puts the word “Unclear” within a square bracket.  The format being [Unclear].  There can be a number of reasons why the transcriber has to resort to this tool in a transcript.

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1)  Poorly recorded audio/video: Sometimes amateur recording equipment, mics placed away from the speakers, recordings done in a crowded place or in a moving vehicle, recording done in a hall with high reverberation, all result in a poorly recorded audio.  Then, it becomes difficult for the transcriber to hear and decipher the words correctly.  So, instead of guessing the word, the transcriber choses to put an unclear for that particular word or strings of word.

Solution:  A professionally recorded audio/video with care taken to correctly position the mics, avoiding crowds and moving vehicles, and also using halls with good acoustics results in a clearly recorded audio.  Our transcribers then can hear the words correctly and can process the transcript faster resulting an unclear-free transcript.

2)   Audio/video with no or little references:  Our transcribers though with good overall knowledge are not expert in all the fields.  Sometimes, they get audio/video dealing with a very specialized subject matter.  These subjects could range from astrophysics to trials conducted for some new drugs.  Most of the specialized fields have their own set of vocabulary.  If the client has not provided any references or has provided very little references, transcribers are left with little clue to actually find words using online search engines like Google resulting in a transcript with many unclears in it.

Solution:  While uploading the audio/video file, the client is requested to also upload any kind of reference material that is available along with the file.  This could be in the form of word document, pdf file, PowerPoint presentations of the speakers, or any web address of any relevant site.  The transcribers can then relate the reference with the file and easily find any subject-related words resulting in an unclear-free transcript.

3)   Speakers with heavy accent:  When it comes to accent, our transcribers are expert in transcribing Japanese speakers.  This expertise is because of the intensive accent training provided while joining the company as well as the daily interaction with our Japanese colleagues.  But occasionally, our transcribers come across voice files with non-Japanese speakers with heavily accented speech.  Those speakers can be from anywhere, Southeast Asian origin, European origin, etc.  A heavily accented speech combined with poor English sentence structure can spell nightmare to our transcribers.  So, instead of doing any guesswork which may lead to incorrect interpretation of the sentence, our transcribers usually put an unclear for such words or string of words.

Solution:  Frankly, there is no clear solution for this.  Ideally, wherever possible, accented speakers with poor English should be using an interpreter service.  Since this is generally not possible, we at our end are training our transcribers to familiarize with other accents also, especially Southeast Asian accents.  With gradual experience and practice, they are becoming better at picking up other accents and thus eliminating the use of unclears in the transcript.

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Thus, from the above points, we can see that the client can do a lot to help us deliver a transcript that is accurate and unclear-free.

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