COVID-19 has taught us that it’s always good to have a back-up plan to earn an income, and transcribing audio and files is one way of earning an income from home in South Africa. It’s even possible to do international transcriptions from the comfort of your own home. There are a few tools you will need to be able to transcribe from home or even a quiet place like a library or shared a workspace.
- You will need a computer. Whether it’s a laptop, desktop, Mac, or whatever, you’ll need some sort of input and processing device. Personally, I’ve only ever owned one brand-new computer and that was years ago. I normally buy my laptops second-hand on auction at Bidorbuy. I look to get a decent quality brand at an affordable price. My current laptop is a Dell E6330, which I’ve been able to find a new keyboard, battery, and hard drive easily enough on Takealot when I eventually needed to give my laptop a makeover.
2. An internet connection is important but not critical if you can get online elsewhere. You’ll need a constant internet connection if you’re going to work for an online transcription company like Rev.com or TranscribeMe.com though. But if you have clients who can drop the file into Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, or even email it to you, you can always download it at an internet café or free Wi-Fi spot. I use fibre and my back-up internet is an Afrihost 3G sim card that I’ve had for many years. With load-shedding being so prevalent in South Africa, you’ll need back-up for when you’re in the middle of an online job or if you need to email a completed transcript to your clients.
3. Headphones are of course a necessary tool for a transcriptionist. Good headphones make a huge difference in being able to output a decent transcript. I’ve used Philips in-ear specialty transcription earplugs, which a client rented for a specific job. They are excellent. When I just started transcribing, a few transcribers recommended entry-level Sennheiser headphones (it cost between R600 and R900 on sale at Takealot), which I found works for me. I’ve tried other cheaper brands but had to return them because of the awful sound. It takes hours to do an hour-long transcription, so you need to find headphones that provide good-quality sound as well as being comfortable.
4. Once you have your basic tools as listed above, you’ll need software to be able to stop/start/slow down/backspace your audio file. There are a few online programs, which I’ve tried and it’s not worked for me. I use the free version of Express Scribe and then customize it to make it easier to stop/start/backspace. It works in conjunction with Microsoft Word and probably other word processors as well. You can also use a pedal to control the program. I don’t use a pedal mainly because I’ve not been able to find one in South Africa that’s affordable.
5. While the first four tools are non-negotiable for a transcriber, there are other tools that can make your life a LOT easier. An AI voice to text converter is almost an essential tool these days. They’re not perfect and you will definitely need to edit them, but an AI audio to text converter takes care of most of the mundane aspects of transcriptions – the physical typing of each word – and leaves you with the fun bits so you can concentrate on making words into coherent sentences. I’ve used Otter.ai to convert my audio files into transcripts. You can use the free version five times, but then you have an option to subscribe for access to more AI transcriptions. YouTube also has a free feature to transcribe your files. I’ll do a tutorial in another blogpost.
6. The free version of Express Scribe only accepts MP3 and .wav files, so you may need an audio converter to convert iOS, MP4 or other formats of files into MP3 or .wav files. I use CloudConvert, which is a free online converter. There are many others you can use online or download.
So that’s basically all you need to do transcriptions in South Africa or anywhere else in the world. The last piece of advice is to save your work in the cloud. You can use Google Drive or OneDrive, etc.
