How do you learn or train for general transcription?

No formal training is required for general transcription. You can learn general transcription yourself and practice.

One way to train for general transcription is to transcribe everything you hear. Transcribing regularly will help you pick up speed and gain an ear for transcription work. Practicing transcription will also help you become familiar with using transcription playback software. Using a foot pedal allows for hands-free typing and instantly improves your speed and efficiency.

Your typing speed and transcription speed will improve with practice. The more you type and transcribe, the faster it will go.

Accuracy is important, so focus on typing as fast as possible without errors. You can use free online typing tutorials and typing tests to improve your typing speed and accuracy. Your transcription speed will continue to gradually increase until you reach your ideal speed.

New transcribers often look for free audio files to practice transcription. Using transcription practice files is just one of many ways new transcriptionists can practice transcription. In addition to practice files, there are many other types of audio files that you can use to practice transcription skills.

With a little creativity, you’ll find many ways to practice transcription. You can transcribe your own voicemail messages, answering machine messages and Skype recordings. You can record and transcribe television shows, television interviews, and radio interviews and conversations.

There are many sites online where you can find different types of audio files that you can practice with. You can download and transcribe public domain webinars, teleseminars, and podcasts. You can download podcasts from podcast.com to practice transcription and become familiar with different types of accents.

Several websites provide practice transcript files that you can use to practice transcription. Some sites offer free practice files, while other sites sell practice files. Just do a Google search for “transcription practice tapes.”

The NCH website provides sample audio files that you can use with the popular free Express Scribe transcription playback software. Transcribed PDF files are provided to verify your final transcript. NCH’s sample audio files are medical and legal transcription files, but you can also use them to practice general transcription. Just don’t worry about the legal and medical terms.

You can download practice transcript files and free Express Scribe transcription software at http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/practice.html.

Before trying out for transcription jobs and applying for your first transcription job, practice transcribing everything you hear and make sure your transcription skills are up to date.