Transcription Service Cost Comparison

Stefan:

How much does it costs you to transcribe like let’s say one hour of talking?

Francis:

Hmmm, that’s a tough one. Let me estimate. So, transcription takes roughly 2-4 times as long as you speak. This depends on how complicated the stuff is that you speak; how fast you speak.

It also depends on if you make many comments or side bars. It depends on if the transcriptionist has experience with this work or not.  

But let’s say the worst case scenario, if it takes four times as long as the time you need to record. So if I record 1 hour of recording in the normal speed, it would take 4 hours of work.  

Let’s not make it 5 hours, keep it 4 hours. So in this case, I would need to invest between $4 and $8 to pay for the transcription. 

Stefan:

Okay.

Francis:

Of course, it’s not always right from the beginning this effective. Any virtual assistant, even a transcriptionist, needs to be accustomed to you.

So for example, I have a sort of a slight German accent. With that, I try to force myself to speak correct English while I talk. So this is some conscious effort I try to make.

I could, of course and you know that, make my German accent worse and then it wouldn’t help to be understandable so much. But I think if you speak decent English, it’s okay.

If you give your assistant some time, the first few hours, to be accustomed to your style and also let him work out which format you want your transcriptions to have then it can be okay.

For example for me, I like my transcription files as a Word format ideally with paragraphs. And the notes which I make I like them in Word comments.

So, perhaps, you would like your transcription results in a Notepad or an Excel sheet.