Grammar Mistakes Transcriptionists Must Know and Avoid

The transcription market size in the USA is expected to expand from 2020 to 2027 at a CAGR of 6.1%. With transcription services, private as well as government organizations, non-profit organizations, corporations, and various agencies can maintain various kinds of records with higher accuracy levels.

To cater to increasing demands, companies are launching various kinds of software for transcription jobs. However, in many places, manual transcription services are still preferred over the services provided via software. As a result, there might be some general transcription mistakes, particularly grammar mistakes.

Today, we will take you through all such grammar mistakes you must avoid in order to become a successful transcriptionist.

Why Is Grammar Important for a Transcriptionist?

Before we proceed to discuss transcription errors, let us first know why grammar is so important for a transcriptionist’s job.

Have you noticed that in public life, people usually understand what you are saying even if you use the wrong grammar? However, when it comes to a transcription job, you have to make sure that you use proper and correct grammar. Here are some reasons why grammar is important for a transcriptionist:

Until and unless you use the right words in the proper context with correct punctuation, there are chances of the wrong comprehension of the whole subject matter by the reader.
Using a wrong word in a particular place might change the meaning of the entire document.
Without proper grammar usage, readability gets hampered drastically. With proper grammar usage, the transcript document becomes easily understandable and readable, as well as concise and accurate.
A transcriptionist using proper and accurate grammar reflects the candidate’s professionalism and knowledge level. Precisely, it determines the value of the transcriptionist.

Grammatical Mistakes to Avoid in the Transcription Job

As per transcription rules, the document must not contain any grammatical errors whatsoever. Transcriptionists should pay special attention to transcription grammar and avoid mistakes.

Mentioned below are some common grammatical errors which a transcriptionist must avoid at all costs:

Spelling errors – Spelling errors are very common grammar mistakes. Companies seeking transcription services have no tolerance for spelling errors. If spelling is unknown, it is better to look it up in a dictionary.

Typos are very common while working on a computer. For example, you might type “buisness” instead of “business” or “parital” instead of “partial”.

It’s important to always cross-check these spellings before submitting your transcript.
Improper punctuation – Using proper punctuation is mandatory for any transcription job, although it can be tricky sometimes. It is difficult to understand where the speaker ends a sentence and starts a new one. Errors in punctuation cause sentence fragments or run-on sentences, which become difficult to understand and decipher.

For example, a lot of people miss a comma before “and” while connecting two independent clauses.

Incorrect: The manager creates the presentation and the analyst sends the report.

Correct: The manager creates the presentation, and the analyst sends the report.

It is recommended to use verbal cues for punctuating the transcript properly.
A mismatch between subject and verb – One of the most common and general transcription mistakes is a mismatch between subject and verb. This error mostly happens when transcribing plural or singular verbs and subjects.

Example:

Incorrect: One of my business associate like to create presentations.

Correct: One of my business associates likes to create presentations.

Here “one” is singular, and “like” is plural. So there’s an error in subject-verb agreement. Also, there are many business associates, and we are talking about one of them, so “associate” being a singular word is wrong. The correct word is “associates”.
Replacing or mistyping words – When a transcriptionist is listening to an audio recording, there are high chances of replacing or mistyping words. This mostly happens with homophones, which have similar pronunciations.

Some common examples are cheque/check, there/their, affect/effect, bear/bare, and so on.

A transcriptionist should be able to contextualize the information to know which words to use in which place.
Verb tense errors – One of the common transcription errors is tense verb errors. Using the wrong tense in the transcript is a dire offense. A tense signifies the occurrence time of an event. A verb tense mistake changes the whole meaning of a conversation. Sometimes with wrong verb usage, the sentence makes no sense at all.

For instance, many transcriptionists mistake the word ‘past’ with ‘passed’.

You may also frame sentences incorrectly concerning verb tense.

Example:

He walks to the printing machine and printed the papers.

Here, “walks” is a present-tense verb, and "printed" is past tense. The correct sentence should contain either “walked” or “prints”.

Summing It Up for You!

To be successful in the transcription job, you must use the right grammar for the transcript. Keeping these common grammatical errors in mind while transcribing files and avoiding them can go a long way in helping you establish a successful transcriptionist career. A transcript free of grammatical errors is highly appreciable and speaks of the high professional levels of the transcriptionist.

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