Who is a transcriber? A transcriber is a person who performs the function of converting audio into text format. The audio may be either from an audio or audio derived from a video. A transcriber listens to the audio and types it out.

Who can become a transcriber? Just about anyone can become a transcriber or transcriptionist as they are otherwise called.

What are the skills needed to become a transcriber? A transcriber needs to multitask!!! He or she needs to be able to listen, understand and decipher what is being said, and type it out simultaneously. Transcribers use tools such as a foot pedal to control the playing of the audio, rewinding and forwarding to be able to do this.

Transcribers also need to know the terminology of the industry that they are specializing in and there are so many industries in the universe that it is impossible for a single person to know it all. Hence, generally, people specialize in just one kind of transcription. The major types however fall into medical, legal, and business transcription while all the rest come under the generic term of general transcription.

As the name suggests, the medical transcriptionists learn all the relevant medical terminology and other rules and regulations specific to medical transcription. The legal transcriptionists do the same in the legal arena. Businesses too of course have their own terminology and rules and regulations specific to their area of business.

As the phrase 'general transcription' encompasses all else, the scope is too big for a person to know everything about every subject. General transcribers thus have a very challenging time. They need to have the know how of how to search for information on the Internet for each and every subject that they come across.

The common skills of all transcribers include language, spelling and punctuation, formatting, spacing and alignment of sentences and paragraphs, correct identification of speakers in case of multiple speaker files with specialization coming in at the level of industry-specific terminology and rules and regulations.

Training and experience definitely help in the above. There are institutions which help people specialize in medical, legal, and business transcription. Transcriptionists also need to constantly keep updating with the latest trends prevalent in the particular type of transcription that they are specializing in with respect to terminology, rules and regulations, and other skills.