In fact, here are some important research findings from a few popular and highly reputable companies that are in stark contrast to such assumptions –

Gigaom.com – 60% of all video views on YouTube are from users who select non-English languages as the site’s display language.

All this conclusively proves one thing – there’s a gigantic population out there that has an unending thirst for good quality content and is insatiable, constantly growing, and is heavily non-English-speaking!

When you use subtitles, you effectively contextualize the content of your video and it’s way easier for your audience to understand and follow.

Says YouTube product manager Liat Kaver, “A major goal for the team has been improving the accuracy of automatic captions — something that is not easy to do for a platform of YouTube’s size and diversity of content.”

Another platform that has had a surge in video content is Facebook.

Today we can focus instead on other revenue creating or generating tasks for your business.

However, there are other factors that you should consider such as local language, accent, and speech patterns.

Local professional services can definitely help with easier and more accurate transcribing services as their historical work experience would match with local culture, accent, slang, jargon, diction, etcetera.

However, with the advent of global shipping and delivery companies, the spotlight is more on efficiency, accuracy, competitive pricing, and timeliness.

Since we’ve moved on to digital recordings from tapes, microcassettes, disk drives, etcetera, and since there are a whole lot of avenues to share access to digital audio or video material anywhere in the world, geographical distance is no longer a criterion.

The two most important things to look for in a Professional Transcription Company are optimization of your time and money.

By auto-delete, it means having a scheduler tool or a software program in place that will automatically, permanently erase all the customer’s materials upon approval from the customer.

Reduced learning curve — Medical transcription training requires not just good keyboard skills but also savvy medical systems’ knowledge and formats, protocols, client specifications, HIPAA rules, etc.

None of that is needed in GT or LT. A sharp ear for details and deft transcription skills would do a world of good.

Media companies, law firms, podcasters, speakers, market researchers, filmmakers, book writers, financiers, product companies, conference hosts, college students, professors, and so on and so forth.

Lesser demands — Unlike the medical transcription field where timelines and accuracy and error percentages are set in stone, there is less rigidity and more flexibility with general and legal transcription.

Knowledge & insight — General transcription is such a generic term that it basically encompasses anything and everything under the sun.

One could come across topics as diverse as Keynesian economics, landscape architecture, sports science, arthropod palaeontology, quarterly results and press releases, celebrity interviews, etc., just to name a few from the vast ocean of subjects.