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Pon de Bundy posted:So. . .I failed the Butler Hill test back in July, can I ever reapply again? I was so close too Hopefully I passed, I think I'm very close, but I can't tell with the way they rate it. If not I'd want to reapply because 
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Jan 30, 2013 21:52
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PaganGoatPants posted:Hopefully I passed, I think I'm very close, but I can't tell with the way they rate it. If not I'd want to reapply because I didn't pass for Appen. Weird thing is I went faster and had a higher score yet performed worse according to their email. There were outages last week so I'm sure some kind of timeout occurred and threw my numbers off. In fact one did. I got a weird email saying I needed to finish answering yet I know I did all 50.  I get the feeling for Appen it's more about speed and pray you get some right than it is getting a 50/50. With that said I passed lion bridge and I thought the testing was more developed, the logic better explained, and also had more natural choices for me with search. For example Appen seems to really not like Wikipedia, but Lionbridge thinks it's mostly a great source. It might be different with others and also your experience, but that was mine. I'm a little chuffed I can't get the 300$ for all that studying I did though! As a digital marketer I actually find all of this enormously interesting. I can judge pages on code and how many people search for something, but to weigh it with the two engines logic in mind against other results on specific terms is rad. It's like seeing the other side of the curtain or something.
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Jan 31, 2013 03:42
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I do fail I'll check out Lionbridge. I've got extra time so why not earn some extra cash. Are the hours consistent and are they capped at ~20?
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Jan 31, 2013 04:27
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Yep lionbridge is capped at 20.
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Jan 31, 2013 07:22
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Well this has been the week of fail, I failed the Leap Force test, and also the second agency I picked up smells scammy as gently caress. Sigh, transcribers, avoid Transcription HUB, it's not even that the pay is terrible, which it is, new starters at $0.30/min, which I had to drag out of the guy because even in correspondence he was referencing documents he had not sent or given me access to on drop box, but also they pay through PayPal, and they only take invoices once a month and reserve the right to take 45 days to pay out. As well as being given a 48 hour time limit on an assignment they'd uploaded to drop box on the 10th. And the company has complaints about taking the money and running from th client side. All told, no good, I think they must be based somewhere else as all the correspondence sounded like ESL as well, so I assume recourse possibilities would be limited if they screwed you. Ah well, live and learn.
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Jan 31, 2013 17:14
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Looks like you dodged a bullet with Transcription HUB really. That rate is half of what a new transcriber should expect. I remember getting a very snooty rejection letter from some company that paid .44 a minute, all because I used a person's nickname instead of their full name on a test file. An honest mistake, but not one you want to make on a test. They invited me to apply again after I "learned to do research properly." I got a higher paying gig with a more respectable company instead. This outfit folded a few weeks later and resurfaced with a new name, no doubt because of their poor reputation. If I had known how little they paid beforehand I would never have applied. There are also a few dickhead transcribers out there that like to outsource work to others and then never pay for it.
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Feb 1, 2013 08:15
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Yeah, that's one of the pitfalls of freelancing. There's no minimum wage, so there are places offering just insulting rates, and if you don't know any better, you might hook up with one. And there's scam artists. I think I've said it before, but if you ever hook up with an outfit and they don't immediately send you a W-9 and a contract to sign, that's a red flag. "It's cool I'll just pay you through paypal or whatever" tends to end up with you holding unpaid invoices. My very first client still owes me about $1200. 
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Feb 1, 2013 22:33
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Can anyone give me any tips of speeding up my transcription times? I haven't gotten a pedal yet, but even without I'm still clocking in at five and four hours on my last two 30 minute jobs.
Cast Iron Brick fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Feb 2, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 01:32
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Cast Iron Brick posted:Can anyone give me any tips of speeding up my transcription times? I haven't gotten a pedal yet, but even without I'm still clocking in at five and four hours on my last two 30 minute jobs. Including editing? Oh sweetie, without a pedal as slow as that feels for you, that's still pretty good. My first 30 minute files took me about four hours each with a pedal just getting used to the process. You're just going to fly once you get it.
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Feb 2, 2013 03:09
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Cast Iron Brick posted:Can anyone give me any tips of speeding up my transcription times? I haven't gotten a pedal yet, but even without I'm still clocking in at five and four hours on my last two 30 minute jobs. A text expander can speed up your first pass. I use AutoHotKey since it works OS-wide and just lives in a text file I can back up easily. It can be used to write ridiculous scripts, but to define a text expander line you just make a text file with things like: ::m;::^t^v{enter}MODERATOR: ::imr::independent market researcher ::--::— ::anez::anesthesiologist Run it through AHK, then whenever you type what's between the double colons it replaces it with what comes after. In the case of "m;" there, it does Control+T, Control+V, Enter to paste a time stamp and line break.
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Feb 2, 2013 03:26
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You definitely want to get a pedal ASAP. I've only ever known one transcriber who went without, and all the others I've talked to thought he was nuts. Once you take the playback controls off your hands, it becomes a lot easier to manage the tape without thinking about it, which will improve your typing speed and retention substantially. The rest of it just comes with experience.
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Feb 2, 2013 04:37
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In InqScribe I've had problems with the pedal not reversing for some reason on a file or two. I was able to set up a reverse hot key using shift-tab or something like that. It's only a little slower than the pedal since those keys are easily accessed.
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Feb 2, 2013 06:50
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Spartan421 posted:In InqScribe I've had problems with the pedal not reversing for some reason on a file or two. I was able to set up a reverse hot key using shift-tab or something like that. It's only a little slower than the pedal since those keys are easily accessed. Do you remember what types of files they were? InqScribe can open a lot of different formats, but certain ones (WMV in particular) can screw up its playing/seeking abilities. I don't use my reverse button, generally speaking -- I have my pedal set to drop back four seconds when I let it go, so I'll either tap it a few times to jump back, or click a previous timecode if it's a long way -- but if it's a WMV or certain other formats, it'll sometimes act weird, like it has trouble reversing more than a few seconds from where I'm at. I find that converting files to mp4 makes it a lot easier on the program; I use XviD4PSP for most files, and Handbrake to convert anything it doesn't like.
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Feb 2, 2013 19:15
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Oh hey that's a drat fine tip there Kaz, thank you, I just wind up using those files with Express Scribe, and I really dislike that program with a vengeance.
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Feb 2, 2013 22:47
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Yeah Kaz, I think they were .wma files. I'll have to check out those conversion programs you mentioned next time something screws up.
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Feb 3, 2013 01:12
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Spartan421 posted:Yeah Kaz, I think they were .wma files. I'll have to check out those conversion programs you mentioned next time something screws up. I'm not sure if either of those programs do WMA; I do know that Jodix makes a host of freebie programs to convert back and forth from several different formats. I have their WMA to MP3 converter for handling those.
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Feb 3, 2013 05:38
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I think I'm not in the norm here, but I've been transcribing for a year now and I've never used a pedal. I just use a global hotkey in VLC where I get three different settings for going back. Control Left, Shift Left, and Alt Left. One is small (3 secs), medium (5 secs), large (15 secs). Pause is shift space. I can do 30 minutes of good quality audio in an hour, easy. I think the pedal is one of those things where everybody swears by because everybody else swears by because everybody told them to start with it at the beginning. Really, what's so different between just pressing Control-Left arrow compared to pressing down on the foot pedal? It's second nature so I don't think about it while I'm transcribing. Then again, I surpass 120 WPM so maybe that's just my experience with it. EDIT: I'd imagine I can also up that up with macros, which I plan to do whenever Focus Forward decides to send me a good month of assignments. takishan fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Feb 4, 2013 |
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Feb 4, 2013 05:00
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I sent the test in to focusforward. Just wondering how long it takes for them to reply, and if I don't make it, am I allowed to resubmit? They didn't seem to have much of a test. Edit: Nvm didn't make it. Android Lust fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Feb 6, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 12:17
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takishan posted:I think the pedal is one of those things where everybody swears by because everybody else swears by because everybody told them to start with it at the beginning. Actually, I recommend the pedal because it's a lot easier to learn and use than macros. Taking the playback controls away from your hands lets you keep typing while you manipulate the playback, and that's an enormous speed increase for starter transcriptionists. I've had to do one or two jobs over the years where some proprietary software or another wouldn't take pedal input, and the nearest thing I can equate it to was using Windows without a mouse. Which isn't to say that you can't learn to go without, as you and the other transcriptionist I know demonstrate, I just think if you used a pedal you'd be even faster.
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Feb 5, 2013 12:29
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For a very long time I did transcripts with keyboard shortcuts. Once I got a pedal for school I never looked back. If I'm typing up something short I'll use keyboard shortcuts but anything over 5 minutes I'll haul out the peddle.
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Feb 7, 2013 02:46
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Is there a chance I could email one of you transcription pros to make sure I'm not making some horrible transcription faux pas on the Daily Transcription test? I'm getting excited about the work, but I have a few questions and don't want to fail because of them. Email is removed edit: Huge thanks to kazmeyer for his help! The Earl of ToeJam fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 17:33
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kazmeyer posted:Actually, I recommend the pedal because it's a lot easier to learn and use than macros. Taking the playback controls away from your hands lets you keep typing while you manipulate the playback, and that's an enormous speed increase for starter transcriptionists. I've had to do one or two jobs over the years where some proprietary software or another wouldn't take pedal input, and the nearest thing I can equate it to was using Windows without a mouse. Which isn't to say that you can't learn to go without, as you and the other transcriptionist I know demonstrate, I just think if you used a pedal you'd be even faster. You've been doing this longer than me, so you're probably right. I'll order one and report back.
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Feb 8, 2013 07:10
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takishan posted:You've been doing this longer than me, so you're probably right. I'll order one and report back. I think that you'll like it, and I hereby apologize if you're just somebody who bucks the trend and likes the keyboard better. But I think it makes controlling the tape a lot easier, because it becomes kind of an instinctive thing, and you can just power away at the keyboard while fast forwarding or rewinding. (Of course, I also find myself occasionally trying to control Youtube videos or episodes of shows using my pedal as a reflex.)And I keep forgetting to mention this. Anyone who does transcription for a long period of time, check out the books by Dr. Paul Ekman on deception detection. You know, the microexpression stuff that show Lie To Me was based on? A lot of people really can learn how to do it, and transcription is great practice since you're sitting there looking at the subject and going back and forth over the tape. It's fun when you get a crime show, and you see somebody drop a really enormous tell when they're talking about their alibi, or how they never had any problems with the deceased. (Just fair warning. Getting good at that poo poo will gently caress up your personal relationships like you can't imagine. Sometimes it's better not to know.)
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Feb 8, 2013 08:19
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x
jabro fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Nov 16, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2013 01:19
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Take your time, and keep reminding yourself that you're not going to see tapes that bad quality when you actually get on the job; they just want to see what you can do with complete garbage.
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Feb 11, 2013 01:57
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First real week of work at Lionbridge under my belt and I'm enjoying it so far. Anyone with a digital acumen who has some free time and still feels the urge to work this is a great gig. Some of the jobs are daunting and boring, but it's kind of neat to understand how the big G's search engine operates. I mentioned this in another post that there are connections to "seo" in that you get the mental aspect of things and again how G approaches what they view people's search habits are. The downside I've seen is that there is no bulk amount of work so you might get a burst of 20 minutes worth of work then run out of jobs for a few hours. I'm at home all day working on other freelance projects so it's easy to just pop in and do this when my ADD kicks in. It also creates a nice baseline of work as I hoped it would, but to nail 20 hours a week of work would require me to be refreshing all the time for 7 days. Highly recommend this to anyone in the freelance world. MasterControl fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Feb 13, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 06:50
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I passed the DT test!  jabro posted:I'm finally taking the DT test. Screw this file. I'm only a couple minutes in and I want to shoot the place up. If anyone has any tip or tricks for the file I'd appreciate a PM or email. jabro4@gmail.com Make sure to give your ears a chance to rest for a few hours or overnight, especially before your final pass. Doing this helped me clear up a lot of the inaudibles. And yeah, gently caress that file.
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Feb 11, 2013 15:16
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Funddevi posted:I passed the DT test! I submitted it last night but did wait a while for the final pass. Learned that from writing of papers and articles and doing the final edit. Kazi mentioned earlier in the thread how many inaudibles his test had and I was nowhere near that. Paul needed to answer the questions for both of them though. Asking the questions, too, wouldn't have hurt either.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:14
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As long as those [INAUDIBLE]s weren't standing in for whole sentences or something, sounds like you did good.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:44
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kazmeyer posted:As long as those [INAUDIBLE]s weren't standing in for whole sentences or something, sounds like you did good. Kazymeyer, I'm assuming you have GChat for work. Is there any way we could talk about your methods and all that? I don't have PM's so I'm asking here.
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Feb 11, 2013 19:00
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kazmeyer posted:As long as those [INAUDIBLE]s weren't standing in for whole sentences or something, sounds like you did good. Not whole sentences but two were two or three words. Other than that and what I talked to you over PMs about I feel I did decent. Tomorrow my girlfriend and I find out if we are having twins. I'm not sure what I'm more anxious to hear. Pass the test or a possible 3 kids under 3 years old in the house.
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Feb 11, 2013 19:02
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Cast Iron Brick posted:Kazymeyer, I'm assuming you have GChat for work. Is there any way we could talk about your methods and all that? I don't have PM's so I'm asking here. I usually have chat programs turned off, since I don't really work with DT these days, but you can email me at my username @gmail.com and I'll be happy to offer what advice I can. jabro posted:Not whole sentences but two were two or three words. Other than that and what I talked to you over PMs about I feel I did decent. Good lookin' out, then. (One of the reasons I had so many was I had a bad habit of trying to pick out as much as possible, so I'd do "[INAUDIBLE] said we [INAUDIBLE] to [INAUDIBLE]" without really clicking on the fact that that wasn't much better than a single [INAUDIBLE]. My previous client was nuts about accuracy, so if I heard a word in the middle of gobbledygook I was in the habit of capturing it, but I'd have to be pretty sure to avoid using an [INAUDIBLE] tag. One of the toughest things about freelancing full-time is keeping track of which client likes what. I can't count how many times in the early days I'd get back, "Uh, what is this?" and realize I'd sent something to DT in another client's format or vice-versa.)
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Feb 11, 2013 21:22
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Bleh, the DT test is like being stabbed in the ears, I only had couple of [INAUDIBLES], but I have ears like a bat and I listened to that thing for hours, I kept switching between like 4 different pairs of head phones, and speakers, and I am stubborn as all get up. The quality is NEVER that bad, good luck with your baby news. :-)
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Feb 11, 2013 22:01
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Yeah, through my entire time with DT, I think I can remember maybe two files which approached that level of terrible, and I instantly returned them and they didn't give me any flak over it. They know the score. But you can learn a lot more about someone's skills by what they can do with that RealMedia garbage than you can a nice, professionally shot high-bitrate single-speaker talking head interview in a soundproof studio.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:15
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(And is DT busy as hell right now? All my clients are trying to drown me in work, and I'm just curious if it's a coincidence or an industry-wide thing.)
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Feb 12, 2013 00:32
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They seem pretty busy. I only work on the weekends since I have school and a "real job" but they are always sending me stuff when I schedule. I was kind of scared about their new pay system but so far it hasn't screwed me.
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Feb 12, 2013 01:56
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jabro posted:Not whole sentences but two were two or three words. Other than that and what I talked to you over PMs about I feel I did decent. Yeah, as a note, if a file is bad, under the new pay system, they actually up the pay if the transcriptionists are having trouble with the audio. I recently did a job for DT that was absolutely heinous audio-wise. They acknowledged it, renegotiated with the client (i'm assuming) and a $.60/min job became a $.70/min one. Basically, it's better just to tell them that the audio was brutal (on the actual jobs, not the test). They are way more likely to work with you on that than not, and if there are several people who say as much, it might be the matter of no pay raise vs. pay raise. Always worth it to be communicative with them. They're great people. EDIT: because i quoted the wrong post like a champ. Also congrats on the soon-to-be new addition(s) dude. Old Boot fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 02:51
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Yeah, I'm seeing this also, and it's a lot of different stuff too which is nice, although I'm sad it looks like one of the shows I've been working on the last few weeks is wrapping up and I wanna know who wins!
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Feb 12, 2013 04:13
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Yeah, DT are fantastic folks; I stopped putting myself in for work very reluctantly, and I still haven't taken their column off my daily work sheet yet. (If they'd let me stay on just for as-broadcast I totally would.)
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Feb 12, 2013 05:35
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I understand it's been an industry standard for a long time, but I wish the transcripts I get would say [indistinct] instead of inaudible, because inaudible means it literally can't be heard, while indistinct means you can't understand it or aren't meant to understand it.
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Feb 12, 2013 08:26
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