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When it comes to your Washington DC court transcripts,every word matters, so Capital Reporting Company offers verbatim transcription. If you don’t already know, you may have guessed that verbatim transcription means “word for word,” and you would be right. However, to go more in-depth, there are two kinds of verbatim transcription: intelligent verbatim and true verbatim, and this post will help you decide which is right for you.
Let’s say you are an interviewer, asking your witness for answers to a crucial question, one that may determine the fate of a case. In a criminal investigation, it might be “did you know the suspect?” or in a personal injury case it may be “What were you doing before you sustained the injury?” How do you transcribe the witness’ answer during your Washington DC deposition? If you are using true verbatim transcription, you may include sounds and ambient noise in the interviewee’s response–words like “uh” “er” “um.” Some experts believe that filler words such as these are indications of hesitation, and speak to the witness’ credibility. A true verbatim transcription will maintain these words in a transcript. So, if this is important to you or your case–knowing not only exactly what is said, but also how it is said–then you are going to want a true verbatim transcript.
Intelligent verbatim— or simply verbatim– transcription, is used in instances where ambient noises, filler words, and nonverbal sounds are deemed excessive and are not included in the final transcript. For someone like a journalist, who is seeking a succinct, useable quote for a story, he/she may find these excess words distracting. However, it is still important to get the words exactly right, and verbatim transcription will serve this purpose while removing the excess..
To summarize, a true verbatim transcript might read as follows:
Interviewer: What time did you leave the venue?
Interviewee: [Silence] Um…let’s see [pauses]…I’d say around,ah, seven o’clock.
Whereas an intelligent verbatim transcript may read as follows:
Interviewer: What time did you leave the venue?
Interviewee: Let’s see…I’d say around seven o’clock
The small distinction between these two transcripts can mean more or less time reading and deciphering the nuances of a case. It all depends how in-depth you need to be and what you’re specifically seeking from a transcript. Whatever you choose, our Washington DC court reporting company is here to help. Capital Reporting Company is proud to offer comprehensive court reporting and transcription services in Washington DC, nationwide and internationally. To schedule a verbatim transcript with us, or any other court reporting and deposition service in DC, contact Capital Reporting Company today.