The benefits of using regional transcriptionists
It was really encouraging to see that some Scottish words have made it into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) during 2025. A BBC online article in June 2025 reported that 13 Scottish words had made it into the dictionary, including “shoogly” (shaky – like an uneven table), “skooshy” (squirty – particularly aerosol can cream) and “hoaching” (busy with people – picture Edinburgh during the Festival). They have also recognised a perennial favourite, “aye, right”, a sarcastic negative response, despite its use of two positives (for full effect, always deliver in a strong Scottish accent).
When selecting a transcription company to work with, understanding of the subject matter is undoubtedly important. However, location of the transcription team may be a factor you wish to consider. Depending on where your interviews have been conducted, it may be useful to have transcriptionists from that area, who have local knowledge, to complete the work. Most transcription providers should have a good selection of transcriptionists from across the UK, and offering regional specificity will greatly improve the quality of the final transcript.
From Arran to Aberdeen, Stornoway to Selkirk, our Scottish team are particularly well placed at dealing with local dialects, placenames and idioms. When your interviewee explains that they “went ben the scullery [before] gaeing tae get the messages that wir on the line”, a Scottish transcriptionist understands that, having gone into the kitchen, the interviewee then went to get the shopping that they had written down on a list, saving a lot of time and queries. They are able to put the whole conversation into context and know that it makes sense and, therefore, what they have heard is correct. Otherwise, there could be a lot of text that is queried and needs to be double checked before it is ready for analysis.
And it is not just the dialect that can be tricky. Scottish place names can cause confusion too. A Scottish transcriptionist knows that when the interviewee says they come from “Mulguy”, that it’s spelt Milngavie, they know that “Strayvn” is Strathhaven, and they understand that “Nittin’” is Newtongrange. A few examples of names that Google might not be able to help you search for.
But this does not just apply to our Scottish team. Recordings should always be assigned to the most appropriate transcriptionist for the regional accent, whether it be Scottish, Welsh, English or Irish. A widespread team provides a huge advantage when it comes to a client base that is located throughout the UK.
However, local knowledge also comes with the risk of identification of the participants. So, it is always imperative to know that your chosen transcription company has the necessary data security policies and procedures in place to safeguard against such an occurrence. If the assigned transcriptionist recognizes any of the participants, they are aware that they need to immediately stop the transcription, make the transcription manager aware of the conflict, decline the file from their assigning list, and delete the transcript and the corresponding audio file straight away. These are the measures that ensure continued client and data subject confidentiality.
So, if your Aberdonian interviewee greets you with “Fit like?”, do not worry that something is amiss with your clothing, they are just asking how you are doing today.
If you need help transcribing your recordings, regardless of the regional accent, then contact us here.
Photo by Peter Cordes on Unsplash
