What Is A Verbatim Transcript?
Our court reporting company is proud to offer many different kinds of transcription and deposition services, among them are verbatim transcripts. What is a verbatim transcript? You probably know the word, verbatim, and its meaning “word for word.” And if you guess that a verbatim transcript means that each and every word is transcribed, you would be right. Did you know, however, that there are different kinds of verbatim transcripts?: Intelligent Verbatim, which is word for word, and True Verbatim, which is, essentially, sound for sound.
True Verbatim
Imagine an interviewer asking a witness, “Were you aware, of the defendant’s whereabouts on the night in question?” The witness hesitates, perhaps stutters or laughs nervously before answering, “Ummm…no. Not at the time.” An intelligent verbatim transcript (which we will discuss below), may simply read “No. Not at the time.” A straightforward answer, but a true verbatim transcription will capture every sound and nuance in the witness’s answer. This includes fillers, pauses, and ambient noise. It will read something like the following:
Interviewer: Were you aware of the defendant’s whereabouts on the night in question?
Interviewee: [Silence] um…no. [Pause]…not at the time.
A true verbatim transcript can be essential in assessing a witness’s credibility, as those hesitations, spelled out on the page, may indicate a witness’s lying or uncertainty, and determine how the litigants move forward. True verbatim transcriptions may be most useful in situations where the way in which something is said is equally important to what is said. Such transcripts are necessary in commercial cases, intellectual property cases, and even car accident cases.
Intelligent Verbatim
There are other instances, of course, where ambient noises, filler words and nonverbal sounds can be distracting. In this case, our court reporters and transcriptionists are happy to provide Intelligent verbatim, or simply verbatim, transcripts.This is an excellent practice for bloggers, journalists, and others who may need an exact quote but do not need the superfluous, minute details. Intelligent verbatim, or simply verbatim transcription, is helpful when you need a clean quote for a succinct story or report.
Whichever form of transcription you choose, Capital Reporting Company is proud to offer a host of court reporting services. We are a comprehensive court reporting and deposition company, proud to serve you locally, nationally, and internationally. Whatever your transcription needs, entrust your verbatim and true verbatim transcripts to Capital Reporting Company. Schedule a deposition or other service with us today.
