If you’re a professional transcriptionist looking to keep your vocabulary agile and your recognition skills strong, this video exercise is for you. Transcription isn’t just about fast typing—it’s about understanding context and catching nuanced meanings quickly. Our latest video focuses on animal words that carry unexpected second meanings, making it the perfect mental warm-up for anyone working with audio full of ambiguity, idioms, or informal language.
In the video, you’ll be challenged to identify words that are both animal names and common English terms with entirely different uses. This kind of dual-meaning vocabulary is exactly the type of thing that can trip up even experienced transcriptionists, especially when working without visual cues. The exercise uses gradually revealing images to prompt you to think quickly and rely on contextual clues, just like in real-world transcription work.
Participate in today’s transcription practice here: YouTube
The activity is paced to encourage fast recognition while still offering explanations and definitions that reinforce your understanding. It’s not only helpful for boosting vocabulary retention, but also great for tuning your ear to tricky homonyms that might appear in spoken dialogue. And as a bonus, the video includes a tip from our sponsor, the FTW Transcriber, about using the built-in bookmarks feature to keep track of key points in your audio files—a practical tool for organizing your workflow more efficiently.
Whether you’re a seasoned transcriptionist or just getting started, this exercise is a fun and useful way to keep your language skills fresh. Watch the video, test your word recognition speed, and subscribe to our channel for more weekly transcription-focused content. Your transcripts—and your turnaround times—will thank you.