Transcribing

For my third methods practice I transcribed an interview that I had with a friend of mine.  We spoke for 10 minutes or so in Spanish about his mission, and I later took the time to painstakingly write down every word that we said.  I find these new skills that I am learning particularly interesting to put into practice.

Nearly every day in the field I will be interviewing somebody, and then taking time to write down everything.  My interviews will usually be longer than 10 minutes and my interviewees will be speaking in Mexican accents at a much faster pace.  The frequency which I will have to transcribe means that itis a skill that I definitely need to work on.

I wonder what tips and tricks of the trade their are for transcribing?  I definitely can work on my listening comprehension, for which I am going to start watching some movies in Spanish.  I also need to become more familiar with typing in Spanish and using the Spanish keyboard.

It is interesting to me how much I really need to learn and take into account as I prepare for Mexico.

Benjamin